Banjos

This maple neck, maple rim, open back tenor banjo with an 11” diameter Joseph  B. Rogers, Jr. skin head, has the name “D. Meldrum” written inside the head.

It is not very often that we are able to offer a modern tenor banjo as beautiful as this one.  It is the illustrious Ome MegaVox Jazz tenor banjo, in wholly original and excellent plus condition.  It is our understanding that Don Vappie, who played on many Ken Burns’ soundtracks, uses a similar banjo, so if its musical prowess (when you hear it) sounds familiar to you that may be why.

This most likely previously four-string tenor has had a conversion to 5-string banjo by way of some ecumenical counseling and also the addition of a newer 5-string neck by Providence Guitar & Banjo.  If one is seeking access to the induplicable sound of a prewar Vega Tubaphone No. 3 but without having to spend the nearly four thousand dollars required to gain entrance to the emporium of ecstasy-effulgent 5-string euphoria, this would unquestionably be the banjo of choice.

South American mahogany neck
Brazilian rosewood or ebony fingerboard and peghead
Simulated tortoise bound open-back rim
Abalone and mother-of-pearl star/moon inlays
Victorian or Scroll peghead shape
Scooped fingerboard
Tung-oil finish
Nickel plated OME metal parts
Hard-shell Case

By slightly modifying and adding to the Bellflower inlay pattern, and making the neck and resonator out of curly maple instead of walnut, we've created the Sunflower. The shaded, Cremona style "sunburst" staining on this model is very popular and highlights the quality of the wood used.

If you want a top quality reasonably priced Irish Tenor banjo, this is a real find! Made in America at the Deering Banjo factory in California, the Goodtime open back banjo weighs about 4 pounds so it is ideal for traveling, camping, hiking, taking to the beach and provides a vibrant singing banjo tone in any situation. Also, light enough for children to hold and play and is the perfect banjo for a child to start out with since it is fretted correctly and plays easily. The shorter 17 fret neck reduces the length of the entire banjo to just 32 inches end to end.

The Deering List Price is $499

If you want a top quality reasonably priced Tenor banjo, this is a real find! Made in America at the Deering Banjo factory in California, the Goodtime open-back banjo weighs about 4 pounds so it is ideal for traveling, camping, hiking, taking to the beach and provides a vibrant singing banjo tone in any situation. Also, light enough for children to hold and play and is the perfect banjo for a child to start out with since it is fretted correctly and plays easily.

The Deering List Price is $499

 

The Mike Ramsey hand-made “Fairbanks Electric” is modeled after the Albert Conan Fairbanks (the original Conan to achieve vast popularity) late-1800s design. Mike has utilized the Whyte Laydie style tone ring as well as an ebonized wood rim with a standard brown stain wood dowel running through the center.  Said dowel bears the classy, metal “Mike Ramsey, Maker, Pittsboro, N. Carolina” brass plaque.

Paraphrased loosely from the Vega web site with only a small amount of added sarcasm (sorry, can’t help it): The Vega Tu-Ba-Phone tone ring (introduced in 1909) five-string is unquestionably one of the most important musical achievements of the last hundred or so years. Touted by some as the ultimate open-back banjo sound, although Whyte Laydie lovers do take umbrage, it is prized for its full, round and yet sparkling tone and for its depth, responsiveness and power.

This is the version of the Boston as it was made in its time - it has the decal Deering logo, decal of the Bald Eagle on the peghead and the dotmarker fingerboard inlays.    Although the construction, materials, procedures, methods and techniques of manufacture have not changed the cosmetics have.   Deering decided that it needed to be dressed up and the current version has a fancy, white pearl and gold inlaid headstock and art nouveau pearl and gold design fingerboard inlays.

A bit ‘o’ background:  In 1983 Janet Deering, Greg’s wife, went on a nationwide sales trip by loading their camper with banjos and hitting the road while Greg stayed at home making banjos and taking care of the kids. In 10 weeks Janet covered 14 thousand miles and crossed the country visiting stores, opening many new Deering dealers who are still with us today.   While Janet was in the southeast she noticed a cultural phenomenon that banjo players had to have a prewar banjo or one that looked like it.

We present to you one of the highest grades of Vega banjo known to exist – the Number 7 Whyte Laydie.   Fancy of appointment and aristocratically ornamented, and touting the world renowned scalloped brass tone ring that bears its name, this is the type of banjo plectrum players yearn to find their entire lives.    That’s the good part.   In reality, however, this banjo has a number of issues – one of the most important of which is that somebody has refinished the back of the neck in glossy sunburst, another of which are the small sections of missing binding.

Simple lines complement the look of this superb open-back banjo.   Equally simple dowel stick construction with a 12” rim and frailing scoop make this a perfect choice for old time or round peak traditional styles.   This version has the famous Tubaphone tone ring that was invented by the Vega Banjo Company and first utilized in a production instrument back in 1909.   One of the first, and most successful, tone rings of its time the Tubaphone, originally spelled Tu-Ba-Phone predates the Gibson Mastertone tone ring by at least 16 years.  This was $1,747 but is NOW ON SALE.

The Deering website says: Pick it in the parlor, in the park, or any where you go…Deering’s new GoodTime Parlor banjo is light weight and made with a shorter scale to meet a variety of needs for today’s banjo players! Introduced at the industry’s major show in Anaheim recently, the model was very well received by dealers, artists, and other attendees. 

The tenor banjo is the most popular member of the four-string banjo family. It is tuned C G D A just like a mandola, a viola or a tenor guitar. It provides the alto voice to the jazz band and excels at both rhythm and lead functions About the banjo our beloved friend, Wikipedia, says: “In almost all of its forms, banjo playing is characterized by a fast arpeggiated plucking, though there are many different playing styles.” Did you know that? I didn’t know that.

This banjo is a complete mystery – the mystery part being “How in the world could somebody have owned this instrument of this elevated reputation and intense beauty and treated it this poorly?” This was one of the 3 top of the line Gibson banjos – every other example of this level Gibson banjo we have ever seen was in “excellent plus” because the people that owned it knew they had something valuable and so they treated it with kid gloves. It is SO improbable that somebody would beat up this banjo, made at such a lofty level in the Gibson hierarchy, to the extent that they did.

The Little Wonder is one of Vega’s prewar open-back models. It has a “rolled bead” of brass that acts as a small yet effective variation on a tone ring providing the instrument’s sound more punch and drive. It has 28 brackets, shoes and nuts (the sign reads “no brackets and shoes, no service”) and, guess what, 28 screws and washers. It has the standard Vega internal tensioner device holding the maple wooden dowel firmly to the underside of the heel, and the nickel-plated brass cube at the bottom.

in very good plus condition with worn and taped hard shell case whose hinges are broken apart. The Bacon Banjo Company of Groton,Connecticut was founded around 1906 by Fred Bacon and in the original period many of their banjos were made for them by Vega and William L. Lange (Paramount/Orpheum).  NOW ON SALE!  WAS $2263 BUT NOW ON SALE FOR:

The prestigious and gold-plated Aristocrat Model Paramount sports three headstock banners – one reads “Paramount,” one reads “Wm. L. Lange” who was the company's owner and one that reads “Aristocrat Model.”