The Eagle II banjo is a whole new breed of banjo. It features the ground- breaking, patent-pending Twenty-Ten Tone Ring which is an original Deering design that is unlike any other traditional tone ring. It produces a high quality sound that is versatile for many styles of playing. While the sound is uniquely Eagle-esque, it represents a refinement in the quality of banjo tone, something that allows the player to, um, soar to new heights. It is perfect for the player who wants a professional quality banjo that he or she can use for playing many styles of music. The new Eagle II Banjo was the first place prize winner at the 2010 Merlefest Banjo Contest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
The neck is maple stained a dark red mahogany, the fingerboard is natural ebony hosting 22 pressed-in nickel silver frets (sort of like Robert pressed-in from The Music Man). It has original eagle engraved inlays, a slender Deering neck shape, a fully adjustable truss rod, Planetary banjo tuners, a geared 5th string peg and a glossy finish. As for the pot - that would be the Deering Patent Pending Twenty-Ten Tone Ring, utilizing a three-ply violin grade maple rim, having a True Tone Deering tailpiece, Deering brass notched tension hoop, a 11” top frosted medium crown head, 24 round hooks and ¼” hex nuts, 24 bracket shoes, a special Eagle 2-Piece flange, a shaped armrest and nickel-plated hardware.
That brings us to the resonator, which is maple stained red mahogany having white binding, straight inside resonator sidewalls, a glossy finish and all of this, listed here, is housed in and presented to you in a Deering (and endearing) hard shell case!
About the tone, the good folks at Deering say: It has a strong midrange tone with good bass and vibrant highs -- versatile for playing both Clawhammer and Bluegrass styles of playing. It is tuned: g,D,G,B,D which is, of course, standard tuning but, with just the twist of the wrist it can easily be tuned to other tunings as well. Oh. What? You knew that? O-Kay!
And a-now the dimensions -- The neck width at the nut happens to be 1 1/4”, the scale length from nut to bridge is 26 ¼”, the diameter of the resonator is 13 7/8”, the overall length is 38”, the weight is approximately 10 pouinds, and the warranty, per the maker, reads like this: “The trust and pride we share in our product gives us the confidence to grant every owner of a Deering banjo a Lifetime Warranty ensuring the quality of our materials and workmanship.”
The Deering List is $2399