Antique Banjos

The recent `No Knot` 5-stringer restoration pointedly reminded the BRC founder of his website motto: All Banjos Deserve a Second Chance. Postponing plans to build a banjo for an upcoming art show, he earnestly set out to restore a dreary and deeply tarnished antique instrument that had been languishing for months under a table in the workshop.

The fretboard and tuning pegs were gone, mother of pearl inlays in the peg head were fragmented or absent, no remnant of a head remained, and much of the hardware was pitted with rust. The base of the neck had a smudged plaque embossed with ” Puritan.”

Research revealed that this circa 1895 banjo was likely made in Chicago by the Lyon & Healy Company that also marketed similar 5 -stringers with plaques labeled “Mystic” or “President” and sometimes  “Encore.” Unique structural features at the neck-rim junction indicate that this model was a student/intermediate level instrument.

In comparison, some high end 5-stringers of that era had the familiar neck brace-cross pin used to stabilize the dowel stick-pot junction as seen in this circa 1900  banjo. It is not known when this mechanically dependable device was invented, but it is ubiquitous today and bears no patent data.

Less expensive turn of the century banjos, as seen in this archival picture from the BRC collection, frequently had only one or two wood screws across the pot or dowel stick-neck interface. A supplemental stout metal brace spanning the construct was not ornamental but integral in stabilizing the junction.

The “Puritan” had a well-secured and engraved buttress plate made of brass that reenforced the two wood screws hidden below it clasping the pot to the heel of the neck. 

The inner wooden pot was  “spun over” and clad with a German silver (nickel , copper, and zinc alloy) outer rim. Some collectors admire this shiny antique feature and the tone it reportedly imparts to the banjo. A new rosewood fretboard was fretted and installed, and it was modestly inlayed with mother of pearl. The recessed “Puritan” plaque at the base of the neck offered a profile that looks like a forerunner of the modern day `scooped` fingerboard.

Clawhammer enthusiasts would probably concur that all banjos, especially an open-back treasure like this one, deserve a second chance.

When this antique and unmarked banjo first appeared in the BRC workshop, it was a forlorn grime covered instrument with a detached fretboard, fractured or missing mother of pearl inlays, and a yellow brown calfskin head that had dried into parched shoe leather.

For months, it collected dust in an ignored corner of the shop before it finally won the attention that it deserved. A meticulous clean-up surprisingly disclosed an Elite “No Knot” tailpiece that was known to be applied to high grade 5-stringers at the turn of the century.

On the under surface of the tailpiece was a patent date of May 2, 1899.  There were several patents of this unique No-Knot tailpiece from 1892 to 1914 to accommodate various models of banjo. The ancient bridge appears to have been carved from whalebone. Scrimshaw and whale bone carving were a sailor`s past time at sea until the whaling industry ended in the US in 1927.

Upon closer inspection, the fretboard revealed deep fingertip grooves in the first 3 frets spaces indicating that this instrument had been industriously played by its owner who obviously cherished its music. Missing frets were replaced, and the mother of pearl inlays were patched -up. For a facelift, a snowy white new calfskin head was installed.

Lastly, the nut at the base of the peg head was noted to be angled slightly, and this is interpreted to be a calculated design feature to compensate for string length intonation usually accommodated in modern bridges.  Of note, Stelling banjos have string compensations slotted into the nut.

This handsome banjo now hangs at the top of the stairwell leading to our workshop to remind the BRC founder that even the most humblest of old banjos has a story.

Long ago, a banjo picker living in San Diego rescued a discarded banjo from a dumpster. Dan preserved the abandoned 5-stringer and transported it to the Heartland when he relocated to Missouri decades later.

Years past by, and Dan joined our G&F bluegrass band. He gave the forlorn instrument to the BRC founder who had just opened a basement banjo repair shop.  Although it was otherwise unmarked, a patent date of Nov. 19, 1901 on the `No Knot` tailpiece confirmed that the instrument was manufactured over a century ago.

Rather than dress up the wayfaring banjo to become a permanent decorative wall hanging, the 5-stringer was refitted into playing condition and submitted to the three young sons of one of our fiddlers for field testing. The kids happily experimented with the instrument and loved telling the “dumpster” story to family friends.

Shared among this trio of active siblings, the restored 5-stringer held up favorably, and it was deemed sturdy enough to be gifted to the BRC founder`s grandson in Texas where it resides today.

Dan has since retired from the G&F band and is much missed, but his son Terry has joined us adding masterfully nuanced  guitar work to the band`s repertoire.

How many vintage banjos have been fated to a trash bin and vanished forever?

Not infrequently, musicians will drop-off old dusty mystery banjos for study and/or comments at the BRC, and sometimes the instruments are left there forever.  An antique “Conservatory” 4-stringer recently appeared in our shop featuring a peg head surfaced with so-called pearloid.

This primitive plastic was first synthesized in the late 1860`s by swirling pieces of celluloid (nitrocellulose) in a solvent and letting it cure into a solid mimicking mother of pearl. The material was first used to make attractive ivory-like knife handles in the 1870`s, and by the 1920`s it decorated drum rims.  Gibson began using it to inexpensively ornament guitars in the 1930`s. Since then, the glimmering imitation pearl has earned the waggish title “mother of toilet seat” and is also known by the acronym MOTS.

Not too long ago, an otherwise unmarked 5-stringer with a brass “Puritan” plaque at the base of the fretboard was left-off at the BRC for an estimation of its date of manufacture.

The banjo proved to be built circa 1895 as confirmed by a search in the “Encyclopedia of American Fretted Instruments, pre-Civil War to WW 2”  on the <mugwumps.com> website. This impressive anthology of over 1800 stringed instrument builders and their brand names was a work-of-love by the late Mike Holmes, an archivist of folk music instruments.

At a recent Farmer`s Market surrounded by flame-colored autumnal foliage, a plucky trio of Bluegrass musicians bravely huddle-up in late Fall chilly temperatures to entertain shoppers with archival, if not ancient, old time music. Tips went to the Children’s Hospital.

The yearly autumn Folk Festival at the Boonslick State Park is a time-travel excursion into the pioneer life of rural Missouri in the 1800`s.  The fest offers demonstrations of 19th century hand crafts like rope making and quilting, period dress, exhibits on frontier living, the Civil War, and Native American artifacts.

Bluegrass pickers again provided an acoustic backdrop of traditional music for the 500 plus mid-Missourians who visited the one-day Fall festival.  A burly listener in overalls and hunting cap recognized the BRC founder as a banjo picker who performed at a rural saloon 25 years earlier. “Are you originally from these parts?” he inquired.  The banjoist replied that he grew-up back East, and the response was, “So, you’re a Yankee?” Hoping the festival-goer was familiar with Mark Twain, the musician politely fibbed, “Well, a Connecticut Yankee.” The listener declared, “Well, I’m a hillbilly.” The banjo player offered, “I`ve lived in Missouri since 1979, so maybe that makes me half a hillbilly?” The man in overalls slowly smiled, nodded in agreement, and strolled away.

A few days before the Boonslick gig, a fiddler/singer in the BRC founder`s band gave him a well-worn banjo to study that she had discovered in an antique shop. It appeared to be an unmarked entry/student level “flush fret”  5 stringer with design features suggesting that it was manufactured circa 1890. The pot was fashioned from a singe piece of wood bent into a ring-  a lost art form of rim construction. Closer inspection revealed telling clues.

When the uniquely structured tailpiece was cleaned-up with metal polish,  a patent date of January 4, 1887, was unveiled. An online search indicated that this patent was held by C.P. Post and G.N. Durkee, and their tailpieces were assigned to the Lyon & Healy Company in Chicago.  (At the turn of the century, Lyon & Healy was the largest music publisher and instrument builder in the world.) The undersurface to the ancient calf skin banjo head bore faint inscriptions which were clearly undersigned by “O.H. Boon, Laplata, MO.” The Boonslick State Park is located about 65 miles south east of Laplata.