Comment by Shawn McSweeny on May 29, 2011 at 1:01

Inspired by Richard Ineson's posting of The Electric March a few weeks ago, I spent some time in the digital darkroom recently and am posting pics of three Electric banjos. In this instance,  "Electric" refers to the rim's style of tone ring, developed by AC Fairbanks around 1890.

Comment by thereallyniceman on May 29, 2011 at 9:37

Those are beautiful photographs of some beautiful instruments. Thank you for posting. I will try to get some photographs of my WL7 peghead and fingerboard inlays done for you, like we discussed.

I only have a cheap camera.. so they won't look as beautiful as yours!

Comment by Mike Moss on May 29, 2011 at 10:06

Wow, those pictures are just amazing. Fairbanks banjos always manage the rare feat of being heavily inlaid and decorated while remaining in good taste.

 

@ Ian, how does the sound compare between your CE Special XX and your WL7? I heard that the Concert Grand's tone ring was essentially a copy of the WL tone ring, and I'm curious since I'd like to upgrade to a more "serious" classic banjo in the near future.

Comment by Shawn McSweeny on May 29, 2011 at 15:09

Ian and Mike : Thanks for the kind words.  Good lighting and Photoshop can go a long way. The higher grade Fairbanks, with their punchy sound and elegant details are among the finest American made banjos. Ian, I look forward to seeing your WL7 pics.

Comment by Shawn McSweeny on September 29, 2012 at 15:22

Hi Bill, Glad you like the Fairbanks pics. If  you check my "Albums", you should find my custom Bacon dragon and Scottish cello pics as well. For those two, there's a bit of history that goes along with the pics.

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