Rare Professional-Size Electric

[John Cohen]

This is a banjo that I couldn't pass up.  It's an extremely rare custom order from the Fairbanks-Vega factory, made in 1909.  The rim is 12'' (not 11 13/16'') and is fully spunover with the Electric tone ring.  The original neck was ruined in the past when somebody tried to attach a resonator through the heel.  The current neck is an exact reproduction of what was on there with the addition of a 2-way trussrod.  The peghead, heel overlay, inlays, tuners, and frets are all original and were re-installed onto the new neck.  The scale length is a whopping 29 1/2''!  A glance at the Fairbanks serials shows that a number of these large banjos were made in the 1890s (some even had 14-16'' rims and 30+'' scale lengths and were presumably cello banjos).  Others had 12-12 3/4'' rims and 18-19'' scale lengths and were either cello banjos or very large "orchestra" or professional instruments.  Only 15 of these custom order banjos have been accounted for from the 1900-1930 period, and of those only two (this Electric and a Whyte Laydie owned by Bill Destler) have a 12'' rim and 29 1/2'' scale.  The others have 14-16'' rims with a number of different scale lengths going all the way up to 32''.  

I'd appreciate any additional information you all can provide about this instrument.  I'm looking forward to stringing it up and playing it.

 

[Jody Stecher]

I have played a Whyte Laydie with the same or similar dimensions and it is A-1 Super Duper Excellent.

[Patrick Garner]

Wonderful acquisition. Congrats on this one.