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20221226_161800

Pre-1919 Boudoir Grand Clifford Essex 5 string banjo

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Comment by thereallyniceman on January 5, 2023 at 17:16: The Boudoir Grand is a great sounding banjo!

Comment by Joel Hooks on January 6, 2023 at 14:50: Nice! How did you come by the year of 1919? Do you have a sales book with it?

Comment by Derek Chittick on January 6, 2023 at 15:00: The maker is Clifford Essex and Co, which changed in 1919 to Clifford Essex and Sons. Sadly, I don't have a handbook, though I do have what I think is the original case

Comment by Joel Hooks on January 6, 2023 at 15:44: Ah! The old "date by the tag" method has been proven to be false time and time again.

The Professional tailpiece (which yours has--lyre shaped under the cover and screwed to the hoop) was introduced right at the same time as the Professional model, spring of 1922.

That means that your banjo would be post 1921 and most likely made 1922 or later. I know this is a little picky, but that narrows production down quite a bit. After 1929 production was way down and it was pretty much over by the start of WW2.

There were a lot of myths about CE being kicked around until Ian pulled back the covers with the BMG collection on this website.

Comment by Derek Chittick on January 7, 2023 at 11:20: Do you think the reverbrrator is original or added later? It seems to me to match, but would like your opinion

Comment by thereallyniceman on January 7, 2023 at 13:32: I believe that you mean "Resonator". Mine came with a flat metal resonator, but I believe that resonators were extras and the banjo was normally supplied as an open back, but as Joel points out, there is a great deal that we don't know about the manufacture of Clifford Essex banjos.

Comment by Derek Chittick on January 7, 2023 at 13:38: Thanks. My previous banjo was open backed so I hadn't come across a resonator before, and don't really know much about the instrument

Comment by Derek Chittick on January 7, 2023 at 13:40: I receive this one as a memento of a friend who died a few years ago, in his seventies. The banjo had belonged to his father, so a date in the 1920s sounds about right.

Comment by Derek Chittick on January 11, 2023 at 13:08: I'm reckoning that this banjo is too good for me, and would be better going to someone who could realise its potential. What would be the best way to achieve that, and what would be its value?

Comment by Joel Hooks on January 13, 2023 at 16:47: I don't understand when you write "this banjo is too good for me". That is not a real thing.