"Very nice, brought back many happy memories of sunny summer days playing this tune a long time ago."

"Brilliant... what a talented family!"

"LOL  ..............................Happy new year , Ian &  all CB ' lover on the site I hope to post some videos soon , for the time , Rémi falled in the guitar / mando ' circle ; and he is the chief to work on videos…"

"A good question, and as usual, there are more questions that answers, put it down to intuition."

"Hey Richard, How did you know that I bought my first banjo in 1900? ;-)"

"Ian, I would think that when you bought a banjo in 1900, you got what you were given."

"Hi Marc! Happy New Year to you and the family. Those Merrimans are beautiful looking banjos.  I guess that we will never know how the fingerboard widths were decided... Did the maker have a way of measuring or supply a finger chart for when the…"

"For my part , i prefer  instruments with a wide neck at the nut ; it 's true that the size at the nut  is not always the same , even in the same model of the same brand ; I guess it 's up to the luthier ' idea , up to the…"

"I am sure that you are correct Joel. Possibly it was not what was specified but who they ordered the banjo from? Maybe they were NOT given specifications...  maybe it was  "send us 20 of the Wood hoop Specials asap" It is a…"

"I would suspect that the size depends on who they sourced them from.  I'm sure they provided specifications that were followed more or less.  My Metal Hoop Special has a very wide neck at 34.925mm.  I wonder why that is?"

"Thanks Ian - interesting how different the necks are on CE banjos.  It's a shame you already own the CE woodhoop special otherwise we could swap!  "

"Carrie, My Boudoir Grand has exactly the same neck measurements as your CE Special metal hoop! Boudoir Grand sizes: 30mm at the nut 44/45mm 12th fret up to the hoop. I had no problem playing the CE Special so I guess that I am comparing the…"

"Thank you to all who have responded to my original message. I am new to the classic 5 string banjo. With kind regards David  Griffiths"

"The professional is basically 1-1/4" at the nut.  That matches the catalog specs.  I mostly use metric but banjo measurements tend to be correctly in imperial.  Wow Carrie, your Metal Hoop is pretty narrow."

"Just using a metal ruler, my CE Special (metal hoop) is 30 mm at the nut and 45 mm at the 12th fret whereas the CE Special (woodhoop) is 34 mm at the nut and 50 mm at the 12th.  There doesn't seem to be a standard neck for Clifford Essex -…"