My New (Big) Baby

[John Cohen]

Shortly I'll be taking delivery of this beautiful Clifford Essex Professional, courtesy of Tom Ryan.

 

This one is a bit different than some of the others I've seen.  It has Grover tuners with white buttons, Weaver like side dots, and rather than the black dowel stick tag that reads 'The Professional" it has the angled stamps like the Richard Spencer made Concert Grand banjos.  I've been looking for a Professional for a long time, and I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

[marc dalmasso]

congrats , John ;  what about the serial  n° ? ?

[John Cohen]

It looks to be no. 118.

[marc dalmasso]

Mine is 61 ;  Roman number  II

would be interesting to know your Roman Number

[John Cohen]

I'll share it once I have the banjo in hand.  Do you know when they started making these?  It's my understanding that the earliest ones date to the beginning of the '20s, but I suppose they could have made them in the teens.

[marc dalmasso]

i don 't know __________ we don  ' t know anything

the only thing i think i 'am may be right is that the CE banjos were made by seria l/ batch  of 19 instruments

[John Cohen]

Marc, the dowel stick, spun-over lip of the rim, tension hoop, and wooden rim are all marked "III".

[marc dalmasso]

my idea is that one serie  is 19 Prof banjos  ; with the exception of my mistake , your banjo should be marked I I  ;    why is it maked  I I I   ?   : mistery

[John Cohen]

It's definitely marked I I I  ;)

[marc dalmasso]

yes ; no doubt

Who own a Professional here and could give  serial n° &  Roman n°  ?

we could  discover the mistery of the CE '  numbering system

[Peter van Alteren]

My Professional has number 154 but no Roman number at all. The hoop, the rim, the dowel stick...nowhere a mark. I understand this is unusual!?

[John Cohen]

Yes, that's unusual in my experience.  By the way, isn't the Professional an incredible banjo?!  It takes a very careful setup to get it sounding great, but once you dial it in I'm not sure there is anything better.

[Peter van Alteren]

You 're right!  But it's a 'migthy' instrument and it needs a good player for a good sound ... I am still working on that. Mine still has a calfskin, so the sound depends of the weather. It seems impossible, but I think the vellum is still an original one. It's extremely well prepared (cut and agglutinated). Clearly not handmade but...well, eh... Professional!...that's the right term. That's the reason I left it this way. Perhaps it's better to go for a fyberskin or so. I'm still unsure.