A register of surviving Parslow banjos built from 1880 to 1919

I have just had a message from site member Ed Parslow letting me know of the work he has been doing on the history and whereabout of banjos manufactured by James T Parslow from 1880 to 1919.

He has produced a register giving information and this can be viewed here:

James Parslow Banjo Register

I am sure that Ed would be interested if you own, or know someone who has, a Parslow instrument.

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For future reference, I have also added a link for the Website's  LINKS page.

This is quite an impressive work!  Clear and well presented.  I now know more than I ever should about Parslow banjos.

A few observations...

On banjo #5 there are two things attached to the head.  Does anyone know what those are and are for?

Banjo #9 is obviously a copy of an early S. S. Stewart banjo-- cool!

On banjo #17 it shows a photo of a tuning peg with the patent date of May 8, 1888.  It was mentioned earlier in the work that Parslow patented his own design of friction tuners.  Is this an example of his patent and design?  The date and stamping is exactly the same as the "Champion" tuners designed and patented by Filstrup and Van Zandt and manufactured and sold by A. D. Grover. See link for patent.  These are the second most common pattern of "patent" friction pegs found on US banjos.  A copy of these was also used by CE (at least I think they copied them, the ones on my Concert Grand are unmarked and slightly different than Champion tuners).

https://patents.google.com/patent/US382465A/en?q=banjo&q=tuner&...

I love the peghead shape on these banjos.  I have always admired the British method of laminating necks.  They tend to have a cool Gothic aesthetic about them.  

Hi Joel, Thanks for the compliment, it was a just a thought I had early on in the year and I am surprised to itemise 20 although some of these still need the present custodians/owners locating but it is early days.

To answer your first query is simple: As I play Clawhammer, to deaden the sound of my fingers on the head I attached shaped pieces of thin leather and it works perfectly -- Check my ‘Six of the Best’ pic at the beginning of the register to see more. It was an idea I had on the scratch-plate of my guitar when playing Piedmont style which only uses thumb and index finger with the rest inadvertently tapping the scratch-plate.

Thank you for pointing out the Patent date on the tuners and furnishing a PDF of the actual patent and patentees. My information on Parslow devising his own patent tuners came from the text in the original British Banjo Makers web site and as I also have one set of tuners with the May 8 88 mark, albeit on the back plate, I shall be amending my text.

Hi Joel. I needed an extra page at the back of the register to make the fretboard groups read as a double page spread  so I utilised the PDF you sent me:

Thanks for pointing that out.

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