Interesting Zb on eBay. Don't see the use of that metal thing though.You think they put it on the wrong side of the strings? On the other side it would make sense... And that bridge!

Windsor Zb

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Whyte Laydies and Tubaphones had bracket bands. Old photos of Pete Seeger's banjo show a pot with a bracket band. So it could be either model. Later photos show a banjo with a relatively crude neck and a pot with individual bolted "shoes".  So it can't be a Tubaphone or a Whyte Laydie, right?

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/277418

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/188315

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/302345

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/179475

More info than one ever wanted to know about Seeger's banjo.  The one he is often photographed with that has a harpoon peghead is a Tubaphone #3 rim and Seeger made neck.

Seeger's invention lead to scads of white sock and loafer wearing young men with a capo d'astro permanently clamped at the third fret.  I love fads.

I have never seen a Tubaphone #3 with individually bolted bracket shoes. There is always a bracket band. This was also true of the Pete Seeger models that Vega later made. Can all those posters at banjo hangout be wrong?   How often are they right?  

Re the socks and loafers: along with striped short sleeved shirts that was certainly the look of the Kingston Trio and some other less long-lived "folk" trios. But I did not see many imitators at the amateur level. I was there, playing professionally as a teenager. I can recall meeting exactly one guy like that. The whole band dressed like that. 

Re Vega longneck banjos that were made that way:  with the onset of the old time music revival these became Uncool because the old timers who made recordings in the 20s didn't play them.   But I've had my hands on a few of these unwieldy beasts and all of them sounded fantastic with a natural vellum and steel strings. There's something to be said for the long string length combined with the good  tone ring these banjos had.

  The one he is often photographed with that has a harpoon peghead is a Tubaphone #3 rim and Seeger made neck.

Seeger's invention lead to scads of white sock and loafer wearing young men with a capo d'astro permanently clamped at the third fret.  I love fads.

https://www.banjobuyer.com/banjo/58416

https://www.banjobuyer.com/banjo/54499

https://reverb.com/item/15431367-vega-pete-seeger-long-neck-banjo-1961

... and now you have!

Bill Nelson's version of Vega was that of a company cutting costs.  He scrapped the bracket band as soon as he could get away with it and in the place put a thinner hoop of metal and bolted through brackets.  The rims were cut from some plywood tubing from a company that made wood pipe or columns.  The machine cut necks were finished with stained varnish-- one step instead of several, and most the finish removed on the back of the neck from playing.

The second and third banjos have an outer  band *and* bolts!  yikes.  YIKES in CAPS for the prices!!!!!!

Joel Hooks said:

https://www.banjobuyer.com/banjo/58416

https://www.banjobuyer.com/banjo/54499

https://reverb.com/item/15431367-vega-pete-seeger-long-neck-banjo-1961

... and now you have!

Bill Nelson's version of Vega was that of a company cutting costs.  He scrapped the bracket band as soon as he could get away with it and in the place put a thinner hoop of metal and bolted through brackets.  The rims were cut from some plywood tubing from a company that made wood pipe or columns.  The machine cut necks were finished with stained varnish-- one step instead of several, and most the finish removed on the back of the neck from playing.

The prices are based on 15 year old prices.

15-20 years ago many of the people who longed for a Vega Seeger banjo when they were young were at a point when they could afford the toy of their youth.  Armed with the buying power of a strong pension, many newly retired people fought over the Seeger long neck banjos.

Now, 15 years later, those people are starting to slow down and downsize (or expiring).  So are the people who bought them new in the 60s.  Inventory is high... and the market is pretty much zero. 

They are not selling currently. People list them and they just sit.  But that does not stop people from thinking they are worth that much (esp. if they paid that 20 years ago).  

A few years back a student of mine with money to burn, turned up with a long-neck Vega. It was fantastic, and I managed a few classic pieces on it without trouble. Some things were impossible, though, such as this F Major chord (x=open string)

x5213

...but it was a very impressive instrument.

The chord you describe would be a D major chord because this model is tuned down 3 half steps.

Rob MacKillop said:

A few years back a student of mine with money to burn, turned up with a long-neck Vega. It was fantastic, and I managed a few classic pieces on it without trouble. Some things were impossible, though, such as this F Major chord (x=open string)

x5213

...but it was a very impressive instrument.

I know, I know. 

Well, with my small hands, I cant play that chord on a normal banjo....

I can play it on a 26" banjo, but not on my 27 3/4" SSS banjos, which is annoying. 

I don't know anyone who has ever attempted that chord on any banjo. Generally the bass is fingered and then the left hand scoots down to play a 3 fingered/3 stringed F chord. Some play 214, some  213.

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