Firstly, this is NOT a zither-banjo!  At least not as far as I can see from the photo.  A zither-banjo has a unique type of pot and a unique way of suspending the drum from the wooden surround.  For details see A P Sharpe.

However, I have seen a zither-banjo without the 5th string tunnel with the peg at the 5th fret like an American open-back, so they are not completely unknown.

Thanks, Malachy for mentioning it, and the interesting details of your banjo.

All the Best,

BJ.

Hi Jake, thank you for the interest!

My profile pic is not the banjo in question (that's my lovely Canadian 12" openback). I only posted a picture of the neck of this zither one. It's currently having its back reattached, but it certainly has the structure you refer to. Until it's repaired, I won't know what it sounds like but I'm intrigued.

I suspect it may have been strung as a 4-string, and the pip and 5th fret left unemployed. It shows lots of signs of having been played, which is promising. In order to use the 5th string I will need to add a side-pip (my term: surely there's a proper term for the guide that brings the 5th around the side of the neck?) or add a 5th-fret peg, as you suggest.

yours in banjo, Malachy

Greetings Kind Sir of the Magnificent First Moniker!  Thank you for taking the time and trouble to reply.  My technical prowess is close to zilch, alas, and I am unable to get sufficient magnification on the zither-banjo neck to make much comment.  My apologies for not realising that the banjo illustrated is not the one under discussion.

What I can tell you is this.  During the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's the five-string banjo went a bit out of fashion and in came the tenor banjo (4-strings) and the plectrum 'G' banjo (basically a 5-string -same scale, but 4 strings) specially for traditional jazz and dance (in Britain, at any rate).  Many standard 5-string banjos were converted to the 4-string 'G'. You'll often see them with the normal 5th string peg at the 5th fret removed as well as the 'pip', and the hole for the peg blocked off.  With a zither-banjo you just used one less string, and the 'pip' (it's usually called that, or you can call it the 5th string 'nut' if you want) removed as well as the string.

I've seen quite a few ZB's where the finger-board was obviously made to accommodate a 5th string peg which never got fitted.

My superb long-neck (25 fret) open-back bespoke banjo made in Barnsley, Yorkshire, has a 5th string going the full length of the finger-board to the tuning key on the headstock, but does not go over any frets beyond the 5th.  At the 5th it is stopped by a railroad spike.  Crude, but effective.  All we've been talking about here, is basically different ways of installing the 5th string, if you want one.  

If you do you'll need that 'pip'.  Otherwise you're liable to break the string and wear a groove in the fingerboard. On a ZB there should be a little hole on the fingerboard at the 5th fret.  If there isn't, it's probably been filled in.

Good luck with your banjoing!

All the Best,

Black Jake.