This banjo has a somewhat unusual history. It was the last banjo I built at St. Francis Farm in Orwell NY, prior to moving to Piercefield in August 2022. It was spoken for before completion and shipped to the buyer in Italy, but it disappeared somewhere in Italy before it reached him. I refunded his money in November and thought no more about the banjo till it appeared in January at the Piercefield post office, long after I had given up on it being returned. This banjo has had well traveled and multicultural experiences, but is still in new, unplayed condition other than briefly by me during the setup process.

This banjo has a cherry rim, neck and Romero-style armrest, with a cherry burl peghead overlay and jatoba fretboard.  I will sell the banjo without the armrest for $30 less if it isn’t wanted.  This banjo has a Renaissance head on a 10″ block rim with a wood tone ring profile.  The scale length is 19-3/4″ and the nut is 1-3/8″ wide.  The neck has a two way truss rod accessed from the heel, brass dots, EVO fret wire, Gotoh tuners and Corian nuts.  I made the Van Eps style tension hoop and the dowel stick yoke, the tuners and head came from Smakula Fretted Instruments and the rest of the hardware came from Balsam Banjo Works.   The finish is Tru Oil.  There is a brass plate on the dowel stick with the banjo number and such on it.  The banjo is currently set up with a tall 5th string nut to raise the 5th to the level of the other strings, but I can shorten the nut so the string rests on the 5th fret if desired.  I can also add 5th string spikes for $5 each.  The banjo is tuned to open C in the video, but these banjos will also tune comfortably down to open A with the stock medium strings, or to open G with nylgut minstrel strings.  To see a video of this banjo please follow the link below: