c.1895 Washburn Style 411 5-String Banjo
This is a customer's banjo in for a cleaning and setup, which it's gotten. Nice player, good tone, and great feel. While this style, #411, was in production from 1892, this Washburn's serial puts it at roughly 1895. Aside from the replaced tailpiece, Stewart bridge, and one of the tuning pegs, it's entirely original, which is really, really nice. I don't get to see many of these top-flight old 'jos come through the shop on repair.
When this came in it was fairly crusty and had been "set up" with steel strings and a junky reproduction Grover Presto tailpiece. The original would have mounted with a bolt to the tension hoop and the banjo would have been setup with gut strings originally. I've rectified this -- new Aquila Nylgut strings and an old Buckbee parts-bin ebony tailpiece. Now it looks more the part and definitely sounds the part.
When this came in it was fairly crusty and had been "set up" with steel strings and a junky reproduction Grover Presto tailpiece. The original would have mounted with a bolt to the tension hoop and the banjo would have been setup with gut strings originally. I've rectified this -- new Aquila Nylgut strings and an old Buckbee parts-bin ebony tailpiece. Now it looks more the part and definitely sounds the part.
Original head -- good quality skin. It has a small tear at the 8 o'clock position but I've patched it so as to avoid needing to use a new head.
Bone nut, cool inlaid MOP star. Nice shield and decorative MOP inlay throughout the fretboard, too.
Amazingly, the bone 5th pip is still there.
...and all those nickel-silver frets are in good order.
Hard to read -- but this is a period SS Stewart (possibly the most famous banjo maker of the period) maple bridge. It's been stamped with the name.
Here's my parts-bin Buckbee tailpiece. Works.
Elegant build.
The catalog description lists the pegs as "carved walrus tusk." I do believe they are. There's one replacement, however, and it appears to be a later (1920s?) molded piece.
Nice cherry neck.
Washburn stamp on the dowel.
...and even the original neck shims.
Nicely-made "Imperial" shoes.
I actually think that the end-bolt is a replacement. My guess is that it'd simply have a screw to finish the dowel join off. The original-style tailpiece has a threaded hole in the tension hoop where it would have attached to the banjo with a bolt. The hole is there but the tailpiece is long gone, which is too bad.
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