c.1930s/1940s Kay 5-String Banjo

This banjo's not anything special, but it is a good rugged player. At some point it was stripped and left with its tarnished and rusting hardware to rot, but since I've received it into my care I've polished all the hardware, cleaned the girl up, and rubbed in a light coat of varnish to seal the particularly nice maple pot and neck. And of course, after that, a new bridge and setup!

Typical Kay (prev. Stromberg-Voisinet) style headstock from the 30s or 40s. This banjo's tuners are all-original and feature metal buttons -- which is nice because you don't have to worry about them crumbling with age!

The fretboard is actually dyed birdseye maple, of all the woods it could be! It's got pearl dots, too. The frets on this are actually "bar" frets, which (I think) points this out as a '30s 'jo.

Original skin head -- the only new hardware on this is the bridge, which is a newer Grover maple/ebony type. The original bridge was a two-foot maple Grover from the same period, but it had begun to sag.

Simple tailpiece.

Side view -- this photo has the most accurate colors in it. This banjo has a very long scale length: 27 1/4" -- feels almost like you're playing a Pete Seeger style 'jo.

Nice birdseye veneer on the pot -- and as you can see -- the hardware cleaned up nicely. It was pretty grim when it came in -- but I love seeing clean parts in the end! Notice also that I've installed some new washers between the shoes and the rim to help spread wear more evenly and prevent further deterioration of the rim.

More rim detail.

Under the hood. Simple rod setup.

Back view.

Headstock rear. Original tuners.

Maple neck is plenty sturdy and looks quite nice, too.

Nice and elegantly simple!

And the other end... notice that this rim is simple shaped round where the head rests on it -- this is a traditional style that yields a warm, woody tone. Simply using a small router to make a channel for a steel hoop would give this thing the ability to have a simple tonering which would brighten (and louden) up the tone, if desired.

Long shot.

Tailpiece -- non-adjustable, but it works.

And the coolest feature? Adjustable neck angle simply by loosening the bolt, positioning, and tightening again. So, so, so, so, so easy it's painful. I'm surprised no one builds this in as a standard feature on modern banjos.