c.1890 Benary 5-String Banjo

Here's a banjo I spruced up and setup for a customer. It was a minimal job, to avoid cost (ie, I didn't polish up all the hardware or take it apart entirely, though I did clean up the finish on the neck, polish the frets, etc.) -- but it came out really nice. This has a warm, strident, and loud tone, perfectly suited to the music of the time and the nylgut strings that are on it (steels would warp the neck as this was built in the gut-string age of the banjo).

Benary banjos were made by the large Buckbee factory (later Lange/Paramount/etc. after its sale) and tend to be very nice instruments. I haven't played one I didn't like the sound or feel of. Quick necks, good balance, and like on these older guys -- very nice craftsmanship. The nut is new, and is holly.

Thin ebony board, original nickel-silver frets, nice greenish MOP dots. All the tuner pegs on this are mixed-bag examples from my vintage parts box.

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11" head gives it a good, full sound.

Back. The neck looks like walnut to me, in an attractive mahogany-ish finish.

Headstock rear.


Nice wood!

And I simply love these old "boat heel" style necks, which recall the minstrel era.

The pot is spunover on the bottom though the head rests on a bigger wooden tonering at the top of the rim. This gives it a direct, loud, and mellow tone, without being spanky or thin.

Burned label on the dowel.


Plenty of hooks & nuts on this rim!

...all those hooks and nuts mean tension is spread nice and evenly.

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Tailpiece is someone's newer replacement. As you can see, a couple of hooks are missing, though they're of little importance on a rim with so many.