1921 Bacon Style C Orchestra 5-String Banjo

Style C Bacon tenor banjos with their plain-Jane styling and simple hoop tonering can be had all over the net. They must have been a relatively common model for the company. What one doesn't see very often is a Bacon 5-string of any sort from the Groton, CT phase of manufacturing. They just weren't in as much demand in the '20s. So -- for me -- it's nice to see and hear one in action. This one probably dates from 1921 or 1922, per its 7900s serial number.

A local customer owns this instrument and has for a good amount of time, as I recall. She's had me do-over a couple of other instruments, now, and I think the experience of having an older 5-string "made modern" got her hooked. I hope this one is even more transformative for her, as in addition to new StewMac 5-Star pegs, it also got a board plane and refret which makes it now handle like something boutique and modern.

The end result is an instrument that has a strong, clean, rich, and sustained voice. The very long 27 1/4" scale length and somewhat-lightweight mahogany for the neck means that to keep it at standard pitch (G-tuning) and keep the neck happy I have to really lighten-up the strings, but the benefit of that long scale is that it makes all of the notes ring just that much more. It's like special sauce and it's a very lively instrument to play. My hand was taking its time to figure-out the fret spacing in that video clip, however! It's definitely not "home base" for me.

Work included: a board plane and refret with jumbo stock (the long tang of big frets helps apply some compression to the neck), install of new tuners, mild cleaning, side dots install, compensation of the provided bridge, and a good setup. Action is spot-on at a hair over 1/16" at the 12th fret and it's strung with 9s.

I like to have a downpressure-assisted tailpiece on old-time-style openback banjos. It cleans-up the tone a bit and aids projection even with the dead-as-a-plank FiberSkyn head.

The new ebony-buttoned 5-Star pegs look pretty slick, huh?

The heel was split and repaired at some point in the past. At the same time it looks like the neck got a shot of overspray on its entire rear.