1920s Calvert Parker Melody Banjo Conversion

The dowel on this instrument reads "Calvert Parker" of Keene, New Hampshire. However, it's the same maker that's more well-known as John Henry Parker of Keene, NH and Burlington, VT. I did a similar banjo-mandolin up in January of this year.

This one, however, was left to rot in a bin of various banjos that came to me for local consignment, and it was missing its patented little "tone chamber" metal insert in the rim. It was also less-sturdily built in the rim, so I decided to convert it from a banjo-mandolin into a 4-string "melody banjo" -- GDAE like a mandolin but with only four strings.

The end-result of the conversion is a nice, sweet-sounding banjolin/melody banjo with good volume and a clean sound. The 10" rim means it fits easily in the lap and has a proportionate body size overall.

Repairs included: a new Remo synthetic head, a good number of (period) replacement hooks, nuts, and shoes for the rim, a replacement tailpiece, fret level/dress and side dots install, plugs for the extra tuner holes at the headstock, install of Kluson-style Gotoh tuner pegs, a new bone nut, cleaning, and a setup. The bridge is tall and fully compensated as the neck angle is steep.

Setup notes: action is bang-on at 1/16" at the 12th fret and the neck is straight. It plays fast and easy. Strings are 30w, 20w, 13, 9 gauged phosphor bronze. GHS makes a similar set of strings called their A240 set.

Scale length: 14"

Nut width: 1 1/8"

String spacing at nut: 7/8"

String spacing at bridge: 1 5/8"

Head diameter: 10"

Rim depth: 2 1/4"

Rim material: ply maple?

Neck wood: mahogany

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: 3/4" maple/ebony

Neck feel: medium V-shape, flat board

Condition notes: converted, obviously, for starters -- so replaced head, bridge, and tuners. The neck joint has been modified to bolt-set rather than with the funky original shim-set neck brace (it was fairly useless), too. There's average wear and tear throughout with some flaked-off finish on the treble side of the rim. There are a number of replaced hook/nut/shoe sets on the rim, too. I also converted the stringing to "through-tension-hoop" rather than using a tailpiece. This eliminates extra hardware and keeps the look clean and downpressure stiff.