1880s SS Stewart Fretless/Fretted Conversion 5-String Banjo

The owner of this banjo is under the impression that it's an 1880s SS Stewart and I concur. It was converted from fretless to fretted for her sometime back and it has an intriguing, really long, 27 3/8" or so scale length. The pot is around 11" though, so it still handles like a "normal" banjo.

It had lived as a lightly-strung steel-stringer for decades, I'm guessing, but she wanted to get it going per its original self -- with gut (or, in this case, Nylgut) strings. I had to do some finagling but we got it there after a fret level/dress, some shim-wonkery at the neck joint (believe me, this instrument was not configured "stock" in any sense), a set of new "aged" Gotoh 4:1 geared pegs, and a setup.

Post-repairs (and they're wonky, as I mentioned, with two big bolts installed into the heel to keep the neck secure -- but they work), it plays spot-on, has a good-and-tall 5/8" bridge, and it sounds full and forward.