1981 Stelling Bellflower 5-String Resonator Banjo

Stellings are simply top grade. If you're into bluegrass, you know these instruments. They're the player's equivalent of a collector's Gibson Mastertone. They just plain sound good and scratch that bluegrass itch right on the nose.

This one was built in 1981 and it features a walnut neck, resonator, and rim. The rim itself has block construction and a big old flathead tonering. All of the details are well-thought-out, too, including the open-middle flange holes (easier to get those resonator access bolts lined-up) and a tension-held, angle-adjustable tailpiece.  Other things are standard Mastertone flavor -- a double coordinator rod system for example and a defies-understanding headstock shape that's, as my kid put it, "sooooo cooooool..."

It didn't need much to get going and now that it's properly adjusted it plays fast and easy and is ready to go. It even has a K&K pickup installed for gig use -- with an external jack mounted on the flange. There's also a pair of Keith "D" tuners for the G&B strings. I've compensated the bridge as well.

Repairs included: fret level/dress, mild tweaking, setup.

Rim wood: block walnut

Tonering: flathead

Bridge: ebony/maple

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: walnut

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 10s

Neck shape: slim-medium C

Board radius: flat

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 26 1/8"

Nut width: 1 1/4"

Head diameter: 11”

Resonator diameter: 13 5/8"

Depth overall at rim: 3 3/8"

Weight: 11 lbs 13 oz

Condition notes: it's quite clean but does show mild wear on the head and scant light scratching here and there. There's finish weather-checking on the resonator's rear and a little here and there throughout. There are some small scratch/roughed edges at the back of the headstock but they're not obvious. There's a small ding or two on the back of the neck.

It comes with: your choice of the original Stelling hard case or a nearly-new TKL Deluxe hard case... or both.