1920s Souza's Make Tenor Banjo

It's not known who made these Souza's Make tenor banjo, but they come-up now and then. They look similar to instruments built by various other (large) makers but so many of the small details are off that that we can assume they were built by a smaller shop and not for a very long time as there aren't a whole ton of them out there in the world.

This is approximately similar in quality to an entry-level Vega or Bacon banjo, having no tonering and simple trim. It does have a neat "spin-on" resonator that's easily-removable and appears all-original save side dots and bridge. The head is the original skin and it has its original friction pegs, though, so anyone who might be thinking of gigging with this (as opposed to hanging out at home ore recording with it) may want to swap those out to geared pegs and synthetic for ease-of-use.

I've currently got it strung for CGDA (standard) tuning and it seems to enjoy that. I think it might be a little too mellow for GDAE tuning (the low "G" note would be too woofy/quiet) but DGBE tuning would be nice on it, too.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, cleaning, and setup.

Weight: 4 lbs 12 oz

Scale length: 20 7/8"

Nut width: 1 1/8"

Neck shape: medium V

Board radius: flat

Head diameter: 11”

Depth overall at rim: 2 3/4"

Rim wood: maple?

Tonering: none

Bridge: maple/ebony

Fretboard: ebonized mysterywood

Neck wood: maple

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 32w, 20w, 13, 9 for CGDA tuning

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: lower/smaller

Condition notes: it's overall in good order and appears all-original save strings and bridge. The Elton "spin-on" resonator could be aftermarket but I've seen a few other Souza's Make instruments out there with them so I suspect they were fit when they were built. It has mild wear throughout but is fairly clean. The original friction pegs work but are a little fussy as you'd expect -- they're friction pegs!

It comes with: an original hard case.