1926 Bacon Silver Bell No 6 Ne Plus Ultra Resonator Tenor Banjo

Holy shimoli, now that's a banjo, folks. This Bacon has everything. Rhinestones over celluloid in the headstock veneer? Yeah, boss! Engraved, gold-plated hardware everywhere? Yessir. Engraved ivory fretboard inlay? Yep, it has it. An ebony neck with a giant lion carved in the heel with bejewled eyes? Oh, yeah. Like I said, it has everything.

Work on this was fairly simple, too -- I tweaked the setup, corrected a bit of funk at the fret edges, and helped get the lever-activated mute working correctly. This banjo is a screamer with a ton of volume and the usual crisp, up-front, brass-defeating sound you'd expect from a pro-level Bacon of this era.

Did I mention the lion?

It has been replated and the finish on the neck was touched-up at some point, but sheesh -- nothing drags down this stunner. It's completely outrageous.