1920s/1940s Regal/Kay 5-String Openback Frankenstein Banjo

A local customer wanted a nice, Nylgut-strung, openback banjo on the cheap-ish and so I sorted this fella out from parts I had on-hand around the workshop. It has a 1920s Regal-made (pretty sure) rim with an archtop-style, vented tonering. Much of the rim hardware is original but all of the hooks and one of the shoes came from other instruments. The tailpiece is a parts-bin, period find. The neck is a 1940s Kay-made thing and has a curious, Hopi-looking symbolic thingamajig penned into the headstock.

Per the usual for one of these necks, it has a long (26 3/4") scale length and narrow width at the nut and up the board. It feels more like a bluegrass banjo neck but in this case it serves to make a nice, quick, easy fingerpicker/frailing instrument for the new owner.

I wanted to make it as practical as possible for her, too, so I used a synthetic head that was to hand and fit the whole thing with geared tuners -- a mismatched set (save for new cream buttons) at the headstock and a geared 5th peg from the bins.

Let's just say -- if she hadn't wanted it, I may have kept it for myself. It sounds great, with much of that late-1800s sound but blended with the clarity and punch of a '20s tenor banjo rim. I like!