1900s Weymann 5-String Banjeaurine Openback Banjo

How cool is this? I love banjeaurines but they're very rare. What is a banjeaurine? Well, it's like a pony banjo (short scale) but with a disproportionately-large rim (as seen here, but often some of these had 12-14" rims). They're traditionally tuned up to an open C over the open G and were meant to be "soloist" instruments in banjo orchestras. They sure work a lot better for modern ears in the capacity this is used -- on the lonesome, probably playing tunes or backing singing.

The owner mentioned that he thought the neck might be from leftover SS Stewart parts. At first I thought this was a little nutty because Weymann built their own banjos in a very similar style, but he may be onto something as the "volute" at the back of the headstock and the very thin headstock cut do suggest Stewart manufacture.

In any case, he got lucky and scrounged this at a flea market. He got really lucky! Most of the work on this had already been done, it seems, decades ago. It arrived almost playable but definitely needed a glorified setup to dial it in and get it playing its best (which it now does).

I love the dowel/neck angle adjuster mechanism, the quality hardware, and the fact that someone swapped-out the tuners for geared pegs. Yes! We all win... and yes...! ...it has nylon strings on it, as it should. This would have been a gut-stringer to begin-with.