1920s Iucci Baby Grand Resonator Tenor Banjo

Overview: I'm a fan of Iucci instruments -- they're clearly aimed at the pro market for the time they were made as they're well-built, loud as heck, cut through like a Paramount or Orpheum, and look fantastic. They have a dowel-less/coordinator-rod-less design on models like this one and feature, instead, a heavy-duty bracket band/flange that keeps the rim nice and round and the neck joint firm and secure. The neck is, instead, bolted-on to the body in much the same manner that Epiphone banjos from the '20s were. It has an archtop tonering design which gives it a lot of oomph and cut and is filled with pretty inlay in the fretboard and headstock, flamed maple in the neck itself, and hardware full of attractive details.

Repairs included: Max gave this a level/dress of the frets. I fixed up some neck joint/bolt-mount issues were someone had installed overly-long screws at some point. Then it got a setup, a replacement tailpiece (the original was damaged and falling apart), and other light adjustments. It's playing spot-on and ready to serve.

• Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz
• Scale length: 22 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 1/8"
• Neck shape: deeper C/V
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 55/64"
• Depth at seventh fret: 15/16"
• Head diameter: 11 1/8"
• Resonator diameter: 13 1/2”
• Depth overall at rim: 3"
• Rim wood: ply maple
• Tonering: archtop, vented
• Bridge: ebony/maple
• Fretboard: ebony
• Neck wood: 2-piece flamed maple
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 34w-10 for CGDA standard tuning (can restring for other tunings)
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: jumbo/medium height

Condition notes: The instrument is mostly original, though the wooden parts have all had an overspray job done with clearcoat -- it looks like '70s-style work and that was popular at the time -- and has the usual yellowing/slight "ghosting" to its look that is also unfortunately common. The plating is all original on the hardware, though. We put a replacement tailpiece on. The bolts used to fit the neck to the rim are non-original but work well. It has a newer, Remo frosted-bottom head.

It comes with: It has a decent case.

Consignor tag: TYPS