1920s Gretsch Resonator Tenor Banjo

While unbranded, this tenor banjo has lots of giveaways that it was Gretsch-made. The headstock shape, volute at the rear of the headstock, and rim design with side "vents" and a flat resonator backplate are all typical of the brand (many of their banjos got Clarophone or other branding for whatever reason). It also has an only-used-by-Gretsch tailpiece design as far as I know.

These are sturdy, solidly-built instruments and tend to have a nice, punchy sound. This one is probably from the early '20s as it has the more old-fashioned, short-scale neck style. The rule of thumb the owner left us was to make it as playable as possible on a budget. To that end it got a level/dress of the frets, side dots, a new (well, used) Remo Renaissance head to replace an old skin head that tore when tightening-up, cleaning, new geared tuners install, and setup work. The owner wanted it for DGBE tuning.

The resonator design means that the neck can't be tightened to the rim nicely, so that's a bit of a flaw -- but we get around that by adding a vertical bolt near the heel on the back that tightens-up the dowel to the rim where it joins the rim. Thus we can make the neck stable there and use small shims at the tension hoop to set neck angle where we want it.