2010s Eastman Whyte Laydie-Style 5-String Openback Banjo

Overview: About 10 or 15 years ago, Bernunzio in upstate New York had Eastman build a run of Vega-style copycat banjos. I believe this to be one of them and it features the fancy, engraved inlay and tonering of a Whyte Laydie model from around 1910 or so. The neck is a little bulkier than the originals but feels great nonetheless. It even has the vintage 10 3/4" rim rather than a modern-style 11" rim. How about that?

Soundwise, it's spot-on and will do that sparkly, sustained, clean, Whyte Laydie thing with the head at more tension and with the head slacked (or damped heavily), it can get more of that rich but mellow vibe. The neck is very much suited more to fingerpicking-style or lighter clawhammer approaches rather than "modern" old-time style with the big scoop and whatnot.

Repairs included: It arrived in good order -- I just needed to clean it up a bit, compensate the bridge a bit, restring it, and set it up. It's playing spot-on and ready to roll.

• Weight: 6 lbs 8 oz
• Scale length: 25 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 5/16"
• Neck shape: bigger/fuller C/soft V
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 0.92"
• Depth at seventh fret: 1.07"
• Head diameter: 10 3/4"
• Depth overall at rim: 2 5/8"
• Rim wood: maple
• Tonering: Whyte Laydie
• Bridge: maple/ebony (compensated)
• Fretboard: ebony
• Neck wood: maple 2-piece
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 9s
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: narrow/medium height

Condition notes: It's pretty clean but does show a bunch of light hardware tarnish/grunge on the rim hardware. That could be buffed-out, likely, but would be a couple-hour job of removing all of the hardware and putting it all back on. I vote to let it be! I wiped it down a bit, though, and the plating isn't damaged -- it's just showing that "watermark" look a bit. The clearcoat on the headstock has also yellowed a lot. The head was pretty grungy when it arrived but it cleaned-up nice. It's a Remo Renaissance-style synthetic head (my favorite type).

It comes with: It has a nice, Eastman-supplied, "bump" hard case.

Consignor tag: SDUF