1910s Supertone (Lange) Openback 5-String Banjo

Overview: I used to work on scads of these old, Lange-made, Supertone-branded banjos. They were sold through the Sears catalog at the time and, while a lot of folks string these with steel, I think they sound best (and are best served structurally) with the gut that would've likely been on them when made. Because of that, I set them up standard for Nylgut strings. These are extremely lightweight in build and, as a result, fun to tote-around and enjoy on-the-go.

We've modernized this a bit with a synthetic head and Gotoh geared pegs to make it easy to own, but it definitely has that classic, mellow, but snappy thing going-on that's typical of 1890s-1900s instruments.

Repairs included: Tim fit a new head, fit new tuners, leveled and dressed the frets, fit a new (repro-style) tailpiece, added bolt-reinforcement to the neck brace area, and set it up. It's playing spot-on and is ready to go.

• Weight: 3 lbs 0 oz
• Scale length: 26 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 1/4"
• Neck shape: medium V
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 0.75"
• Depth at seventh fret: 0.91"
• Head diameter: 10 5/8"
• Depth overall at rim: 2 3/8"
• Rim wood: maple or cherry w/spunover
• Tonering: none
• Bridge: old Grover Non-Tip (maple)
• Fretboard: ebonized maple
• Neck wood: likely cherry
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: Nylgut lights
• Truss rod: none
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: narrow/low

Condition notes: It's relatively clean for a banjo of this time and style. The rim is a little out-of-round as you might expect for such a lightly-made instrument. The tuners, bridge, head, and tailpiece are non-original. There's wear and tear here and there throughout the finish but overall it looks really good.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: AXBD