MY BANJO COLLECTION
My first two banjos were a Kay and a Morgan Monroe. Historically, piano lessons which I hated, and a single pickup hollow body Gretsch guitar played when we auditioned for Phil Spector. I recently sold a Harmony Deluxe tenor banjo. I also recently bought an autoharp.
SOLD 2023. Gibson Earl Scruggs Standard, Hearts and Flowers, Keith tuners, original case. Sold 2023.
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SOLD. Aria four string tenor. Bought from Gabriel Donohue Irish musician, was once owned by one of the
Chieftains. Rumor it was played on Broadway in the musical Oklahoma. And what a ride, sold to a person in Ohio. Should have taken 2 days to get there. Fedex sent it to Mississippi, Arizona, California, back to Arizona, Kansas City, Indiana and then Ohio. 10 days.
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SOLD. Stelling 5 string, 1996, one of the very first Starflowers, new owner extremely happy. He has other Stellings and says this one blows theirs socks off. Brazilian mahogany with email provenance from Geoff Stelling. Hated to sell it, but very heavy in weight.
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Concertone 4 string, 1930, an original brand by Montgomery Ward, geared, not friction tuners
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SOLD. Sovereign Butterfly 5 string
Gold Tone BG-150F Bluegrass Banjo. Hearts and Flower Inlay
Recording King open back
Stunning 1940 Bacon & Day Special Tenor Banjo. Owned by Samuel Haney, who may have been related to Carlton Haney, bluegrass entrepreneur, I am trying to find out.
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Left:
Gold Tone 250 WL-250 open back White Layde
I bought this banjo because at my age I am finding the banjos quite heavy to carry around, so the open backs are lighter.
Right:
Sold.
Bought at Harry and Jeannie West store in Statesville NC, a famous store for a long time. Closed after their deaths.
SOLD. S.S. Stewart open back from the 1890s. Hand carving on the neck.
The interesting thing about this banjo was I bought it from an artist in California who used to live across the street from me in New York City, East Village, St. Marks Place! It was bought by a collector in Arizona who owns 19 Stewarts!
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This banjo is in very good condition for its age (120+ years). All hardware seems to be original except I had tuners replaced from friction to geared to make it easier to tune. $1200 or best offer.
Samuel Swaim Stewart (1855-1896) also known as S.S. Stewart, was a musician, composer, publisher, and manufacturer of banjos. He owned the S. S. Stewart banjo company which was one of the largest banjo manufacturers in the 1890s. He is know today for his efforts to remake the banjo into an instrument of cultural sophistication and for his high quality banjos.
This banjo has a 10 1/2” head, the neck is 189” (nut to rim) with 20 frets. This probably makes it a “Specialty Banjo”, slightly smaller than standard and suited one be tuned one step up from regular C tuning to D. Works fine in C too, though. I play it in G. Serial number 54193 (matching on rim and neck-rod).
The neck is cherry; ebony fingerboard with pearl position markers. Ebony nut. Pegged is ebony with elaborate mother of pearl inlays. Birdseye made rim spun with “german silver” Beautiful carving on the heel of the neck. The head is either goat or calf and in perfect shape.
Low action. Non-original hard case.
Setup by luthier Donnie Little.
These old instruments were originally built for gut strings and the tension of steel strings can be too much for them. So the sound can be very different from a bluegrass instrument. Deeper and more mellow, for that clawhammer sound. I am not sure what kind of strings are on it.
More information about Stewart banjos at
mugwumps.com/sss_date.html
Will be shipped with (non-original) hard case.
Shipping $80 to lower 48 states.