This is a wonderful and rare Silver Bell banjo by H.C. Dobson. Its significant features include the coveted Silver Bell tone ring, a very unusual slotted peghead with original geared tuning pegs with bone buttons all around, and a newish flush-fret fingerboard (functions like a fretless, but has inlaid fret "lines" to help you find your way!) installed by Bob Smakula to replace the disintegrated original fretted fingerboard, as requested by the previous owner.

The photographs speak quite well for themselves, but here are a few more details: ~11" spun-over rim with all-original hardware, 25.5" scale mahogany neck, new No-Knot tailpiece installed (original Dobson tailpiece with star-shaped cutout is also included), skin head, serial number 5108.

The banjo's condition is excellent, the only noteworthy wear being the fact that the nickel plating that originally covered the rim and its hardware as well as the plate at the end of the fingerboard has completely worn away, exposing brass with a beautiful patina all around. Everything else about the instrument is complete, original (with the exception of the new fingerboard, of course), and undamaged.

This banjo sounds GREAT! Its skin head is rather hard, giving it more volume than one might expect from an instrument of this nature. Even when I have taken it to outdoor music festivals in high humidity, I have not needed to tighten the head, never feeling that its volume was lacking. Set up with light-gauge steel strings (I recommend against using anything heavier on such an old banjo) and a new No-Knot tailpiece (keeping in mind that the cool-looking original tailpiece is also included), it cuts through any old-time session with real presence and authority. It is well set up with comfortable action for the left hand, but still enough height for clawhammer-ing over the base of the fingerboard.

As players have discovered them, these banjos are getting snapped up and are becoming scarce. Bernunzio Vintage Instruments (www.bernunzio.com), as good a source as any for fine open-back banjos, has sold a small handful in the past couple of years, and theirs are typically sold through their website even before photos are posted--a testament to the consistency and desirability of these banjos! Particularly hard to find are the Dobsons with slotted pegheads and similarly-designed fifth string pegs; in fact, I only know of about five that have actually hit the open marketplace in the past five years or so, and I am personally aware of fewer than two dozen examples altogether, many of which are the less-desirable (to players, anyway) nine-inch-rimmed models.

My main banjo is a very fine, fretted H.C. Dobson slothead, which can be seen in photographs at www.adamhurt.com and www.myspace.com/adamhurt. I used it to record much of my newer CD, "Insight"; sound samples from the CD featuring THAT banjo are available a www.cdbaby.com/cd/adamhurt. While I can't say that these two Dobson banjos sound identical, they possess some of the same warmth and roundness. The flush-fret banjo being auctioned is a good deal brighter and louder than my fretted Dobson (plus, its being fretless certainly affects the sound except on open strings), but it is in a similar tone family...if that makes any sense. Both of these banjos are substantial, well-built instruments that have been very reliable for me; don't be scared of the fact that they are 120-plus years old!

I like this banjo very much, and recommend it highly. The only reason that I am selling it is because I really don't play very much fretless banjo lately; the material I play most often is better suited to a fretted instrument, and this banjo deserves to be played more often than I have cause to play it. I have thought more than once about "re-converting" it back to a fretted banjo, but thought that I'd first offer it up as-is and see whether a lover of the fretless banjo might be drawn to it in its present state.

I will ship this banjo in a chipboard case and pack it very well. Should the buyer wish to look for a better case, be aware that a "standard" hardshell case will be too big for this instrument. However, TKL has made a very nice hardshell case for (I think) an open-back tenor banjo, which fits a banjo of this size quite well. Cases of this nature can surely be purchased online.

Please contact me with any questions, or if you'd like to hear the banjo played over the phone!