I was digging around in my garage and found a Silvertone 5-string banjo.It has no resonator or strings or bridge. The head feels like it's made of paper. Is it worth the money to revive it? I have an inexpensive banjo I'm learning on and I can't say which banjo would be better.

I'd appreciate any advice.

Is there any easy way to insert the photos in my photo album into this message? The insert image button doesn't work.

Carolyn



******************************************************************
A Silvertone bottlecap (1960''s-1970''s)
www.carolynboyles.com
www.livingwithspinalcordinjury.com

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  08:13:44    

What do you mean by "new pot"? Is the rim cracked?

Head + strings + new bridge will run about $40, so that would be worth it for any banjo. But if the rim is cracked, I would call it a wall hanger.

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  08:39:23        

One of the old banjos I fixed up and gave away had no name on it, but from other's pictures on the BHO, I've always though it might have been a Silvertone/Harmony. Valuable? No. Better than your other banjo? No. I see these banjos quite often on the Goodwill website for $50-$100 depending on condition. But they do have the ability to play ok if you know how to fix and set them up, and any banjo has the ability to bring joy to someone's life, and that's priceless. Here's a photo of the one i had:


Dean

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  08:46:13    

It had Roy Smeck picks with it, for what that's worth.

Thanks.

Carolyn

******************************************************************
A Silvertone bottlecap (1960''s-1970''s)
www.carolynboyles.com
www.livingwithspinalcordinjury.com

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  08:48:34            

Here's how I do it:
=====================================
Once the photos are on your homepage,
LEFT click on the photo to get the slightly larger
RIGHT click on the photo to open a menu in a gray box
LEFT click on the BOTTOM of the menu, where it says PROPERTIES,
and another menu will appear.
Drag your mouse over the mishmash of letters and numbers across from where it says URL.
CONTROL and C to copy.
Go to the thread where you want to paste in your photo.
If you've already posted a comment, and want your photo IN that comment, click the EDIT icon above your comment.
Otherwise, if it's a whole fresh comment, click REPLY TO TOPIC.
Click that "moon over the mountains" icon, which means PICTURE.
the square brackets
[im.g]
and
[/im.g]
will appear.

move your mouse into the space between the brackets
[im.g] RIGHT HERE![/im.g]
and hit CONTROL and V to paste.

(PLEASE NOTE: To keep MY computer from thinking I wanted a picture called "Right Here!" to be pasted in, I added a dot in the img and /img commands. Don't worry if the dots do NOT show up on the Hangout screen. They're not SUPPOSED to.)

Click PREVIEW to see if the picture shows up.

If it shows up, finish making your comments, and post your reply.

===================================================

It's worth making a bridge out of a scrap of hardwood, and putting on a new set of strings.
What else does it need?

There's one BHO member whose first banjo was a Silvertone. He's got a much better banjo, but he misses his old pal.
So, I'll see if I can send him THIS topic, and maybe he'll be happy to buy it off you, as is, and restore it himself.


=):{ )
Mike Gregory, Banjo Maker Infraordinaire
When I say my instruments are as good as anything Gibson or Martin ever made,
I mean MEL Gibson and DEAN Martin!


My banjos can be seen on my own website
http://littlebanjos.lunare.net

See me & my SQUARED EEL banjo on the Y''all tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97EfvhFgRBY

Edited by - mike gregory on 06/01/2009 08:53:28

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  09:00:49        

Hey, those are great old Banjos. I would love to buy it if available. Thanks, Mike, and All. I DO miss the old Silvertone. You can message me or whatever. Take care, and keep on Pickin'

"If you find yourself in a hol

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  09:04:22    

My advice would be to sell it to salishsilver ^.

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  09:12:24      

It's a Harmony or Kay. Harmony if the shell's plastic. Kay if it's wood. Fixing it would be a project to do yourself if you're so inclined. It's not worth replacing the pot if it's beyond repair. Those were cheap entry level banjos, and will never sound really good. That's why Tweak said what he did. In other words, it's a banjo very similar in its day to the one you're learning on now.

Bill

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  09:35:08          

quote:

---

I was digging around in my garage and found a Silvertone 5-string banjo

---

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  10:22:05            

So glad my memory still works.
I remembered his BHO name, AND his poor heart longing for his old Silvertone.

You have it, he wants it, and you don't need a LESS playable banjo than you already have.
Message him and find out how sad and lonely he is; then exploit his emotions to close the sale.
(Principles Of Marketing 101, Milwaukee Area Technical College, 1974)

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  13:55:18          

Actually the Harmony pot would most likely be Bakelite - an unrepairable early plastic mostly used in insulators.

The Kay pot is going to be pressboard - a glue and woodchip mixture - also unrepairable.

Unless the pot is perfect in either case it is not salvagable so check it out carefully - and by all means get pix on yoru homepage so it can be identified.

If you are interested in what I say on the hangout you should download a free copy of Rocket Science Banjo - the Advanced Method For Beginning to Intermediate Clawhammer Players, at:
http://www.rocketsciencebanjo.com

Along with the full text in PDF you will also find the four current RSB videos and the "25 EZ Clawhammer tunes. - which number around 40 now.

Banjo Brad is still hosting "How To Mold A Mighty Pinky" and some other material at:
http://www.pricklypearmusic.net
A site chock full of interesting banjo material

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  14:59:22    

Its a Harmony.

Jay

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  16:41:54      

No don't do a thing with it, just send it to me and I'll have a use for it.

RobBob
Music; the best way to count time.
www.blueridgerounders.com

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  16:49:36      

-Joel

Success always comes to those who have the money to buy it.

-The Adventures of a Banjo Player, 1884 p.26

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  16:58:50    

Thanks all. I sent a message to Salishsilver and we'll see what happens.

It's safe to say that banjo restoration is beyond my physical capabilities.

Neither my husband nor I have any memory of where the banjo came from. We may have bought it at a yard sale years ago and forgotten about it.

For the person who wanted to look in my garage, I looked in the garage today and found 2 zithers, 2 autoharps, and there's a star harp out there someplace along with the remnants of a fiddle. I need to move everything into the house where it is all climate controlled. I knew everything else was out there, just not the banjo.

I have boxes for 1980s period computer games. And a Vic-20 printer and a Commodore PC (which doesn't work). Lots of cast iron pots and pans and who knows what else.

There are no cars in the garage.

Carolyn

******************************************************************
A Silvertone bottlecap (1960''s-1970''s)
www.carolynboyles.com
www.livingwithspinalcordinjury.com

Edited by - Arkansasbanjo on 06/01/2009 17:11:46

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  18:56:16  

It looks easily restorable to playable condition. The head has been off before and should be rotated back into place - if original, it is a skin head. An inexpensive tailpiece and bridge would cost around $11 plus shipping.

Worth $75 - $100 as is. These make funky open backs.

Mike Halloran

Posted - 06/01/2009 :  20:17:37    

I forgot to mention the accordion in the garage....

Thanks Mike Gregory for telling Salishsilver about the banjo.

Carolyn

******************************************************************
A Silvertone bottlecap (1960''s-1970''s)
www.carolynboyles.com
www.livingwithspinalcordinjury.com

Posted - 10/13/2009 :  11:11:02        

Unfortunately, the sale went south, but here the end of last week, I picked up an old silvertone in great shape, belonged to a lady's father, so almost a one-owner banjo. Needs some frets, and a new bridge, but other than that it plays well. By needing frets, I mean they are pretty thin, and want replacing. I can maybe have Greg Boyd do it in Missoula, Yay!

Keep on pickin'

Posted - 10/13/2009 :  13:27:31    

About 20 years ago, a man in my home church in Hiddenite, NC passed away. His widow called me a couple of months later and told me that he had an "old" banjo that she wanted to sell, and asked me to look at it, and tell her waht it was worth, so that she wouldn't "get cheated". When I went by to look, it was an almost all plastic Silvertone. I told her, and I was streatching it at that, that it was worth about $50.00. She flew mad at me and said that he had paid a "lot of money" for it and that he had hardly used it. She wouldn't talk to me for a long time... good thing that I didn't say $25.00.... !!!!

BNJOMAKR

Posted - 10/13/2009 :  14:01:13    

The very first "store-bought" banjo I ever had was a Silvertone. I got it in '62. It had a laminated wood rim (pre-plastic), accurate fret spacings and a straight neck, and enough hooks and brackets to tighten the head. It was OK, and I played it. I learned a lot by fixing it up so that it looked better and played better. I was not afraid to really mess with it, and I did. I wound up taking it along with me to Germany when I was in the Army, rather than more expensive banjos I had acquired by that time, because it was expendable without heartbreak, and it was better than anything I could have gotten over there at that time. It sounded like a banjo. It's gone now, but there's a soft spot in my heart for it.
If you want to use it as an entry into banjo playing and banjo tinkering, it's great.

There are a lot of poopy cakes in the pasture where the bulls hang out. Watch where you step.

Posted - 10/13/2009 :  14:30:50        

My 1st 5 string banjo was an open back Kay. Bought it @1959 I think. Sears-Roebuck also marketed these as Silvertones. Like Uncle Fogey, it served with me during my military service. The rim is also laminated wood and not the sawdust and glue composition that came later. It came with friction pegs with Kluson style buttons and not the guitar tuning machines. A very docile and forgiving little banjo. I still have it and play it occasionally for old times sake. I have played it on radio programs once in a while. It still has the original calf skin head. I have an 11/16 Moon bridge on it now, and have replaced the old friction tuners with planetary ones, including the 5 peg. Just for fun it now wears a set of Scruggs/Keith tuners. I have "better" banjos, but would never think of parting with it.

www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com

Posted - 10/13/2009 :  16:31:01        

C'mon, this is an easy ID; its a Sears-spec Harmony Reso-Tone. I still have mine bought new in 1969.

They are really easy to restore as there is hardly anything that can go wrong. Yours needs strings ($3), bridge ($3-5), and tailpiece ($5).

If you wish, I will do any work needed for free if you can pay shipping, just because you seem like a nice lady, and I'm in a rare good mood.



Timmo
"Bother Yum-Yum!"
http://savethebanjos.com