cbcarlisle - Posted - 06/30/2013:  09:33:34

I just bought this pot with all hardware intact. I recognized the square shield shoes as early (not sure How early) and want to build a period neck for it. Can anyone help with period and style I should pursue? My first impulse is simple paddle head and round heel (the imprint on the pot is clear) but I could go a little more idiosyncratic.

Square Shoes

mbanza - Posted - 06/30/2013:  09:54:55

1870's perhaps.  An example from that period:  billsbanjos.com/Magez.htm

cbcarlisle - Posted - 06/30/2013:  10:19:27

Thanks, Verne, but these aren't - strictly speaking - shields. I have lots of those. These are more like butterflies but I've seen them called shields. Wonder what the proper term is?

mbanza - Posted - 06/30/2013:  10:37:00

Bowties?  Cool old pot regardless.

mralston - Posted - 06/30/2013:  12:31:58

Nice catch - I was watching that one, too !

Judging by the shadow on the pot, the original neck had one of those cantilevered fingerboards like the ones below, big cutout beneath the fingerboard.

If you like fretless, how about a neck like this Flush-fret Buckbee?  The pot for this one has some similarities to your new one..... square nuts, sorta-square shoes, shoes attach w/ nuts inside the pot.

cbcarlisle - Posted - 06/30/2013:  12:58:23

Thanks, Mark. That's a nice curlicued peghead on your Buckbee. I have a plain (paddlehead) neck with initials on a clad pot with shields; every time I see those initials I hear the last verse of Willie Moore as: "...his initials are J H B."

I'm still hoping someone will recognize those iron bowties.

Andy FitzGibbon - Posted - 07/01/2013:  02:47:21

quote:

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Originally posted by cbcarlisle

 

Thanks, Mark. That's a nice curlicued peghead on your Buckbee. I have a plain (paddlehead) neck with initials on a clad pot with shields; every time I see those initials I hear the last verse of Willie Moore as: "...his initials are J H B."

I'm still hoping someone will recognize those iron bowties.

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Bowtie shoes is what I've most often seen them called.  They were used on lots of banjos in the 1870s.  Buckbee would be as good a guess as any.

Andy

cbcarlisle - Posted - 07/03/2013:  20:06:29

I managed to come up with some examples. (They don't seem to be as common as suggested - or at least not on the web.) I'm not going to hold my breath for a nice piece of rosewood but mahogany, walnut, or maple will do. And, fretless as always.

Bowties