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Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/293319
jun3machina - Posted - 10/23/2014: 21:11:50
i ran across this on ebay,ebay.com/itm/371167886074?_trk...BIDX%3AIT and learned it's a flush fret (i think?)...so now i am interested in learning more.... ive been learning more about mountain banjos, and fretless...is there any difference besides the obvious OCD of having a visual fret marker to see? im curious about this particular auction, the pot seems sooo thin and obviously a lil wonky...is it very old? the tuners and simplicity make me think so...thoughts? fretless VS flush fret experience? sound quality difference? thanks!
Rick Turner - Posted - 10/23/2014: 22:05:23
1880s or '90s. Yeah, it got dropped, but it's kind of cool. "Flush frets" are probably maple or birch veneer. Properly done they are just visual aids, though some have been done in silver or nickel silver with scallops between, and those kind of act like frets. The tuners are quite original and are valuable in themselves. I'm going to guess Buckbee made.
jun3machina - Posted - 10/23/2014: 22:19:06
nice, and thank you. confirmed the date i had in mind...and yes im kinda drooling over those tuners...
rot-n-dobe - Posted - 10/24/2014: 02:09:10
i made a couple flush frets, i used piano key overlays. ivory.
Bob Smakula - Posted - 10/24/2014: 04:33:51
quote:
Originally posted by Rick Turner
I'm going to guess Buckbee made.
The neck shape and hardware look British, but I don't know enough about British manufacturers to ID the exact maker.
Bob Smakula
trapdoor2 - Posted - 10/24/2014: 07:13:19
I'm with Bob, this banjo looks British to me. Brit dowelstick clamp, Brit tailpiece, Brit neck profile.
Flush and/or fretless banjos were falling out of favor in the 1890s as popular music moved into more complex forms with greater need for accurate position work all the way up the neck. No different than anything else, top grade players could make a fretless work right up to the edge of the pot but very few others could do so.
Flush frets were a compromise guide, they helped a good bit. However, when you really needed the notes to ring out nicely it was difficult to do so without raised frets.
I don't like a full set of flush frets...they're difficult to figure out which one is which (unless you have some other inlay to tell you you're near X fret). Stewart simply put side dots all along the neck for his "professional frets" and they're miserable to work with.
My favorite flush fretting system is what I call the "logarithmic" style, where some of the frets go all the way across the board and some are only under one or two strings.
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