yetmeng68 - Posted - 03/01/2019:  18:43:17

hello all i recently brought my self a lovely sounding banjo that i believed to be made by Alfred D Cammeyer as it bears the name the original fretboard was replaced at some point in time and as i like to restore instruments i spent hours looking for same model as mine that i could copy the pearl from i did find one eventually.As my banjo had a 12" pot i thought id lengthen the scale to suit the pot as it was to close to the middle and wanted to push it towards the tail anyway all finished now and sounds lovely. However i saw some surprising images today i found a Buckbee victor with same fretboard so i thought oh crap but then i noticed it had the same pearl in the headstock as well as the neck and they were in fact identical to the Alfred D Cammeyer that i own and don't look like they were copied as they are tooo identical and the pot to and the same engravings on the tension hoop. i cannot find any details that link both manufactures i know many companies supplied instruments to each other but Alfred D Cammeyer had his own factory in 1898 and i cannot find anywhere that he produced or supplied banjos before his partnership with Clifford Essex so im really confused. i have named under photos which is the victor and which is the cammeyer.  The cammeyer in the pics is the one i copied the pearl from

Edited by - yetmeng68 on 03/01/2019 19:03:24

victor

victor

alfred d cammeyer

alfred d cammyer

victor

victor

victor

 

csacwp - Posted - 03/01/2019:  20:12:14

What makes you think your banjo is a Cammeyer? Is it labeled as one?

You'll have to post some good photos of your actual banjo for us to identify it. The banjo pictured that you say you copied the inlay pattern from and that matches the Victor looks like a Buckbee to me, not a Cammeyer.

Edited by - csacwp on 03/01/2019 20:15:43

TriMD180 - Posted - 03/01/2019:  20:52:14

Right now there is the same banjo design that you have, on eBay. It is a A Geo C Dobson Victor Concert that was made by the Buckbee factory. Just search for Dobson banjo on eBay and it should pop up , but it ends in 16 hours. I also have a Buckbee made banjo that looks just like a Geo Dobson Victor Superior except it has a 12 inch pot instead of the 11, 24 hooks instead of the 30 or 40 that the Superior came with and there are no maker marks on the Dowel stick though it was painted the same. Buckbee seems to have copied and modified the designs they produced for other “makers”.

yetmeng68 - Posted - 03/02/2019:  00:06:52

hello all yes it has a heal plate with Alfred D Cammeyer inscribed into it the same as this one i will take some close up pics of my banjo

 

yetmeng68 - Posted - 03/02/2019:  00:31:51

here are the pics of mine like i said i did copy the fretboard the same as the other Alfred D Cammeyer i found and i made the scale longer so fret spaces are different and yes it looks like a victor concert with the star of the professional model after the last fret in the catalog in the picture above

Edited by - yetmeng68 on 03/02/2019 00:46:01

 

yetmeng68 - Posted - 03/02/2019:  00:39:13

here is the other alfred d cammeyer i found for sale it has 11" pot and has a hammered finish mines a 12"pot and smooth  and mine has 24 hooks    reverb.com/ca/item/6437381-alf...s-natural

Edited by - yetmeng68 on 03/02/2019 00:49:40

Stephen John Prior - Posted - 03/02/2019:  01:26:29

Your Cammeyer banjo was built by Buckbee and they appear on the market quite regularly. Cammeyer didn't build the banjos himself. It was quite usual for performers/teachers to have banjos built for them to sell on to an eager market. Extra dosh Rodney luvly jubly. Same as you can buy instruments today endorsed by Eric Clapton etc. After his split with Essex he took over the workshop in London and supervised the making of his famous zither style banjos. His workshops also produced some of the finest openback banjos, which he also stamped his name on.



Out of interest why did you alter your bridge placement ?

I have a Dobson Silver Bell with the same patterned (pebble) pot as yours. 

Edited by - Stephen John Prior on 03/02/2019 01:30:06

yetmeng68 - Posted - 03/02/2019:  02:03:54

Stephen John Prior

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thanks for the info well the pot is 12" and the bridge was almost in the middle so there wasn't much tension from the tailpiece and the sound wasn't as good as it could be so thats why i altered the scale to suit the pot. i had rebuild a new fretboard anyway so i hunted down another Alfred D Cammeyer and copied and cut the pearl inlays on some  pearl id brought from Jerusalem  through post and i made the tailpiece from brass to follow the pattern on the headstock  and built the bridge out of bone and maple.

The pic with the pebbled pot was the other one i found on line and copied the pearl from. mine is the smooth pot

Edited by - yetmeng68 on 03/02/2019 02:18:42

top tail piece

 

Stephen John Prior - Posted - 03/02/2019:  03:05:56

Sorry first thing on a Saturday morning my faculties are always a bit compromised !

Nice work there. You've obviously set it up for modern style playing.