bwms53 - Posted - 07/13/2022:  06:57:09

I’m a novice when it comes to Banjos. I started playing a few years ago when I bought a Recording King Banjo. I found this old looking Banjo in one of what I call my junk stores. Need help identifying it. Possibly a Buckbee , no identifying marks anywhere on it. Thanks for any help.

Culloden - Posted - 07/13/2022:  07:46:20

My first instinct was Buckbee, but I am not an expert on banjos from that era. One thing I might suggest is, when you get it back into playable condition, string it with nylon strings.

bwms53 - Posted - 07/13/2022:  07:50:54

Thanks for replying, I’ve been searching online for days, it looks like a Buckbee from what I’ve seen. Thanks again.

Joel Hooks - Posted - 07/13/2022:  08:02:53

Certainly Buckbee or Buckbee parts. There were more than a few people churning out what was essentially the exact same banjos (think about how many people make interchangeable Gibson clones today).

We have a few vague accounts of some of these other builders, but more than likely they were getting parts from Buckbee (or same supplier he was using) and assembling or finishing the banjos.

So that is pretty much as close as you are going to get. kylevanmeter has made a study of this sort of thing and I have learned a lot from him. I am not sure how active he is on BHO, but he has studied the methods of making the rims that a few different builders used and was recently discussing these textured rims.

mrphysics55 - Posted - 07/13/2022:  08:09:42

Nice find.

bwms53 - Posted - 07/13/2022:  08:15:19

Joel Hooks, thanks for the info I appreciate it.

Jim Bollman - Posted - 07/13/2022:  10:47:09

Often these " pebbled " rim banjos had a metal heel cap engraved " Celebrated Benary ". Benary was a NYC
music seller in the latter part of the 19th Century. As others have indicated , this banjo was most likely a product of the J.H. Buckbee factory.

bwms53 - Posted - 07/13/2022:  11:08:31

Jim Bollman thank you for the info I have been trying to find out about that textured rim. Thanks again.