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ARCHIVED TOPIC: Odd (to me) SSS. Peghead

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/387171

Bill Rogers - Posted - 11/30/2022: 00:16:20

Anyone ever seen a Stewart peghead or overlay like this one?

banjohangout.org/classified/96599

TheLastWord - Posted - 11/30/2022: 04:00:05

The peghead shape, only on the Champion Presentation model. Never seen it on a Thoroughbred.

Edited by - TheLastWord on 11/30/2022 04:02:53

Kookaburra - Posted - 11/30/2022: 04:30:23

The serial number might indicate after SSStewart died. Maybe that is why the unusual inlay etc?

trapdoor2 - Posted - 11/30/2022: 06:07:39

My spidey-sense sez this is a repro or "resto-mod" neck. The red veneer is too new looking (red is the first to go) and the heel carving looks, well, comparatively crude.

Yes, this is a post S.S. instrument by S/N.

Joel Hooks - Posted - 11/30/2022: 07:08:58

Yes, the peghead shape does not exactly conform to what we have seen on higher priced SSS offerings. What is throwing me is the peghead inlay.

BUT (big but) the serial number is 57112. That means this is Bauer era so all consistency is off the table. We know that George's skullduggery and subterfuge resulted in some workers being fired. We also know that right after SSS died examples of S&B banjos begin to have peghead overlays that are the same as found on some NY jobber banjos.

So with that info, I believe this to be a late Bauer & Co. banjo.

It looks like a nice banjo and is likely a fine player for classic or late thimble style.

davidppp - Posted - 11/30/2022: 07:47:40

Joel Hooks --

In 2007, Mary Z. Cox sent out an All-Points-Bulletin to everyone on her e-mail list. John Bernunzio was selling a huge collection of instruments that were part of Tsumura's effort to raise cash. (He was in hot water at the time.) Mary described it as a "patriotic duty" to keep those banjos in the U.S. now that they had returned. I waffled but finally bit. I still have Bernunzio's receipt from 10/16/2007, which lists it as "S. S. Stewart Special Thoroughbred Banjo - 5 string sn. 57112." I have no idea whether it is pictured in Tsumura's big book.

Regarding the designation "Special," I did find and buy another similar instrument several years later and thought it was time to put this one up for sale. The other has #17277 on the rim and dowel stick, has a Special Thoroughbred nameplate inside the rim, also has a 12" rim, and looks quite typically Stewart. Yes, the heel carving on this earlier one is slightly more crisp. It has 20 frets. I mention that because of the question of what made any of the Stewarts "Special."

Joel Hooks - Posted - 11/30/2022: 08:34:27

quote:
Originally posted by davidppp

Joel Hooks --

In 2007, Mary Z. Cox sent out an All-Points-Bulletin to everyone on her e-mail list. John Bernunzio was selling a huge collection of instruments that were part of Tsumura's effort to raise cash. (He was in hot water at the time.) Mary described it as a "patriotic duty" to keep those banjos in the U.S. now that they had returned. I waffled but finally bit. I still have Bernunzio's receipt from 10/16/2007, which lists it as "S. S. Stewart Special Thoroughbred Banjo - 5 string sn. 57112." I have no idea whether it is pictured in Tsumura's big book.

Regarding the designation "Special," I did find and buy another similar instrument several years later and thought it was time to put this one up for sale. The other has #17277 on the rim and dowel stick, has a Special Thoroughbred nameplate inside the rim, also has a 12" rim, and looks quite typically Stewart. Yes, the heel carving on this earlier one is slightly more crisp. It has 20 frets. I mention that because of the question of what made any of the Stewarts "Special."

Okay, Stewart made a "Specialty" model banjo starting some time around 1890. This had a 10.5" rim, 18" neck and was designed to be pitched (tuned) one step above standard pitch. So, the 4th string was D instead of C.

"For concert playing these instruments sound very brilliant when thus tuned; but in parlor playing or for use in a room they will work very nicely in C...Those who wish a "sharp" and brilliant sounding banjo, as well has one having a perfectly musical tone, should obtain one of these instruments."

This raising the pitch one step was popular with professionals as they claimed that it had more carrying power for concert work.

Fast forward to 1893, Alfred Farland was using one of these small Specialty banjos for concert work. He worked with Stewart to design this model with a 19" three octave neck (22 frets). This Farland signature model was named the "Special Thoroughbred" which was a Specialty sized Thoroughbred with a three octave neck.

It was a popular model so shortly thereafter SSS started to offer the TB in 11" with a three octave neck. I've also seen larger sizes with 22 frets but these seem to be very late or after SSS passed, though I did play one at the last ABF rally that was made about 1897.

In conclusion, the Special TB was at first a small 10.5" banjo with a three octave neck. Then later it was any TB with a three octave neck, the defining "special" being 22 frets.

With that said, consistency with SSS went as far as someone was willing to lay out the cash. And if you wanted to pay for something different he would make it. So It would not shock me to see STB marked banjos with less than 22 frets.

Sadly the old guard of dealers (with exception of Bob and Andy, and perhaps a couple of others) have fallen behind in keeping up with the constantly surfacing information regarding banjo history and models. Anything dealers like Bernunzio writes or says should be taken with a grain of salt and verified.

Does your newer SSS 12" have a three octave neck?

davidppp - Posted - 11/30/2022: 09:09:43

Joel Hooks :
The newer SSS 12 (#57112) has 19 frets.

For those not in the know, in a C tuning with the 1st string a D, the 22nd fret is three octaves above the 4th string C. As I've played more and more over the years, I find I like to add little bits between the 17th and 22nd frets. I know very little from any standard banjo repertoire (i.e., old time, bluegrass, or classical) but, rather, play music I like, frailing or finger-style.

rcc56 - Posted - 11/30/2022: 15:19:43

I've seen another late Stewart-branded 5 string that had a mixture of characteristics.
There's no telling what Bauer might have done to get an instrument out the door.

On this one, I see different varnish on the pot and dowel stick, but both look like they came out of the old factory. The fingerboard also looks like work from the old factory. But the neck doesn't match either the pot or the dowel, and doesn't look like it was built in the old factory.

I will suggest that this banjo is a hodge-podge of a combination of unused old factory parts, and a neck that was made later, possibly in the Lange factory; and that Bauer assembled the parts and stamped the banjo.