DA - Posted - 11/26/2025:  06:10:29

Hi everyone, I found this vintage 5-string on eBay for $100 and figured it was worth buying just to see how it might sound. Turns out to sound really good, and it seems to still have all the original parts (including the skin head). I wonder if anyone might be able to ID it? There's no brand and the seller estimated it to be 1920s or '30s but it had been a gift to her so she wasn't sure.

Culloden - Posted - 11/26/2025:  06:35:23

Made by Kay of Chicago, probably in the 1930s. It appears to be a pretty low-end model, even for Kay who were known for making beginner to intermediate instruments. Most Kay banjos from that era had a metal flange around the rim. The peghead shape, the resonator decal, the rim rod, and the neck adjuster are dead giveaways.

tdennis - Posted - 11/26/2025:  06:35:26

It is either a Stromberg Voisinet or a Kay c.1930.

Banner Blue - Posted - 11/26/2025:  06:40:46

It has the famous and convenient Kay neck angle adjuster--so 1930s. This was the era where the metal flanges cracked and swelled, so good thing it is not the "better" models.

mikehalloran - Posted - 11/26/2025:  09:59:52

quote:

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Originally posted by tdennis

It is either a Stromberg Voisinet or a Kay c.1930.

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The Neck Adjuster was patented by Kay in 1931. Although the company changed hands in 1930, they still used the SV brand (and built under many others) until the new factory opened in 1935, five years after the sale to Mr. Kuhrmeyer's consortium—he was the controller of SV previously.

Interestingly, Kay didn't use the older SV neck adjuster that attached the neck with a large wing nut on guitars, mandolins and violins (but never banjos). Having seen many of those through F-holes, I've always been glad to have never needed to adjust one of those.

mikehalloran - Posted - 11/26/2025:  10:12:12

quote:

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Originally posted by DA

Hi everyone, I found this vintage 5-string on eBay for $100 and figured it was worth buying just to see how it might sound. Turns out to sound really good, and it seems to still have all the original parts (including the skin head). I wonder if anyone might be able to ID it? There's no brand and the seller estimated it to be 1920s or '30s but it had been a gift to her so she wasn't sure.

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Judging from the resonator hardware, tailpiece and tuners, this isn't as old as you think. Could be 1950s. Definitely a Kay as others have pointed out. They made instruments under many names or none at all.  The Kay Neck Adjuster was patented in 1931.

The late Frank Ford has a good setup guide: Frets.com Kay Banjo setup. What Frank left out is that, sometimes, the spacer is tacked or screwed onto the end of the neck. In that case, the neck must be removed by backing the big nut off completely and those tacks must be removed and thrown away so that the adjuster moves freely.