1938 unusual Gibson/Montgomery Wards tenor conversion 5 string banjo with original neck, hard shell cases & photo of original owner playing this banjo!

I purchased this tenor banjo locally from a guy who had several other older fancy Gibson tenors-he was local player with the Rose City Banjoliers. He told me that his Grandfather had purchased this banjo from Montgomery Wards in Oakland, CA back in 1938. I posted this banjo here on the hangout a few years ago when I first acquired it (which I can't seem to find in the archives now) but Joe Spann posted that this banjo (EW-2809) was shipped to Oakland in 1938 so I'm pretty sure this was a one owner banjo.

I had Mark Hickler make a 5 string neck for me that matched the multi-ply tenor neck as closely as possible, including chrome tuners like the original friction pegs. The build for this neck can be found here: hicklerbanjo.com/low-end-gibson-repro.html

It kind of bothers me to sell this banjo as Mark did such a great job on it, but I just found that I never play it and favor my other banjo more, and its time to thin the herd so to speak, or at least build up funds for a different banjo. ;^)

This original 1/2" pot has NOT been cut for a tone ring and quite frankly it doesn't need one as it's incredibly loud as it is and it's also nice and lightweight without any tone ring-just the original slight rounded bevel as it left the factory. Banjo plays great, no buzzes, rr spikes at the 7,8,9 & 10th frets.

Happy to verify sound & playability with a video/iPhone call so you know it's legit. Would prefer a local sale but will ship after postal or Western Union money order/payment clears. Venmo OK as well after it clears, and I will ship well packed with a tracking number, slack strings & and removed bridge but I'll mark it's location so you can set it back up quickly & easily.
BanjoHangout member since 2004.

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