This banjo is a restoration starting with a early 1900s? spunover rim, maker unknown. The rim is in very good shape with all hardware intact. Rim, tension hoop, j-hooks, shoes, dowel brace and tailpiece are all original and have a nice patina. Banjo comes with original tailpiece and a new antiqued no-knot.

I didn't want to fool around with the wonderful vintage sound of this banjo so I left it basically like I found it. Aside from a new Elite fiberskyn head and a couple fresh coats of lacquer to the inside of the wooden part of the rim for added protection.


Currently im reading the book "Americas Instrument" by Philip Gura and James Bollman. Which has some great information on banjos in the nineteeth century. A ton of pictures, patents and ideas of banjo building and playing of this time period. So I must say this banjo was greatly influenced by this book.

The original neck and fretboard were beyond repair. So I decided to go out on a limb, no pun intended, and use oak for the neck. After reading that several builders back in the day used oak and because I recently found a bunch of possibly over a hundred year old oak in an old barn loft of a family friend. This wood is hard, and dense and very pretty. I don't for see any problems with it, but to be on the safe side I laminated it with cherry and installed a truss rod with easy access adjustment. Instead of trying to crudely hide it.

The fretboard and headstock overlay are both Rosewood. Again I went old school with the fretboard with the inlay design and using gold leaf on the headstock. The gold leafing is under the lacquer and I think it came out really well. The functional frailing scoop has a metal cover for that vintage look.

Finished off with planetary tuners, coffee stain and a hard lacquer finish. I really love the sound of these old spunover banjos. They are very versatile, great for clawhammer or fingerpicking styles. If your looking for a banjo to go back and forth between ch and say 2 finger you cant beat one of these rims. I'll post a sound file.

Thanks a lot for looking and please feel free to email any questions you may have. As always I try to use found or donated wood to keep the cost down on my banjos.

Thanks again,
J.Rushing

Specs are: 11 inch rim, 26 1/2 scale, 1 3/16 nut width( with room for adjustment), and crowe spaced bridge