Restoring a possible Buckbee

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Buckbee Banjos

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For all things related to the banjos of John Henry Buckbee New York NY 1861-1897

62 Members, Created 5/8/2014 -

Administrators: mrphysics55 (owner) , Mark Ralston

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From Bklyngeezer on 12/2/2023 6:50:02 PM

Hello All,

I picked up a little parlor/student banjo that I'm planning on restoring to a player. I figure it'll cost about as much a new travel banjo and I can learn a bit about banjo set-up, repair and maintenance, history etc. The horseshoe and Bijou inlay were the big selling points.

Pros:

neck is straight, all inlays are intact, all shoes and brackets present (one non matching nut out of 24..not bad)

Cons:

It's missing the top nut, fifth string tuner and nut, head, bridge and tailpiece.

Some brackets are twisted almost 90 degrees.

It's been a wall hanger in a cabin for 50 years, so much accumulated wood and cigarette smoke residue that I thought the rim was brass!

I don't think I can post pics here but here's a link to my original post on the forum:

https://www.banjohangout.org/topic/393543/#5007191

2 Comments
	davidwigal says: 12/2/2023 6:07:14 PM Wow, very cool banjo! I really like the horse shoe; do you think the "bijou" is what model it is?
	Bklyngeezer says: 12/2/2023 6:48:59 PM Yeah from what little there is to be found it seems "Bijou" was a model made by Buckbee for J.F. Stratton. Bijou defintion: 1 : a small dainty usually ornamental piece of delicate workmanship : jewel 2: something delicate, elegant, or highly prized bijou adjective This would make sense as this banjo is pretty small. Pot is about 9.5" - 9.75" and total length is only 32.5" I'm hoping to use it as a travel banjo.
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