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Photos of Fairbanks Banjos
From hbick2 on 2/4/2016 7:32:34 AM
A few of you know me, most don't. I am an old-time banjo player from Louisville, Kentucky. For forty years, I played and recorded with my closest friend, Art Stamper. I also played and recorded with my own band, the Buzzard Rock String Band.
I am a total Fairbanks banjo nut. I own a fair number of them, many of which I have restored myself. I absolutely love looking at pictures of Fairbanks banjo and reading information about them. I download every one I can get my hands on. I was thrilled when Bill Anderson posted those wonderful pictures of his banjos. I have decided to do the same with mine, one at a time as I get to them. I hope this will encourage others to post photos of their Fairbanks banjos. I would love to see this group begin to discuss the various models and variations.
I decided to begin with my Fairbanks "Baby" Electric, #2648. It is a wonderful instrument that is almost totally original. I purchased it on Ebay a number of years ago. I would invite anyone to ask questions or share information about their own banjos.
For those interested in uploading pictures of their collection, I finally figured out how to post an information document. I typed the information into a word processing document and saved it as a .pdf file. I then exported the .pdf file as a .jpeg file and uploaded that along with the pictures. I hope you enjoy looking at them.
Sincerely,
Harry Bickel
8 Comments |
 | croth says:
2/4/2016 8:30:25 AM
A very nice idea Harry and a great banjo. You inspired me to post photos of my 1904 WL7. Take a look at your leisure.
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 | hbick2 says:
2/5/2016 4:13:12 AM
Very nice banjo. I've seen one other with a similar configuration but it wasn't all original. It was serial #22873. What is the serial # on yours? Also, what are the dimensions?
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 | flailing says:
2/5/2016 7:25:59 AM
That is a beautiful WL#7, and I find it very interesting how back when it was made, someone wanted a bit of the higher end inlays mixed with the simpler finger board.
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| croth says:
2/5/2016 8:21:54 AM
To hbick2: The serial # of mine is 23099. The pot is around 11" (what is that, probably 10-15/16 or something around there?). I'm confident that mine is all-original partly because of whom I bought it from, partly because I back-tracked its lineage and contacted some of its previous owners who were pretty well-known in this area and didn't even consider otherwise, and partly because, despite the choice of the simpler diamond/star pattern on the rest of the fretboard, that first fret inlay is far more intricate than any other #2 fretboard inlay I've seen. It's clearly a #7 style inlay. There is no evidence that anything on the banjo has been re-worked.
To flailing: Thank you very much. I thought so too. I wasn't in the market for a banjo at the time but I was with a well-known guitar luthier at the time when he pulled out this banjo from his collection to show me (because I was wearing a banjo Hangout shirt and he asked me if I could play the banjo!), and that was it: love at first sight. He agreed to sell it to me and I couldn't resist.
Regarding the fingerboard, some people I've spoken to thought it might not have been that uncommon of a request back in the day. Thinking through the eyes of a 1900 player, it is a lot more practical for someone who actually intends to play their banjo. I've seen some WL7's that were so intricately inlayed that it would be hard to quickly locate the right positions for upper-range playing. Of course, there are players who don't need to look (and many great players who are blind), but I'm not one of those.... as an example, I play gypsy jazz, and whenever I've owned a GJ guitar with the dot marker on the 10th fret (more common on those guitars), I've had my local luthier move the markers to the 9th. I can't adapt, at least not as long as I have to switch around between guitars. My Chuck Lee banjo has a marker on the 8th fret while the WL has its on the 7th, and that gives me a headache. Of course, I won't be changing that around on those instruments! ;-)
Thanks for your comments fellas.
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| hbick2 says:
2/5/2016 2:19:27 PM
I have posted photographs of two Whyte Laydies that have a No. 7 peghead and a No. 2 fingerboard. Both were sold by Bernnzio. The comments are from his web site.
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| hbick2 says:
2/5/2016 2:29:14 PM
I have posted photographs of two Whyte Laydies that have a No. 7 peghead and a No. 2 fingerboard. Both were sold by Bernnzio. The comments are from his web site.
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| croth says:
2/5/2016 7:50:46 PM
Great research job hbick2! I had seen those while doing some research before I actually physically bought mine (A few days past before I made my final decision). The difference between mine and #22873 is that my rim's crossbar is marked No. 7 (I have not seen one that was marked on the physical rim) - so I'd guess that one sounds like it had the crossbar changed. A rim with marquetry can't be a #2 rim, can it be? It's more likely that the bar was changed.
The other one you posted is a banjeaurine, and it doesn't state anything about its rim, so I have no comment on that one.
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| hbick2 says:
2/6/2016 4:34:30 AM
The Banjeaurine has a No. 2 rim. I cannot see from the photographs if it is marked or not.
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