Dear fellow pickers and frailers, I live in the south of England and have been lover of the American folk music tradition for many years, in particular the old time mountain music. I have two banjos and would be glad of any information anybody can give me about them. The first, but perhaps least exciting, is a full strength, full bodied bluegrass model by Harmony which can be a shoulder tugger at over 12 pounds. I can find no info about it on the web. The second instrument as you can see from my photos is a pretty handmade Foxfire model that turned up in a local 'antique' shop here in the UK. Intriguingly it came accompanied by a Folkways Frank Proffit LP with instructions that it should stay with the banjo. (The record has a great information leaflet with an interview by Frank himself talking about his banjo making). The shop was one of the those places where various sellers have stands but aren't there in person so I could get no information about who and where it came from. I asked for a message to be left for the seller to get in touch but with no luck. It has a sweet mellow sound with what looks like a home cured hide. The neck is a nicely figured tiger maple with the American walnuthead back and front. The hand carved violin style tuning pegs are of an unidentified hardwood, it has roundhead slotted screw heads by way of a nut and the string loops are held on metal pins as part of the inlaid tail piece. It is hard not to think that there is a chance that the banjo may have been made by Frank but to be realistic I have never seen one attributed to him that was this fancy. Indeed I hope that the distinctive decoration may mean that someone out there can identify the maker and who was the enthusiast brought it this side of the Atlantic. Any suggestions? Sadly I am at the stage of life when I am having to downsize everything and hope to sell, amongst much else, both instruments and as I have no ideas about the worth of such things any suggestions about what would be a reasonable reserve price on them would be most gratefully received. Even if I can't play in the future I'll still be listening. Best wishes to all. L.McG. 3 comments
