Hi Josh. You would really need to attach photos of the banjo to your post.

My apologies, I thought I had.
Uploaded three photos now.
Thank you.

Yes it's a 5 string but one of the tuning pegs appears to be missing. If you scroll down this page and take a look at the post by Cana Rochbell he has two Riley-Baker banjos. I'm not familiar with these particular banjos so I don't know how difficult it would be to source and install a new tuner. It may well be that you would have to have one made which could maybe cost more than the instrument is worth. 

From the photos Cana has posted it appears that the engraved plate on the peghead is removable and the tuners can be accessed from there ? But these banjos were made over 100 years ago and the chances of finding a replacement tuner are pretty slim.

There is a six string Riley Baker on eBay as of this week.

ebay.co.uk/itm/256743940330?_s...6Cc94L2ZA

I think it was "Snakey Jake" in Crewe who told me many years ago that these were intended for sale in the Colonies, i.e India and Australia, where wooden instruments were susceptible to insect attack ! (For what it`s worth :-) )

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bawheid

There is a six string Riley Baker on eBay as of this week.

ebay.co.uk/itm/256743940330?_s...6Cc94L2ZA

 

---

Yes I saw that one although it's a 7 string not 6.  Given the tooling set up costs they must have been made in some numbers. 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bawheid

There is a six string Riley Baker on eBay as of this week.

ebay.co.uk/itm/256743940330?_s...6Cc94L2ZA

 

---

Yes I saw that one although it's a 7 string not 6.  Given the tooling set up costs they must have been made in some numbers. 

---

Oh right, a 7 string.

I have seen 3 of these in two years. 2 on ebay and another on facebook marketplace just in the last couple weeks, so anecdotally i agree there seems quite a few out there. The facebook seller was local to me (Glasgow area) and was only looking for a couple hundred quid.  I reckon the poster who recently made a thread on these banjos bought that one judging by the timing.  

The last ebay one was a 5-string and was up for silly money at one point (>£1000) and eventually sold but i cant recall if it went for asking price.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bawheid

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bawheid

There is a six string Riley Baker on eBay as of this week.

ebay.co.uk/itm/256743940330?_s...6Cc94L2ZA

 

---

Yes I saw that one although it's a 7 string not 6.  Given the tooling set up costs they must have been made in some numbers. 

---

 

Oh right, a 7 string.

I have seen 3 of these in two years. 2 on ebay and another on facebook marketplace just in the last couple weeks, so anecdotally i agree there seems quite a few out there. The facebook seller was local to me (Glasgow area) and was only looking for a couple hundred quid.  I reckon the poster who recently made a thread on these banjos bought that one judging by the timing.  

The last ebay one was a 5-string and was up for silly money at one point (>£1000) and eventually sold but i cant recall if it went for asking price.

---

They also turn up quite frequently at UK auction houses. "Extremely rare" seems a bit of a favorite with ebay listers. £200 - £350 seems to be about the going rate. Although I would think the lower end of that for a 7 string. I've not owned an aluminium one but I did have a Riley fretless openback which was a very nicely made instrument. 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

From the photos Cana has posted it appears that the engraved plate on the peghead is removable and the tuners can be accessed from there ? But these banjos were made over 100 years ago and the chances of finding a replacement tuner are pretty slim.

---

Hi Stephen,

Please see updated photos, all 5 tuning pegs seem to be there, not sure why 5th string isn't fitted. Have sent a message to Cana, thank you for all your help. It is appreciated.

quote:

---

Originally posted by JoshOz

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

From the photos Cana has posted it appears that the engraved plate on the peghead is removable and the tuners can be accessed from there ? But these banjos were made over 100 years ago and the chances of finding a replacement tuner are pretty slim.

---

Hi Stephen,

Please see updated photos, all 5 tuning pegs seem to be there, not sure why 5th string isn't fitted. Have sent a message to Cana, thank you for all your help. It is appreciated.

---

Thanks for the posting the extra photos. The 5th string runs through a tunnel from the peghead and emerging at th 5th fret. Maybe someone was using it as a 4 string or just didn't understand the tunnelled 5th string system. 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bawheid

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stephen John Prior

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bawheid

There is a six string Riley Baker on eBay as of this week.

ebay.co.uk/itm/256743940330?_s...6Cc94L2ZA

 

---

Yes I saw that one although it's a 7 string not 6.  Given the tooling set up costs they must have been made in some numbers. 

---

 

Oh right, a 7 string.

I have seen 3 of these in two years. 2 on ebay and another on facebook marketplace just in the last couple weeks, so anecdotally i agree there seems quite a few out there. The facebook seller was local to me (Glasgow area) and was only looking for a couple hundred quid.  I reckon the poster who recently made a thread on these banjos bought that one judging by the timing.  

The last ebay one was a 5-string and was up for silly money at one point (>£1000) and eventually sold but i cant recall if it went for asking price.

---

Hey there! I have two riley bakers, the one you mentioned in glasgow area I bought for £200 (It was played alongside Gerry Rafferty and Billy connolly back in the day) and one I bought a year prior. Got real lucky with it.   The original poster can replace their tuning keys with Mikado zitherbanjo tuning keys, there was a few models of Mikado zither banjos that use our same tuners :) So you can rip those out and replace that way. Riley baker faceplates come off the peghead where you can see the internals. 

worldwide.espacenet.com/public...C=A&ND=4#

Here's the patent info and design, materials etc.

Riley Bakers are quite rare, they end up getting listed multiple times though. So despite how many you might see pop up in listings, they are infact often the same instrument. For example the Moon guitars glasgow reverb Riley baker, is the same exact riley baker with the same exact owner that was sold 6 years later. It was listed for sale in that moon guitars on reverb then the listing was pulled. I then bought it later.  The other of my riley bakers was originally a carboot find by an older guy down near cornwall, was one of those types of folks that buy instruments constantly.

Snakey'jakes son is a friend of mine. I pester him about Rileybakers and the subject in general constantly keeping him up to date with any interesting (to me) tidbits I find about them. His one was sold for £200.  I've got tons of photos of rileybakers, and more often than not they are the same banjo listed over and over. There are a few tiny differences between rileybakers, some have glued on fretboards, some are screwed on fretboards and some are tenoned fretboards. Inlay varies slightly. Scale length varies very slightly, as the last fret is different on each. I've got one rileybaker with the last fret on the resonator, and the other the last fret is in the nameplate area above the resonator.

Beautiful extremely light weight banjos :) Love them, i've got arthritis, calcific tendonosis, EDS and all sorts of other medical issues but these banjos still let me play them without too much trouble. Definitely can't play my merlin which is far too heavy for me now which is a cast aluminium 1960's USA made banjo. They weigh around 5lbs roughly, so they come up real lightweight. The weight also changes banjo to banjo despite the similar size, materials etc. I think the thickness or the structure of the aluminium is different as it was 1896 afterall aluminium was new and a recipe for aluminium was probably not 100% adhered to.

Thank you very much for your reply Cana, bith here and in personal messages.
I really appreciate the information you shared with me.