I recently picked up a British Riley-Baker banjo. If you are not familiar with it, it is from around 1896 and is an all aluminum zither style banjo.
It is engraved and is in nice condition.
I am wondering about buffing it. It is reasonably clean. I am inclined towards not buffing it given it's age. It would look pretty cool, all shined up though.
Your thoughts? Please.
Also, it has a 9" skin head. It is still in good shape. I tightened it a bit. It is 75 on the drum dial. It hangs around 75 and sounds reasonable. Wondering if a smaller diameter head should be higher or lower in tension than an 11" one.
Do not polish it. Patina is desirable on vintage 5-strings, and you don't want to risk damaging the plating. Clean it with dish soap and a damp rag, if you must. If you want a shiny banjo, buy a new one.
It is aluminum, if you polish it, it is just going to tarnish again. Except, it will not be consistent and will look splotchy. The current state is consistent with its age and does not look bad.
Every “polish” will remove metal… even the “non abrasive” polishes (which are abrasive as that is how they work).
Agreed. Just wanted to get a consensus.
Thanks John and Joel. You were the guys I wanted to hear from.
I'm sorry but why on earth do we have to keep involving the Polish on minor issues such as this? I mean, don't the Polish people have enough to contend with already?? Sheesh!
