Well, maybe not that old.
It's an Eagle kit banjeaurine from Stewart-MacDonald which I recently got. It has a cast aluminum pot with integrated tone ring, which makes it an arch top. I get the feeling that the "tone ring" is unnecessary, as it assists in the rather shrill tone. I've dampened it a bit, and am thinking about lining the inside with some wood veneer to see if that helps tame it. The neck is really narrow. But, with all its faults, it's still really fun to play.
Any comments on the history of these Stew-Mac projects would be appreciated.
What is the diameter of the rim? A Remo Renaissance head might tame down the shrill tone.
I built one of Stew-Mac's Eagle kits with the cast aluminum rim about 1975. It is loud and brash, but I like it in some circumstances. If you want to tone it down a bit, try a calfskin head. I did that for a time and it softened the harsher aspects without diminishing the volume or attack that the aluminum rim provides. When the skin split, I put the original 5 Star head back on it. When I get ambitious I'll try a skin head again.
Others can give you more detailed history, but the quick version is that Ode banjo in Boulder, Colorado, made quality, low-cost banjos with cast aluminum rims in the mid-60s. Kix Stewart worked at Ode, leaving about the time Ode was bought by Baldwin. Stewart and Bill MacDonald founded Stew-Mac in Athens, Ohio, selling banjo parts, as well as kits that used aluminum rims similar to those used in Odes.
I've attached a photo of my Eagle kit banjo, and a couple pages from the Stew-Mac catalog of the time.
I bought an Eagle banjo with a resonator and the arch ring aluminum pot. I played it clawhammer and it sounded great. It was all the banjo I could afford at the time and a big step up from the Japanese one I had been playing. This was the early 70's.
quote:
Originally posted by ssdukeI built one of Stew-Mac's Eagle kits with the cast aluminum rim about 1975. It is loud and brash, but I like it in some circumstances. If you want to tone it down a bit, try a calfskin head. I did that for a time and it softened the harsher aspects without diminishing the volume or attack that the aluminum rim provides. When the skin split, I put the original 5 Star head back on it. When I get ambitious I'll try a skin head again.
Others can give you more detailed history, but the quick version is that Ode banjo in Boulder, Colorado, made quality, low-cost banjos with cast aluminum rims in the mid-60s. Kix Stewart worked at Ode, leaving about the time Ode was bought by Baldwin. Stewart and Bill MacDonald founded Stew-Mac in Athens, Ohio, selling banjo parts, as well as kits that used aluminum rims similar to those used in Odes.
I've attached a photo of my Eagle kit banjo, and a couple pages from the Stew-Mac catalog of the time.
Steve: any chance you could post the rest of the pages of that old Stew-Mac catalogue?
Thanks!
Wiley (Glenn)
Edited by - wileypickett on 04/20/2025 16:55:40
I have the same Stew-Mac kit banjo as Steve's, above.
I'd tried dampening the head (not easy to do with no coordinator rods or a dowel stick) and that calmed it down somewhat, but I got more satisfactory results by recently switching to a Renaissance head and adding a Banjo Bolster. (I'm sold on the BBs, BTW -- they've improved the sound of every banjo I've installed them in.)
Love it! (YMMV, of course.)
Back in the 70s I owned a music store and used to assemble Stew-Mac open-back kits to sell as step-ups from Harmony beginners' banjos. The parts were well-machined of quality materials, and when finished and properly set up produced very solid, good-sounding banjos.
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Originally posted by wileypickettquote:
Originally posted by ssdukeI built one of Stew-Mac's Eagle kits with the cast aluminum rim about 1975. It is loud and brash, but I like it in some circumstances. If you want to tone it down a bit, try a calfskin head. I did that for a time and it softened the harsher aspects without diminishing the volume or attack that the aluminum rim provides. When the skin split, I put the original 5 Star head back on it. When I get ambitious I'll try a skin head again.
Others can give you more detailed history, but the quick version is that Ode banjo in Boulder, Colorado, made quality, low-cost banjos with cast aluminum rims in the mid-60s. Kix Stewart worked at Ode, leaving about the time Ode was bought by Baldwin. Stewart and Bill MacDonald founded Stew-Mac in Athens, Ohio, selling banjo parts, as well as kits that used aluminum rims similar to those used in Odes.
I've attached a photo of my Eagle kit banjo, and a couple pages from the Stew-Mac catalog of the time.
Steve: any chance you could post the rest of the pages of that old Stew-Mac catalogue?
Thanks!
Wiley (Glenn)
Wiley: I would if I had them. The ones I posted I actually copied off an old Reverb listing for a Stew-Mac banjo. There was a third catalog page image on that listing, but I was unable to copy it as a jpeg. It would only copy as a webpg, which won't upload to Banjo Hangout. But here's the link to the listing so you can see that third page for yourself. It's cool because it shows all the separate pieces in the kit.
https://reverb.com/item/70774889-1975-stewart-macdonald-model-no-99-5-string-banjo
Steve: any chance you could post the rest of the pages of that old Stew-Mac catalogue?
Thanks!
Wiley (Glenn)
Wiley: I would if I had them. The ones I posted I actually copied off an old Reverb listing for a Stew-Mac banjo. There was a third catalog page image on that listing, but I was unable to copy it as a jpeg. It would only copy as a webpg, which won't upload to Banjo Hangout. But here's the link to the listing so you can see that third page for yourself. It's cool because it shows all the separate pieces in the kit.
https://reverb.com/item/70774889-1975-stewart-macdonald-model-no-99-5-string-banjo
Thanks for the link!
I’ve had two odes in the past with metal rims, holy cow were they loud and shrill! One guy asked to meet at McDonald’s and than asked how it sounded so I played it, whole place went silent and had the whole place looking lol
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Originally posted by CullodenWhat is the diameter of the rim? A Remo Renaissance head might tame down the shrill tone.
It's standard 11 inches. I have a Fiberskyn head on order from our local Long & McQuade. I have one on my Jake Neufeld open back and it works fine for me. I put the fine tuners on behind the bridge to help out the friction tuners.
Thanks, everyone for the info and advice. I first found out about Eagle kits some time in the Seventies, maybe from Sing Out! magazine. There's a picture of a Stew-Mac banjeaurine in Larry Sandberg's Complete Banjo Repair. It's finished a lot more elaborately than this one, with a nicer peghead. There are a couple of fancy old ones in Bob Carlin's Banjo: an Illustrated History book - great photos.
A friend was given a Saga kit, with resonator, and I fixed it and set it up. It's the kit on the cover of Complete Banjo Repair. The Eagle pot is better finished, brushed on the outside to look a bit like a spunover rim.
Edited by - Paul R on 04/20/2025 20:50:45
Paul I picked up one similar to yours about 2 weeks ago. But mine has a resonator on it, really a good sound I hadn't necessarily thought I would like an
arrchtop especially with aluminum Rim, but was I mistaken I find that I can control the overtones whole lot better with this banjo. I've been playing with the heavy gibson style tone rings and love them to death but these just might take their place. if I get the chance to buy another one somewhere to this one I'm going to grab it laughing out loud I just picked up a wood router for out on my shop and when I run it sometimes I have some free time that would be a good time to To play The best to you tom
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Originally posted by cheatinheartPaul I picked up one similar to yours about 2 weeks ago. But mine has a resonator on it, really a good sound I hadn't necessarily thought I would like an
archtop especially with aluminum Rim, but was I mistaken I find that I can control the overtones whole lot better with this banjo. I've been playing with the heavy Gibson style tone rings and love them to death but these just might take their place. if I get the chance to buy another one somewhere to this one I'm going to grab it laughing out loud I just picked up a wood router for out on my shop and when I run it sometimes I have some free time that would be a good time to To play The best to you tom
Thanks, Tom - and the best to you, too. (Thomas is my middle name.)
Someone referred to my Neufeld with the Gibson type, 20 hole tone ring, as "the poor man's Tu-ba-phone". It doesn't bother me; I love the tone. I traded a 1910-1915 Orpheum for it, no regrets.
Update
I ordered a Fiberskyn head, and I got it, but it was the wrong size. I took another head I had lying around and tried it. There isn't much, if any, difference. However, I got a roll of wood veneer and double-lined the inside (second photo), and it really calmed things down. I thought of it as a spunover rim in reverse.
