Hello out there,
working on a repair of an old Iida Tenor I came across an interesting rim construction.
From what I read about Iida banjos, the vintage ones are made in Japan in the 70s and the particular one I am dealing with appears to be closest to the 239T model: curly maple, sunburst, TPF, gold plated... 14 ply rim and cast flathead.
But when I opened the pot changing the head there was something that supprised me: when loosening the nuts the hooks would not fall off immediately and the tonering was moving step by step away from the rim showing an increasing gap...
After removing the tension hoop, head and heavy! tonering I found out what is going on: the rim has little brass tubes being pushed out of holes by springs I guess. This is kind of astonishing since I have not expected these kind of construction in a vintage japanese built. It reminds or refers somehow to the Gibson prewar ball bearing system but the tubes (and spring) stick inside and could bot easily be removed. I did not force it in fear of damaging the springs...
In addition the rim itself seems kind of special since it looks like a 3ply built that is stained dark and not as light as the 14ply rims on the Iidas I find in the web. But it appears to be the original rim, the stain and laquier match perfectly to the dark neck. Maybe this is from different production year not from the 1976 catalog that can be found on Paul Hawthrone's site?
Furthermore, the tonering appears to be quites heavy with 1,613 kg and made of brass. It seems unplated and maschined in the inside so I guess it has been sand casted.
Has anyone seen a similar construction in vintage japanese banjos?
Thanks,
Roman
More pics: the tailpiece and tuning pegs are probably not original.
Isn't this a bit like the Gibson ball bearing system with springs in the rim and a ball bearing at the top pushing against the tone ring.
hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...52014.pdf
Is the neck original to the pot. It has guitar tuners which would seem unusual on the better Iida banjos. Perhaps it's a parts banjo.
Might be a parts banjo. But on the other hand it matches all too well, the wreath pattern inlays, the curly maple sunburst resonator, both stain and binding on neck, resonator and rim, hardware... except as mentioned above the guitar tuner and tailpiece which must has been installed later.
The marks on the rim are again somewhat a pro argument for the custom theory. Maybe it shows "Fl" or "FH" for flathead tonering and "2P?S" for two piece flange...
I'm going to guess it's some previous owner's modification and experiment starting with a replacement rim.
quote:
Originally posted by Old HickoryI'm going to guess it's some previous owner's modification and experiment starting with a replacement rim.
Well.... this extremely high 'lip' (wood ledge on the rim's outside, holding the tube in place) somehow screams 'Iida' to me....
That is truly new to me. Never in all the years I have been dealing with banjos has something like that ever surfaced. The ball bearing arrangement was designed to keep even tension on the vellum head under all weather conditions (I believe).
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