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Originally posted by Aunt Mabel

Hi folks, I've inherited an old banjo and am planning to get it restored. I have a chap to do the work and make it nice. I think it started life as a fretless model and someone has done a hideous job on it. I'd like to get it refretted so I can learn to play it. I'm a guitarist and would really like to try some banjo. I'm also thinking about having a resonator made so it's more comfortable to hold. Ive seen online on reverb I think, one sold with a detachable metal bowl shaped back! Would love to find one of those but I reckon that's a needle in a very big haystack . I play mostly gypsy jazz these days and would love to make this old banjo swing! Any thoughts on any of this are welcome.
Thanks
Ange

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G. P. Matthew banjos are typically very nicely made and worth spending time to restore. I own and play Matthew banjos among other vintage makers. If it began life as a fretless then it isn't a zither banjo, as he also made this type. Can you upload photos via the media section on your homepage?

My first comment is to query whether fretting this banjo is the ideal plan? Has it been badly fretted previously?  I have restored post-manufacture frets on vintage banjos to original fretless set-up. It is a joy to see them,  and more so to play them as originally intended. However, if you are fixed on frets my suggestion, even before seeing photos, is to ensure that period-correct thin silver nickel fret wire is used.  I can supply details of the code numbers and a reliable source where this can be bought in the U.K. Modern frets would look wrong, play awkwardly and also reduce the value. Another aspect to be aware of is that these vintage banjos had zero degree neck angle. The neck is set parallel to the head. This was intended for finger-style playing on gut or (more often today) synthetic strings. As a guitarist this may be what you intend? This banjo is not suitable for clawhammer/old-time style and use with steel strings. I'm not touting for work. You may have found a banjo specialist. If so - brilliant. But I would caution against entrusting a vintage banjo to a well-meaning guitar mechanic. I can provide contact details of other banjo specialists if required.

I'm in Backwell, North Somerset, within 10 miles of Keynsham, and happy to offer to take a look at your Matthew and advise if that would be helpful?

In regard to a resonator or solid back banjo it would be simpler to buy a similar vintage zither banjo. Good condition, playable examples for a very reasonable price (c.£100 or less) are not too difficult to find. I'm aware of one that is currently for sale by a BHO member.

This would also avoid an unholy Frankenstein bodge job on a Matthew banjo that is part of your family history.

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/home.asp?id=161554

Aha…photos. Ok there looks to be some shenanigans going on where the perch pole meets the rim. No doubt a DIY attempt to increase the neck angle that I mentioned previously.

Your banjo was originally fretless. Post-manufacture fret addition is easy to spot where later frets cut through original inlay. They don't appear to have been accurately measured which will obviously cause intonation problems.

The 5th string tuning peg is non-original. I suspect the other pegs are a motley assortment too. 

If the serial number on the pole is just 3-digits these will be the last three digits of a 5-digit serial. You can have an explore using a small mirror and a torch to see the full serial on the reverse of the pole. This was a quirky characteristic of G. P. Matthew stamping.
 

All quite typical in an old banjo that needs some care to bring it back to playability.

…the head split requires a new calf skin stretching.

Again an easy fix.

Sitting in my garden playing my Temlett fretless when I take a break to look at the BHO. My only contribution to this thread is to opine that there is nothing so nice to do on a sunny afternoon than play a fretless banjo.

Ah thanks for the fantastic info! I think I've been chasing a romantic notion of learning on this particular instrument. Perhaps a factory reset is indeed the best option. I'm currently having a custom manouche guitar made by Robert Ford in Essex. He's going to take on the work as he's done something similar before. He's a wonderful craftsman and will make it nice, I'm sure. I appreciate your knowledge, thank you.
I will look for something to learn on in the meantime.
Do you think a wooden resonator is a bad idea?( He might have a nice bit of macassar ebony left over from my new guitar) excuse my ignorance if that's a completely inappropriate tone wood!
Also, do you /could you teach?
Cheers
Ange

I love the connection of learning on an instrument with family history.
The new guitar commission sounds exciting too. Glad that you have a professional lined up. It’s your banjo to modify how you wish.

All I can say is what I would/wouldn’t do which is only relevant to me! You may be interested in our G. P. Matthew group here on BHO:

https://www.banjohangout.org/group/georgepmatthewresearchgroup

I teach all levels of clawhammer and finger-style banjo. Having a break over the summer, but availablity from October. If you'd like some help give me a shout.

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Originally posted by Aunt Mabel

Ah thanks for the fantastic info! I think I've been chasing a romantic notion of learning on this particular instrument. Perhaps a factory reset is indeed the best option. I'm currently having a custom manouche guitar made by Robert Ford in Essex. He's going to take on the work as he's done something similar before. He's a wonderful craftsman and will make it nice, I'm sure. I appreciate your knowledge, thank you.
I will look for something to learn on in the meantime.
Do you think a wooden resonator is a bad idea?( He might have a nice bit of macassar ebony left over from my new guitar) excuse my ignorance if that's a completely inappropriate tone wood!
Also, do you /could you teach?
Cheers
Ange

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Maybe post photos of the finished restoration?

I agree that you'd best take your time figuring out how you want to restore that banjo, and get another one that's already in good playing order to learn on.
If you do decide that your Matthews would be more comfortable with a resonator, it's quite possible to add one which is easily and completely removable, without doing any alteration or damage.

Thanks everyone for the info. Lots to consider here. I'll have a chat with my luthier next month and see if he makes me decide fretlessness! But I do feel a bit sad about not using this instrument to learn on.
The back story.....
Belonged to my granddad, possibly given to him by his aunt Mabel before she died in the 1950s. Mabel was a quite famous banjo player, going round the farms and fairs around the Midlands from I think about 1900-1940. She played with a chap named Percy in a duo. I can't find any further information on them.
Granddad never did learn though. The banjo was one of my first toys to play with as a young child, always loved it and I've now got it forever. Got waylaid, happily, with guitar for 40 yrs, but I'd really love to do what Granddad didn't and honour great aunt Mabel!
So if anyone has ever heard of Mabel and Percy, I'd love to know.
Thanks everyone for your input, its really appreciated.

‘Mabel’, ‘banjo’ ‘Midlands’ and a date range 1900-1920 might seem like a very specific and quick search. Actually your query serves as a  perfect case in point of just how popular and widespread the banjo was in Victorian and Edwardian England. There are in fact a long list of sources for multiple Mabel’s with banjo in all Midland counties!
To help me narrow the search do you know if Mabel and Percy were part of a Pierrot troupe? Are there photographs in family albums? Pierrot was a very common format for banjo entertainment (and in numerous variations) at public events of that period. Often associated with seaside resorts, these troupes also performed away from the coast in their local communities. Primary sources will tend to mention the troupe name but not necessarily the individual members. A duo appearing in Pierrot costume would not be unusual. Then as now, entertainers used familiar formats to attract an audience and meet an existing expectation.

I think i searched a few years ago before AI was a thing. I'm rubbish at computer stuff but I'll try and get some more details from my dad. Pierrot troupe! That would be fun. I do remember my nan on that bloodline having LOTS of theatrical costumes from what must have been the music hall era. All kept in a massive wooden sea chest in her shed. Would have been from our original family farm in Warwickshire. So quite possibly Mabels things. I can't remember if there was any clown stuff....Will ask my sister. We'd play for hours with all that stuff. It may explain why on earth there was a full jack the ripper costume , complete with bendy rubber knife! It was my favourite! It sounds like theatrical connections doesn't it?