here is a vintage old clifford essex banjo on reverb UK its located in Lowestoft, United Kingdom.

they are asking 649 for it... if its not 2 far it may worth a look.....

https://reverb.com/uk/item/97663155-clifford-essex-the-popular-1919-1936-5-string-open-back-banjo
 

I'm a lady with small hands and I've learned to play a Stelling banjo, among other types of banjos.

I wouldn't worry too much about small hands. You'll be surprised how much they can stretch. My recommendation: by a normal sized open back banjo, 5 string. Buy as good a banjo you have with your budget. The better the banjo, the easier it is to keep in tune, fret and pick.

I've found that usually, you pick within 2 or 3 frets and if there's one you can't reach, you can find an alternative note.

Thanks TexasBanjo! - useful advice. I find personally the 3/4 guitar is more appropriate for me, so good to know it might not be the case with the banjo. 

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

here is a vintage old clifford essex banjo on reverb UK its located in Lowestoft, United Kingdom.

they are asking 649 for it... if its not 2 far it may worth a look.....

https://reverb.com/uk/item/97663155-clifford-essex-the-popular-1919-1936-5-string-open-back-banjo
 

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Thank you. 

Seems far to us, that's about a 12-hour round trip!

Would you say there are many quality differences between century-old pieces like this one and modern equivalents? Not likely to find mahogany necks, I imagine! 

no not much in the open back market,,,, the selection may be a bit thinner but the new stuff is nice too..... i am just a fan of the old stuff ,,,like me.

Mandolin great Jesse McReynolds: “It’s not how big your hands are, it’s how fast you move ‘em.”

Clawhammer styles tend to lean toward single notes, so fretting shouldn't be a big issue even with a normal size neck. A beginner isn't going to be fretting complicated chords anyway. And her fingers will learn to stretch a bit as she moves along.

Gold Tone necks tend to be quite narrow (30mm), so that should help.

I have a Pohlmann Banjola, very narrow, shortscale neck. Plus the body is very light and quite small. I found mine in France, so I imagine they pop up from time to time in the UK as well.

If small hands are an issue maybe you should target banjos with a 25” scale length. It’s a popular size for those that prefer a shorter stretch with a minimal tone and volume penalty.

Your original choice of the Gold Tone is perfectly adequate in my opinion, you will have a warranty.
I have used many Gold Tone’s kit neck to add to a custom rim. The width is perfect for even the smaller hand of my female customers! Good luck and enjoy

1-2-3-4 = boom rest did he!

Your friend's height 5' 3" is the really critical detail. I had to find a banjo for a similar height (as I recall, about 5' 1") female student for whom an 11” head, 26” scale banjo was way too big for her to have a comfortable and stable posture (she was attempting to play a Gold Tone CC100).

We got lucky that a 10” head Cedar Mountain open back banjo came up for sale at the right time. A stunningly beautiful banjo, no loss of volume and it fitted her like a glove. Really a 'Wow!' moment for her.

Not suggesting that particular model will be available or is the only solution. However, 10” head and short scale was what worked for us. It made all the difference. From having the pot sit awkwardly against the outside of her right thigh she had a banjo that sat compactly on top of her right thigh, and a neck she could comfortably handle.

Not sure where you're based, but if you can get to Eagle Music near Huddersfield, that's the best place you could go with her to try different things out. They might be able to give you some pointers. Unless you want it to be a surprise(!)

reverb.com/item/100276179

I've got a little banjovie just like this one and it sure is fun to pluck around on.

I've done nylon strings, but it did come with metal at first and sounded alright with them also.

It's so much less of a stretch to do chords with.

Hi Lightbullb, I'm a fan of your Snufkin profile picture!

I'm about an inch taller than your friend and also have pretty small hands. The biggest factor for comfort for me has been an 11" pot size (I'm sure I would also enjoy a 10", though I've never seen one of those in person); the difference in how an 11" vs. 12" inch felt for me was drastic, and I could never get my right arm to feel comfortable or a bigger pot to feel balanced. Kind of similar to how I like playing a parlor/single O size guitar, but tried a dreadnought once and immediately thought it was uncomfortable to reach around.

As people above have mentioned, clawhammer usually doesn't feature stretchy chord shapes so my small hands usually do fine there unless I happen to be doing the odd song where I'm reaching across 3 frets. But where I find the scale length _does_ matter is shoulder comfort, though if your friend really likes a banjo and it's not an A scale, using a capo to effectively shorten the instrument by a few frets also works for me. My favorite instrument is a 25.5" scale capo'ed up 2 frets to A all the time.

With your budget, I think your original idea of getting a Gold Tone is a good one; the ones I've tried were perfectly solid instruments.