I have a banjo stamped as silver bell 1, that I am curious about.
From my understanding, the silver bell 1 models were Bacon & Day’s baseline model, which I understand used nickel plating. This one is pretty ornate with gold colored trim, a carved neck and fancy pattern on the resonator. Seems like it would have been quite an overhaul of the basic model.
Anyone out there know much about the likely history of the upgrades that may be associated with an instrument like this?
Edited by - mrodbell on 10/01/2026 17:21:36
I believe you have a victim of the "Shakey's Pizza" fad.
Starting in the mid 50s, a nostalgic chain of pizza parlors opened featuring a strange mix of 1920s and 1930s tin pan alley tunes played on tenor and plectrum banjos by people dressed in a stylized version of the "gay 1890s" with candy stripe vest, lace sleeve garters and styrofoam boater hats.
This created a whole system of these "sing along" gay 90s type businesses including Your Father's Moustache and various knockoff imitations.
Countless numbers of young men were employed as banjo strummers during this fad. These young men eventually grew up, got jobs, and as things went with that generation, amassed disposable income.
And with that, a cottage industry arose to create "upgraded", or sometimes outright counterfeit, plectrum banjos (mostly Bacon) to service the demand for highly embellished Bacon banjos.
Shakey's Pizza is a major factor in why the American Banjo Museum exists.
like Joel said.. your banjo was probably made for this environment.
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