NBD

[ssstewart]

well, new adventures abound. although i have played and restored guitars for a very long time, i recently sold off a bunch of them and then decided to explore some different things with strings ive admired. my first banjo
Purchased this in private sale on FB, the guy said he thought banjo would be easier so bought it and then gave up. Case looked like it had been in a wagon train for 100 years but the banjo itself was in exceptional condition. 1921 G Houghton british banjo ( not high end but has that beauty that i love in old instruments) completely original with zero fret or fingerboard wear. the patent tuners were so tight ( due to the paper washers disintegrating) kept the old maple bridge but bought a new 3 feet ebony/maple bridge. had ordered a new remo fiber head for her but will need to buy a skin and do it myself ( its 10.4" so the head i bought is no good) original skin still on her with caligraphy writing all over inside of it ??? weird. maple neck, hog pot and brass archtop ring on her. having fun exploring and learning about banjos while earl blasts in the background

[Wade Hampton]

Those old British-made banjos often have odd little quirks to them; I owned a British-made mandolin-banjo that had “Reliant No. 10” stamped on the heel of the neck. It too had a non-standard drum head size, meaning that I couldn’t replace it with a Fiberskyn head, which I was dying to do.

It required constant fiddling to keep it up to tension and fettled.

Anyway, I eventually traded it off when I got myself a Gibson Mastertone mandolin-banjo to replace it.

So have fun with your new British-made banjo!


Wade Hampton Miller

[mjh42]

Measure the head in metric. Maybe you can find a head in England or outside of the USA. Nice old instrument to get back in full working order.

[frankmcr]

That is a strange size. 10.4 inches equals 26.4 centimeters, so it isn't a standard metric size. A skin head can be cut to any size I guess.

[Rudy4]

Bob Smakula carries about any size you could possibly want (in 1/16" increments) in a wide mariety of materials.

https://www.smakula.com/BanjoHeads.html

[ssstewart]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Those old British-made banjos often have odd little quirks to them; I owned a British-made mandolin-banjo that had “Reliant No. 10” stamped on the heel of the neck. It too had a non-standard drum head size, meaning that I couldn’t replace it with a Fiberskyn head, which I was dying to do.

It required constant fiddling to keep it up to tension and fettled.

Anyway, I eventually traded it off when I got myself a Gibson Mastertone mandolin-banjo to replace it.

So have fun with your new British-made banjo!


Wade Hampton Miller

hey Wade, I figured out a solution to the stability of the tuning issue on these patent tuners. since the paper washers were disintegrated i used these command strips, cut to size and cleaned up the bakelite knobs at same time. very stable now.

[ssstewart]

Originally Posted by mjh42

Measure the head in metric. Maybe you can find a head in England or outside of the USA. Nice old instrument to get back in full working order.

tks mj, i think elderly may be best best, but also have an option of a quebec banjo looth that may be able to help.

[ssstewart]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Bob Smakula carries about any size you could possibly want (in 1/16" increments) in a wide mariety of materials.

https://www.smakula.com/BanjoHeads.html

tks Rudy. very good prices i must say even with exchange. The incorrect remo one i got cost me over $70. thanks for the lead, appreciated

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by ssstewart

hey Wade, I figured out a solution to the stability of the tuning issue on these patent tuners. since the paper washers were disintegrated i used these command strips, cut to size and cleaned up the bakelite knobs at same time. very stable now.

Fortunately, my Reliant No. 10 mandolin-banjo had mandolin gears rather than friction pegs. It's been so long now that I don't remember whether I replaced the originals with a modern set of tuners - either way I don't remember having any great difficulties getting and keeping it in tune. My main hassle with it was having to constantly fiddle with the skin head.


whm

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Those old British-made banjos often have odd little quirks to them; I owned a British-made mandolin-banjo that had “Reliant No. 10” stamped on the heel of the neck. It too had a non-standard drum head size, meaning that I couldn’t replace it with a Fiberskyn head, which I was dying to do.

It required constant fiddling to keep it up to tension and fettled.

Anyway, I eventually traded it off when I got myself a Gibson Mastertone mandolin-banjo to replace it.

So have fun with your new British-made banjo!


Wade Hampton Miller

Fettled ! Great old word rarely heard in southern England now but Mando Bob uses it!


Origin of fettle : First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb fetlen, fetelen, fatelen “to shape, prepare,” perhaps from Old English noun fetel “belt, girdle”

Please note that The UK uses and still uses inches, feet yards, furlongs etc. (they are teaching the young to use metric though)

So that British banjo would have been made in inches.

Hope you get it into fine fettle!

[Robin, Wales]

I was given an Essex & Cammeyer banjo in bits for free about 8 years ago - I still have it. It was made somewhere between 1893 and 1900 in Piccadilly, London. It had wooden pegs, so I bought some Wittner or Perfection pegs for it (I can't remember which) that look like violin pegs but have gears built inside them. They seem to do the trick and look the part. Don't take the dulcimer next to the banjo as a scale reference - that's a massive 34" VSL I.D. Stamper dulcimer!!!

P1120778a.jpg







The banjo is almost a short scale (sort of in-between) - and because of the tuning "difficulties" with this type of instrument I tend to keep it in a'AEae tuning. I don't know if this is an actual banjo tuning (I'm sure that it is) but I just copied the concept from mountain dulcimer of just having root and 5th strings. This does mean that I can play in any mode without retuning - and the key of A generally fits with fiddlers OK. Here's a sample I recorded of the banjo in a'AEae, playing in different modes. It saves a lot of retuning!!!!

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

I.D. Stamper

Wow. My alltime favorite. Attempting to restrain envy.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

Wow. My alltime favorite. Attempting to restrain envy.

I.D. Stamper was a great old time player and dulcimer maker. I don't have the dulcimer any more. All of my historic dulcimers went in one batch to a collector a couple years ago. That big Stamper dulcimer was in a hell of a state when I got it - but I did get it playing again and recorded it at home - it really growled along: