WS15-1

Fairbanks                     Un-designated Model                               5 String

 

S/N: 340                    circa 1879                    11 3/8 x 27 1/4 “               4 1/8 lb.

 

Condition: Excellent.

 

NOTE: While setting up this web site, I traded this banjo to Hank Schwartz. Having already prepared this information and especially because these 1870s instruments so obviously set the stage for what I call the “early style” of Fairbanks & Cole banjos, I have received his permission to leave this info. on the site for the benefit of viewers. Photos I had taken were lost in a computer crash and Hank was kind enough to provide those taken by Frank Ford that appear here.
 

Originality: Moderate restoration. Tuners and tailpiece non-original. A few of the pearl dots around the rim had to be replaced. The ball end portions of 7 nuts were missing and I had them made.

 

Background: In about 1875 Fairbanks started building banjos. No catalogs or company records exist and survivors are so rare that gathering info. is difficult. Apparently all of these are stamped “ A. C. Fairbanks, Maker. Boston” in 2 rows of small block letters on the dowel stick. No named models have surfaced and are unlikely to exist. It is unknown how many banjos he made before his partnership with Cole began in 1879. Surviving examples exhibit widely varying details and make it obvious that Fairbanks was experimenting and “feeling his way” along in this period.
 

Features of Note:

1) Ex- Bollman Collection.

2) Mahogany or walnut neck with a thick ebony fingerboard and very thin ebony peghead overlay.

3) Raised metal frets.

4) Heel is boat hull shaped. These are commonly referred to as “Cole heels” because of his very consistent use of this shape after he and Fairbanks split. This banjo makes that term misleading at best.

5) The heel also has an appealing cut-out area near the rim.

6) Several features that clearly foreshadow what I call the “early style” of Fairbanks & Cole models :

  a) Large and very contoured peghead shape.

  b) Board inlays made up of small geometric shapes and arranged to make stars.

  c) Inlays positioned at frets 6,8,11,and 13.

7) Remarkable contrast between the drab interior appearance of the pot( dull black paint, un-finished bottom of the rim, and “hardware store” nuts and washers) and the lovely exterior that features :

  a) Lower rim decorated with pearl dots and wood inlay and  upper rim covered with burl walnut veneer.

  b) Tension hoop with raised inner edge that curves out over the tops of the nuts and outer edge that is lowered to hide the flesh hoop.

  c) Very handsome low-profile shoes.

  d) Two- part decorative nuts with tapered square upper portions and lovely ball shaped lower portions that obviously led to later one piece ball end nuts.

8) Absence of any neck brace and the heel is mounted to the rim by 3 large screws.

9) By comparing this instrument with other survivors, I conclude it was likely one of the last ones made before the start of the Fairbanks & Cole team.

 

Click to enlarge: