WS14-3

Fairbanks & Cole         “Early Style” Un-designated Model            5 String

 

S/N: 1306              1881                      11 1/4 x 27 “                             5 lb.

 

Fully original except the 5th tuner is a reproduction and the ivory tailpiece may not be original.

Condition: Near mint.

Background: Banjos I call the “early style” have tall and very contoured pegheads, moderately big dimensions, and inlays of geometric shapes arranged in patterns. On instruments with frets, the inlays always seem to appear in frets 6, 8, 11, and 13. Most of them carry no model designation. I have been unable to identify these banjos in either Fairbanks & Cole catalog and they all seem to have been made in the first half of the decade.

About this instrument:

1) Carved ivory tuners in the shape of a 3-leaf clover.

2) Flush ivory frets.

3) Square nuts with ball-ends.

4) Inlays are in frets 6, 8, 11, and 13.

5) Attractive dot inlays with the pearl inside a brass ring.

6) Tension hoop has a lower outer surface that hides the flesh hoop.

 

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