President Tenor Banjo
This was the first banjo
that I ever owned. I brought this banjo to Maryland Banjo Academy last
Spring to see if I could get it dated and some info on the manufacturer
and it's worth. However, Jim Bollman, (Music Emporium) didn't really have
too much information for me.If anyone else recognizes this banjo's manufacturer
please leave me a message. This was really my Dad's banjo. He had bought
it at a Flea Market in the late 60's. I think he picked it up for around
$25. There was a bunch of his friends that played in a group called "The
Entertainers." They consisted of a couple of tenor players, a guy on washtub
bass, and a squeeze box and an ocarina player. He wanted to be a part of
the band and liked the sound of the banjo, so he bought it. He never did
become very good at it and so it sat in the closet until I rescued it in
the early 90's.
It has a MOTS, (Mother of Toilet Seat) fret board and peghead. On the peghead
it says "President" and has a flowered design which looks like some type
of enamel paint.(any help on this...?) It also has some of these designs
on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, and 15th frets. The rim is made of that
cheap pot metal. It has Grover tuners made out of Ivoroid I believe. They
certainly aren't plastic and I believe ivory would have little cracks in
it, if I am not mistaken. It has a wooden bulls eye resonator which comes
off by turning a couple of knobs. On the dowel stick it has the number
2302 embossed on it. There is no other identifying mark on the inside of
the rim or the stick. I really like the looks and sound of this old timer,
which Jim said was probably from the late 20's or early 30's. He said it
was only worth a couple of hundred dollars, but it is priceless to me...
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