1983 Stelling Sunflower Archtop 5-String Banjo, Raised Head, San Diego

This 1983 Stelling Sunflower is a raised head banjo, and that is the rare part. Stelling built the Sunflower as a flathead. If you owned one and decided you wanted the raised head instead, you had to send your banjo back to the shop and trade your flathead ring in for it. Geoff Stelling would not simply sell you the ring, so very few of these left the shop, and the ones that exist are almost all still in the banjos they were fitted to. This is the first raised head Stelling I have had at Banjo Warehouse in a good while.

A raised head, which you will also hear called an archtop, lifts the head off the rim so it makes contact only at the tone ring rather than sitting flat across the top. That changes the voice. You get a brighter, drier, more focused note with a faster attack and less bloom behind it. It speaks quickly and it cuts. A flathead gives you more bottom end and more sustain, the fuller sound most people picture when they think of bluegrass banjo. The raised head trades some of that depth for clarity and punch. Reno players reach for it, and so do a lot of players who need to be heard in a band without pushing. If you have only ever played flatheads, this will not sound like what you are used to, and that is the point of it.

The truss rod cover is engraved with the name Marty. That was the original owner, and it has been on this banjo long enough that it belongs to it now. We call it Marty around the shop. If that is not to your taste a plain cover is an easy swap, but I would leave it. A banjo that somebody cared enough about to put their name on it is a banjo that got played.

Figured wood on the neck and resonator under a sunburst, with the flame coming up through the finish on the back of the resonator. Nickel plated hardware throughout, the ornate cut flange Stelling is known for, a Stelling engraved tailpiece, Stelling stamped tuners with pearloid buttons, and a geared fifth string tuner on the neck. The fingerboard carries the pearl heart and flower inlays, with SUNFLOWER inlaid in a banner up the neck so you know exactly which model you have. Inside the resonator is the Stelling trademark decal, and the serial number, 2725, is on the rim where Stelling put them.

A quick note on the year and where it was built. Geoff Stelling started building in San Diego in 1974 and moved the shop to Afton, Virginia in 1984. The last California banjo was number 2906. This one is serial 2725, which places it in 1983 and in San Diego, not later and not Virginia.

Before it ships, our banjo tech Tara has been through this one already: head tension, bridge placement and fit, action at the nut and the twelfth fret, truss rod, tailpiece angle, and fresh strings. It looks the way it should and it plays the way it should. It comes with its original case and it is from the original owner.

• Stelling Sunflower, 1983, built in San Diego
• Raised head (archtop) tone ring, the rare version
• Figured neck and resonator under a sunburst
• Ornate Stelling cut flange, engraved tailpiece
• Stelling stamped tuners with pearloid buttons, geared fifth string tuner
• Heart and flower pearl inlays with the SUNFLOWER banner
• Truss rod cover engraved "Marty"
• Serial 2725, nickel plated hardware, made in the USA
• Original case, from the original owner
• Complete professional setup by our banjo tech Tara

Geoff Hohwald is the author of The Banjo Primer, the number one rated beginner banjo method, and has been selling fine banjos since 1980, and Banjo Warehouse is now based in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Free shipping. 7-day satisfaction guarantee. This is a vintage instrument and a rare version of it, so call Geoff at (404) 218-8580 and we can talk it through.