Doug Unger Custom Fairbanks Electric Style 5 String Banjo (2014), black tolex hard shell case.

Doug Unger Custom Fairbanks Electric Style Model 5 String Banjo (2014), made in Peninsula, Ohio, blacked rim, natural neck finish, laminated maple rim and neck, ebony fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.

This extremely beautiful Fairbanks-style banjo was built in 2014 by Doug Unger, an artist, master luthier and retired professor of fine art from Peninsula, Ohio. Sadly Unger passed away just as we were readying this banjo for sale, a very sad loss to the banjo world and old-time community at large. Doug Unger was a master builder but particularly revered as one of the greatest pearl engravers of the modern era, whose immaculate handwork could stand alongside the original artistry of the late 19th and early 20th century including the celebrated master Icilio Consalvi.

Unger's 5-string creations are largely based on the ornate "Golden Age" banjos from the turn of the last century, rooted in the work of Fairbanks, Cole and the Boston tradition. Unger typically created meticulously hand-engraved custom necks, often mating them to vintage pots to build unique world-class old/new open-back banjos. He was completely self-taught, beginning to build in the 1970s out of a passion for old-time music after a friend suggested he try making an instrument he could not afford. His "main gig" was Professor Emeritus at Kent State University, teaching fine art for 35 years. Unger's contributions to American instrument craft earned him the title of Ohio Heritage Fellow by the Ohio Arts Council in 2004.

Because he hand-crafted each instrument entirely himself, each of his banjos is unique. This is a "Fairbanks" style instrument with a superbly crafted Deluxe Tu-Ba-Phone pattern neck mated to a rim more reminiscent of an older "Electric" style. The rim is an old Cole's Eclipse piece so heavily re-worked as to be virtually unrecognizable. It is re-finished in black, the mounting holes for the shoes have all been moved upwards, the bottom outer edge bound in ivoroid and inlaid with a repetitive pearl oval pattern and a Fairbanks electric-style tone ring and sheath fitted. The hoop, hooks and nuts are in the vintage Fairbanks style. The dowel is in the typical Fairbanks/Vega pattern with an inlaid "D UNGER" engraved pearl plaque set into the center and no other markings.

The neck is where this banjo really shines; the workmanship is about the finest we have seen on a modern instrument of this style. It is crafted out of laminated flame maple with a dark wood center strip; the profile is a bit chunkier than most older Fairbanks necks. The heel is an elaborately carved in a floral pattern with a tortoise cap inlaid with engraved pearl. The headstock face is bound and has elaborate engraved pearl inlay work, while the reverse is overlaid with a long backstrap inlaid with the classic "Gryphon" motif. The bound ebony fingerboard has extravagantly engraved shaped pearl inlay in the old Fairbanks Deluxe pattern. There are colored wood underlays under all the wood on the neck, and the bone nut is deeply scalloped. The tuning pegs on the headstock are original early 1920s spring-loaded Grover patent friction pegs, which the 5th string peg button is aged to match.

This is simply one of the most beautifully crafted modern banjos we have ever had, a true testament to the artistry Doug Unger brought to his work, and the banjo world in general. Now that he has gone on to "banjo heaven" (as his obituary poetically stated) we hope the singular instruments he left behind will continue to delight future generations of 5-string players and collectors for the next century and beyond.

Overall length is 35 3/4 in. (90.8 cm.), 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm.) diameter head, and 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 26 in. (660 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/4 in. (32 mm.).

This (mostly) 12 year-old banjo shows only very light handling wear and looks really very little played. There is just a bit if rub wear to the neck finish and for some reason a little finish is rubbed off the square edges of the dowel stick, but other than this there is very little wear. This visually very impressive banjo also plays very well with a rich sound that is a little brighter than some of the original Fairbanks models, but not at all shrill. It resides in a typical modern HSC. Overall Excellent Condition.