A.C. Fairbanks Special Electric No. 5 (c.1900)

A exceptional banjo with much potential, this A.C. Fairbanks Special Electric No. 5 has a metal-clad wooden rim with ivoroid top and bottom trim on the inside. It’s equipped with an Electric tone ring. The mahogany neck features a carved heel, inlaid ebony heelcap, and an ivoroid bound ebony fretboard with fancy engraved inlays. This instrument needs a lot of work to get back in playing shape (sold AS-IS, see Details section below)

• Metal-clad wooden rim (with ivoroid top and bottom trim inside - one 5" strip replaced)
• 30 (not original but very cool) gold-plated hooks and shoes with nickel plated nuts
• Electric (Whyte Laydie) tone ring
• Ivoroid-bound mahogany neck (oversprayed)
• Carved heel and inlaid ebony heelcap
• 22-fret ebony fingerboard with fancy engraved inlays (several small pieces of inlay missing)
• Ebony headstock overlay with elaborate engraved flowerpot and multi-layer backstrapping
• Engraved gryphon on back of headstock
• Four geared tuners with ivoroid buttons
• Bone friction 5th peg
• No Knot tailpiece
• ~10-3/4" (plastic) head
• ~26" scale
• 1-7/32" nut
• Bump style original hardshell case (broken handle)
• VGC-EC but needs work (neck has quite a bit of bow, which needs to be addressed either by heat press or total removal of fingerboard and then straightening — plus glue/level loose frets, replace small missing inlay pieces, reset dowel stick, glue areas of loose binding, new head, new strings, setup, etc., etc. - sold AS-IS)
• SN: 19780