Circa 1910 Buckbee-style Tenor Banjo German-silver Spunover 18 Fret

Antique circa 1910 Buckbee-style open-back Tenor Banjo == Half-spunover German silver and maple rim, 2-piece maple neck with mah*gany center strip and 18 frets, thick RW fretboard, RW headstock overlay and heel cap, ivoroid tuner buttons, 10 3/4" with 20 hooks == VG cosmetic condition, only real flaw is finish wear on back of neck as shown == Excellent structural condition, straight neck and rim -- this has had steel strings on it since about 1960 as the Harry Reser "Let's Play The Banjo" book enclosed is dated 1959, when apparently the banjo found new life lol -- no damage at all from having steels on it == Black alligator case is also circa 1960 == Banjo has no markings  == I'm just a guitar player, but I've bought and sold enough banjos to know identification is not always easy! Mugwumps id's this peghead shape as used on some Gretsch-sold instruments,  it's possible this was assembled with Buckbee parts after Lange bought Buckbee, as Gretsch did use other banjo manufacturers -- I identified as a Buckbee style as the Buckbee 5-string currently on eBay has an essentially identical half-spunover rim/20-hook pot, and that combination seems to be rare (looked at LOTS of pix researching) -- info welcomed! == High-quality workmanship, this would have been  mid-level model only lacking fancy embellishments  == As I said, I'm just a guitar player -- but I tuned to an open chord  to get an idea of the sound -- strumming/finger-picking close to the bridge and using a finger-barre up the neck I found it piercing but not shrill, with a mid-range focus and strong metallic overtones -- strumming a couple of inches below the neck's end I found a similar sound but mellowed with less "metal" -- and at the 12th fret,  a much more woody sound with with a touch of metal, all very resonant -- sounded quite good IMO  and would seem very versatile== Ships Worldwide ==

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