Vega Little Wonder Conversion Banjo
The Vega Instrument Company produced some of the best banjos of the early 20th century. This banjo started it’s life as a 4 string tenor. The Little Wonder was one of their lower end models but it was produced with the same attention to detail and high quality craftsmanship of their entire catalogue. This particular rim is one of the finest examples of an original Little Wonder I have ever seen. It features Vega’s signature two point shoes which were usually reserved for their higher end models like the Tubaphone, Electric, and Whyte Laydie. The hardware and rim are in almost mint condition and it’s surprising that this banjo is just shy of 100 years old being built in 1930, which is a little later in the production of these instruments. These banjos make excellent 5 strings and have a classic old time sound. The Little Wonder is not as sought after as the coveted Tubaphones, Whyte Laydies, and Electric models but they stand their ground against some of the best banjos out there.
- 11″ Vega Little Wonder Rim
- 26.1875″ Scale Length
- Calf Skin Head
- Paddle Peghead
- Mahogany Neck With Original Vega Dowel Stick
- Ebony Fretboard, Peghead, and Heel Cap
- Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Gotoh Tuners
- Hard Oil Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
Gibson Kraske Rim TB-4 Conversion
This Gibson conversion banjo was built along side an identical rim that received the same style of neck to match the original details with a few minor changes. The Victor Kraske design and patent led Gibson to create the very unique hollow rim design for the first banjos they ever produced starting in 1918. The hollow 12″ rim design gives these banjos a very unique tone and timbre that you won’t find in a traditional solid rim construction. More information about these early Gibson banjos as well as some history of Victor Kraske can be found here. As no original five string versions of these banjos were ever known to be produced by Gibson they are only heard as such with conversions to five string necks. This rim is a beautiful all original example of Gibson’s craftsmanship at the time.
- 12″ Kraske Style Hollow Gibson TB Rim
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- Original Gibson Plate Tuners
- Curly Maple Neck With Sunburst Nitrocellulose Finish
- Ebony Fingerboard and Appointments
- Ivoroid Binding
- Mother of Pearl Gibson Reproduction Inlays
- Geared Friction Style PegHed 5th String Tuner
- Published in Banjos
Gibson Kraske Rim TB-4 Conversion
This Gibson conversion banjo was built along side an identical rim that received the same style of neck to match the original details with a few minor changes. The Victor Kraske design and patent led Gibson to create the very unique hollow rim design for the first banjos they ever produced starting in 1918. The hollow 12″ rim design gives these banjos a very unique tone and timbre that you won’t find in a traditional solid rim construction. More information about these early Gibson banjos as well as some history of Victor Kraske can be found here. As no original five string versions of these banjos were ever known to be produced by Gibson they are only heard as such with conversions to five string necks. This rim at some point was refinished and lost it’s original Gibson label inside the rim but it is undoubtedly an original Gibson rim.
This particular banjo is currently owned and played by the talented Nora Brown of Brooklyn, NY.
- 12″ Kraske Style Hollow Gibson TB Rim
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- Vintage Waverly Plate Style Tuners
- Curly Maple Neck With Sunburst Nitrocellulose Finish
- Ebony Fingerboard and Appointments
- Ivoroid Binding
- Mother of Pearl Gibson Reproduction Inlays
- Geared Friction Style PegHed 5th String Tuner
- Published in Banjos
1923 Vega Whyte Laydie No. 2 Banjo
This 1923 Vega Whyte Laydie rim features a faithful recreation of a No. 2 Griffin style neck. The large 12″ Whyte Laydie rim is one of the most sought after of all original Vega rims from this era and the sound does not disappoint. The classic inlays and engravings compliment the sound that comes along with these rims making a perfect match for any vintage banjo fan. The PegHed tuners used on this banjo are an excellent tuner that give you a vintage look with the ease of a modern geared tuner. The neck shape is a slightly modified original Vega neck profile for excellent comfort and playability.
- 1923 11-15/16″ Vega Whyte Laydie Rim
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- Hand Engraved Inlays
- PegHed Geared Friction Style Tuners
- Vintage Toned Hard Oil Finish
- Ivoroid Neck Binding
- Vega Stacked Heel Cap
- 1-1/4″ Nut
- Graphtech Tusq XL Nut
- EVO Fretwire
- Published in Banjos
040 – Gibson Pyramid Tone Ring Conversion Banjo
This banjo started its life as a 1926 Gibson TB-1 tenor banjo. I converted it to a TB-2 Style Pyramid Tone Ring banjo with a very unique custom inlay theme. The Pyramid Tone Ring is a reproduction ring made by Arnold Clayton fitted to the original rim. The flange has been upgraded from the TB-1 Diamond Flange to an original TB-2 hex flange.
- 26.375″ Scale Length
- 1-1/4″ Nut
- Aztec Themed Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Curly Maple Neck
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- Ivoroid Binding
- Radiused Fingerboard
- Published in Banjos
035 – Pi Banjo Conversion
This banjo started as a 4 string Little Wonder banjo from 1919. The original neck was falling apart and the owner wanted a new five string neck. Built for the same customer as the Prime Number Banjo and is a similar numbers theme. Using Pi as the idea we came up with this unique design. I came up with a new technique for making delicate inlaid dots to feature the number of the banjo at the end of the Pi string and a Pi symbol for the decimal point.
- 10-15/16″ 1919 Vega Little Wonder Rim
- 26-3/16″ Scale Length
- Pi Themed Inlays
- Ebony Fretboard and Peghead
- Ironwood Inlays
- Delicate Inlaid Dots
- Cherry Neck
- Published in Banjos
Vega Tubaphone Slothead Banjo
A nice old original Tubaphone rim with an original Tubaphone resonator. The client wanted a slothead neck with simple aesthetics setup for fingerstyle playing.
- Original 11″ Vega Tubaphone Rim with Resonator
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- Curly Hard Maple Neck with Ebony details
- Brass side dot inlays
- Micro Dot Mother of Pearl Fretboard Inlays
- Slothead Peghead
- Seeders Curved Bridge
- Renaissance Head
- EVO Fretwire
- 2 Way Truss Rod Hidden in Heel
- Published in Banjos
Washburn Raised Tone Ring Slothead Banjo
This banjo started it’s life as a Washburn Banjolin. It had a broken and badly repaired neck that wasn’t worth saving so I built this neck to go on the rim. It has a very unique design that Washburn used for a few years with many tenor banjos and banjolins. It has a pleasant but unique sound as you could expect from the odd construction of the tone ring and is fun to play.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 2 Way truss rod hidden in Heel
- Curly maple neck with Ebony Details Stained to Match Rim
- Ebony short backstrap overlay
- EVO Frets
- Small Dot Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Brass Side Dots
- Washburn Raised Tone Ring Spun Rim
- Slothead Peghead
- Goat Skin Head
- Seeders Fielding Style Bridge
- Soft V-C shape neck profile
- Published in Banjos
019 – Aluminum Rim Conversion Banjo
This banjo was built for a local friend and fellow woodworker. He found a couple old banjos in his basement and wanted to use whatever we could to create a simple tenor banjo. We found that one of the chinese made banjos he found had a nice aluminum pot without the ‘bottle cap’ flange that most of these aluminum pots have. He had recently dismantled an antique bed to salvage the wood and found that is was made from old growth Beech. It had a beautiful tight grain that was very straight and it was incredibly stable because of its age. He brought me the neck blank and I whipped up this little left handed tenor for him. I ended up being very surprised with how great the salvaged aluminum pot sounded.
- 23″ Scale Length
- 1-1/4″ Nut
- 11-1/16″ Aluminum Pot
- Nickel Plated Hardware
- 3 Piece Beech neck with Curly Maple center stripe
- Hardhack/Ironwood fretboard
- Bubinga Peghead Overlay
- Left Handed
- Published in Banjos