Baycu Pony Banjo #2511 -$1450 w/HSC

A very nice vintage style Pony banjo using a 1920's Slingerland model #24 banjo ukulele rim and hardware with a custom Baycu neck.

The neck conforms to traditional Pony banjo dimensions of a 12" neck and 8" rim with a scale length of 18." This is approximately the same size as a Gibson A style mandolin, as pictured below.

The fingerboard and peghead overlay are vintage ebony and the neck is cherry. The nut and pip are carved from bone. The finish is traditional french polish. The frets are very close to the style of the pre 1900 banjos and are very thin width and crown. Modern banjos have generally much bulkier fretwire and do not look right on old banjos.

The tuners are vintage and and very well functioning and are of the mechanical type with a screw adjustment for tighting. The tailpiece is a no-knot style and the banjo is strung with Nylgut strings. The bridge is custom made.

The rim assembly and head are completely original and of high quality and in perfect working order. These model #24 Slingerland banjos were every bit as well made as Vega banjo rims, using precise tooling and well fitted and heavy hardware. The heavy tone ring hoop is steel rather than brass which I think sounds better, as well as the deeper rim.

Modern banjos can be made of many blocks of wood glued together, a very primitive and unstable technique. Traditionally, banjo rims are bent and laminated outside or inside a form. Most smaller banjo rims might have 4-5 laminations of thinner pieces, staggering the joints.

It is very difficult to bend perfectly a thick piece of hardwood unless you have steam under pressure perhaps. This rim is a one piece of hard maple 1/2" thick bent with a long scarf joint, and absolutely perfect. It is faced with thick layer of walnut on either side. This translates to a very lively and responsive banjo.

I am repurposing these wonderful American antiques to give them new life for generations. These are heirloom instruments and will outlast your lifetime, and are built to resemble the style and craftsmanship of the vintage instruments built one hundred years ago.

This banjo has an amazingly powerful sound and very easy to play.

OUT OF STOCK