Tenor Banjo Project
A buddy of mine gave me an
old tenor banjo, basically just a
neck, rim, and a couple hoops.
Someone had started to sand
and strip it, but it was in
horrible shape. It had gouges,
scrape marks, and the
fretboard had deep ruts and
sanding marks as well as
worn loose frets.
I decided to build a few skills by
restoring the banjo. I sanded and
scraped it down smooth, pulled the
frets and leveled the board.
I made a Rosewood overlay and
did a MOP Celtic Trinity inlay. I also
did a MOP cross inlay on the third
fret and re-fretted with medium
fret wire.
I routed a channel and bound the
headstock and fretboard with Curly
Maple binding. Then I added
Grover friction pegs.
Next I'll order some hooks and
shoes and make a skin head.
The label says "Cole & Dunae Chicago". It
appears the rim was cut down and only the
bottom half of the label remains. The banjo
had a 10 7/16" rim, is 1/2" thick, and 2 1/4"
deep with 23 hook holes. It had eighteen
frets. The tension hoop is flat and it has a
brass ring and a Waverly D18 brass flesh
hoop.
A google search produced nothing on the
make.