The Washburn Style A, circa 1920's, was considered one of the higher-quality fancy banjos of its time, and this one is in excellent shape. The tuning pegs have been replaced for the sake of playability with 5-Star geared tuners (such a wonderful upgrade!), but it is otherwise original. Serial # 2946. The Style A's were normally manufactured with a maple neck. This one seems to be mahogany, and was sold to me as such by Bernunzio's staff, who are usually pretty knowledgeable, but perhaps it is dark-stained curly maple? Otherwise it is standard: ebony fingerboard, ivoroid perfling, mother-of-pearl inlays, Remo head. The tone ring is described as a "Washburn cupped tone ring," and I would say that it resembles a Dobson tone ring. This seems to give it a lot of resonance and sustain, and a fair amount of volume for an open-backed tenor. When I bought it, I played it beside a Whyte Laydie of similar vintage, strung exactly the same, and I would say it has a slightly mellower tone, which is why I bought it. This is an extremely playable banjo, with lovely, low action---not too low to easily use a pick with, but wonderfully easy and pleasant to fret with speed and high accuracy. It comes with a metal pick guard (which I removed), the original (replaced) friction tuners, and two cases: the one that was sold to me as the original hardshell case (which seems a little too tight to me), and the Deering soft case that I bought and used for it. This banjo is in excellent shape. The inlays are all flush with the neck, and in perfect shape, as is the ivoroid perfling. The neck and set-up are perfect. The metal pieces are in excellent shape for a century-old instrument, as you can see from the detailed pictures, and the wood finish has very few blemishes. The only two blemishes that I have noticed are an odd, metallic blemish about a quarter-inch in diameter, on the back of the neck near the peghead (which is completely flush with the finish, though it seems to be like a discoloration on top of it?), and some scratching on the back of the pot, which I assume is from belt buckles and buttons, as this instrument was loved and played by someone before it came to me. Close-up photos of blemishes and metal are included in the attached photos. :) This was my first tenor banjo, and I enjoyed playing it for several years. It has lived in air-conditioned, climate controlled comfort for all of that time. I am selling it because I came across one in a shop that I liked playing even better (You know how that goes!), and my husband is not a fan of my penchant for collecting a stable of beloved instruments. LOL The price is firm and I consider it low; this is a high-quality, extremely playable vintage instrument with fancy inlays in excellent condition.
