A really nice open-back banjo made by the legendary Bart Reiter, who is now retired and no longer building instruments. This is serial number 1035 which puts its approximate date of manufacture around 1993.
The "Special" model is basically a re-creation of a 20's era Vega Little Wonder. The 11" rim is laminated maple with a plain Little Wonder style solid brass tone ring and a rosewood back cap. Head is a new elite fiberskyn style head that sounds great with a bridge made by Dean Robinson that gives the banjo a great clear old-time sound. Frets have been leveled, dressed and polished and it plays with a nice medium action that's perfect for clawhammer style.
It has a very comfortable 26 1/4" scale neck that is also made of maple with an ebony center strip. The unbound heavy ebony fingerboard has plain dot inlay with a single star at the fifth fret. The headstock is faced in ebony with a single inlaid pearl star. When this banjo came to me the neck neck and headstock appeared to have been over-sprayed and were showing a lot of signs of finish deterioration so I opted to clean them up and refinish them with new satin nitrocellulose lacquer to match the rim. It now looks, plays and feels like brand new! There is a railroad spike installed for the fifth string at the 7th fret.
The tuners are geared planetary style that I've upgraded with vintage style tuning buttons.
All hardware is nickel plated, and has been completely cleaned and restored. I've upgraded the tailpiece to a modern clamshell style made by Balsam Banjo Works.
Come with a nice hardshell case that I believe is probably original to the banjo.
I'm asking $2,500 for it. Willing to entertain reasonable offers. Local pickup preferred or we can arrange a handoff if you're not too far away, I'll ship it if necessary with the buyer paying shipping and insurance costs.
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