This is a great, post-1898 (murky records at that point as y'all know), Samuel Swaim Stewart died that year, S.S. Stewart "Special Thoroughbred" model banjo. The cherry wood neck and ebony fingerboard are completely straight. The action's perfect, about 1/8" at the 12th frets, and easy playing all the way up the neck. Frets are perfect and the original tuners work perfect. The head is a brand new 0.11 goatskin head from Smakula Fretted Instruments that I installed--loud and plunky. The heel carving's beautiful as is the headstock inlay. It has an 11" head with a 27 3/16" scale. This banjo needs nothing. The Aquilla strings are about a month old. The coolest is the original case. The leather is pliable and if you wanted to use it it needs some stitching, a handle strap, and one buckle. I never used it. The little paper decal is missing as well as the tailpiece rosette, like half the SSS banjos out there. The hooks and nuts must've been replaced at some point over the last 127 years. All the other hardware is original.
