As you can see in the pictures, there isn’t a single word on the exterior or the banjo (the inside of the tension hoop is stamped “Waverly D18”). However, this banjo is the work of the Gibson factory sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. This is basically a blonde version of Gibson made Oriole Tenor banjos, which were generally black or dark brown. The brass tone hoop outfitted rim on this is 10-1/2” diameter and is a full 3/4” thick. I put a plastic head on it as the original had some holes, but I’d be happy to include the original head in case the buyer needs the flesh hoop.
The neck has a 18 feet rosewood fingerboard that has been played hard. The frets in the first position are shot and I don’t feel like dealing with that so I’m offering this as-is. A gnarly spring capo left those marks at the base or the headstock, but those are purely cosmetic.
This would make a fine openback clawhammer banjo with a nice five string neck. Given the thickness of the rim, I’ve seen some people make smaller scale resonator banjos with great success with rims like this one. It would also be a nice Irish tenor with a fresh set of frets.
Thanks for looking and feel free to reach out with any questions.
