String Instruments

String Instruments that have been Rescued, Returned, Restored, Resurrected, Refreshed, Refinished, Recycled, Repaired,  Reworked or reduced in price. To purchase items or ask Mack a question about any of these items, send him an e-mail here: mackhoover@bresnan.net

Item #1

This one sold at my Garage Sale but represents the categories and will be replaced soon by another with a similar history.

Item #2

Category: Rescued

Here is my latest tenor banjo restoration.  My price is $450.

When I got it it was a total wreck.  I guess you could say a ship wreck because the original head had a sailboat painted on it.

The original tailpiece was not useable so I designed one. I did find a patent date of 1907for one almost identical. At least the banjo isn't older than that.  I'd say the 20's.  That's when tenor banjos were very popular.   The identity of the maker is not known.

Everything metal was very rusted and corroded, but I was able to REuse it all. One boot and hook were missing so I had to REplace them.

The original color was blond and most of the inlaid wood veneer was gone or broken. I REplaced that with a solid veneer of maple and added a walnut ring around the bottom, Then I REfinished with cherry stain and used a french polish finish, which was being used a lot during that era.

The bridge is my own design.

I needed to do some work on the fingerboard, but the frets are all original and good. The mother of pearl inlay position markers had some REpair but are in pretty good condition.  There is a chip from the side inlay of walnut, but it doesn't affect the playing any.

The original friction tuning pegs are good but a bit discolored. Front.

Here is Danny playing.  an audio version  and a video on YouTube.

Wabash and Swanee are rivers. Maybe not the best use of a sailboat.

Item #3

Category:  Rescued Resurrected and Revised

I don't plan to sell this one, because it's my sentimental REplacement for  my great grandpa's five string which I inherited when I was a boy. I  handed it on to my great nephew who would be the great, great, great grandson of the original owner. The neck is maple with walnut on the front of the tuning head. The fingerboard is a synthetic material used for electric bass. I used nickel fret wire that is made for guitars and shaped my own mother of pearl dots for the position markers.

Here is a view of the back so you can see the  blond finish. I did a french polish to freshen it up.

The head is natural calf skin, but it has an unnatural stain that I couldn't clean or bleach out. It has a great old time rich and loud sound.

Except for the modern planetary tuners it's very much like grandpa's.

I added a personal touch with some mother of pearl inlays on the tuning head.

Here I am as college student in the sixties picking and grinning Grandpa's.

The tailstock and bridge are my own design.

It has that great old time profile and a pot that's nearly as old as Grandpa's.

Item #4

Category:  Reduced SOLD SOLD

This is the same Apple wood low G that is shown on Whistle Pictures page for $150.

Item #5

Category:  Reduced

SPOKEN FOR

By Danny Agajanian who plays the sound demonstrations.

Reduced from what? you ask.  Since I've never offered before at my site it's a legitimate question.  My price elsewhere has been $1000.  I'll take $750 and weep. For more and better pictures go to Whistle Pictures.  You can also see a video and hear it played if you follow the link there.

Item #6

Category: Recycled

$450 for this one

The original head  this neck was on now sports a five string neck in this picture. I got it from Ebay as this.  It had a lot of corrosion, but the parts were mostly there.  The head was just the right size for an old time frailing banjo so I made such a neck to put on it.

I got the no stick frying pan at a yard sale. The flange is made of brass whistle stock. I used a bender for electric conduit to form the hoop.

The tailpiece is made from a cover for an electric control box. The bridge is my own design.

It does have a nice feel and profile

I made some changes from what it is in that picture.  Here is how it now looks in company with an old friend from around 1900

This short piece played by Danny Agajanian was snipped from this morning's session at the bagel shop. And  some video on You Tube   which is a little out of sync.

Here's a very good video compliments of some great editing by Gary McLarry

Item #7

Category: Reaching for one

$495 for this one

Danny brought an aluminum pot from a tossed out banjo, a Kay tenor neck withought a body, a ziplock bag of hooks,  a home made tension hoop of brass, and a 5/8" brass rod he had pounded into a flange ring.  I made the tail piece and bridge and did all the drilling and assembling.  It is a new synthetic head. The tuners are new Shaller planetary which cost more than all the other parts together.

Danny likes lots of tension hooks!

This is an amazing playing and sounding instrument!  It's the one he's playing in the picture above.

We are making some changes with this one and if Danny likes them we'll withdraw our offer.  Stay tuned!

Item #8

Category: Remembering

1952. Innovation was a necessity to a ranch hand's kid.  I saved up for the tuners and strings. The spruce for the top and back  I picked up at the apple packing shed.  It was to become apple crates. The rest was what I could find around the ranch. The curved side of the body was an old cheese box that needed some patching and a bit of reshaping.. Wards catalog was my inspiration. I took a tracing from a friend's mando for the fret spacing.  

I have since replaced the fingerboard and have done some other refinements over the years.  Covering the home made tailpiece with a brass cover makes it a lot more comfortable to play.  But it does play.  I've had compliments from professional players that say so.  Danny Agajanian is one.

By the way it's not for sale. My kids will fight over who has to inherit it after I'm gone.

Item #9

Category: Restored

For sale  $650

This Concertone from the twenties is as perfect as I have seen.  All it took was a little polishing, a new head (actually it's a used one) and new strings.

Metal resonators are not very easy to come by.  I even have another mb with one, but this is the best one I've seen.

The arched top has a perforated tone ring and a metal band that keeps the  head from making contact with the wood. You can see it a bit from the inside view. The tailpiece cover is original, however  the tailpiece itself is a replacement (but old) as is the bridge which came from the same era.

The original tuners are virtually without wear. I never bothered to remove them and they do have a little tarnish. There is an interesting ivory like pattern in the celuloid knobs. Two of the tuner peg grommets need to be replaced, but I'm working on that.

There is absolutely no wear to the frets.   This one must have been hiding somewhere just waiting to be brought to life!

Here's a short sound sample.

Item #10

Category:  Re-ally belongs to Danny,who is Re-lying on me to sell it

I will be offering it here and elsewhere first then putting it on Ebay with a starting bit of $2000.SOLD

It's a flat top Baldwin Ode from early 70's and been owned by two who claim it's one of the best banjos ever built.. I can't disagree. It's in superb condition and it has it all:  the mysterious geared truss rod, double coordinator rods. Heavy brass tone ring, twelve ply wooden body,  walnut neck with the laminate and inlaid walnut resonator.

Original tuners and Planet Five Star fifth string tuner. Original tailpiece and Ode bridge.

Hard case.

What can I add!?

Sound bite: coming soon!

Item #11

Category: Restrung  restore

Mildly because of the already excellent condition.

The tuners required replacement parts and cleaning up.  The inlay work is superb on the pick guard and fingerboard.

A video with little Italian music.

Item #12

Category: Reconstructed from common parts

This is a tenor size neck with a dulcimer fretboard. It's my design from start to finish.The neck is maple. You can see how it was cut from the maple plank.The frying pan became the resonator. The pot was the top part of the cast aluminum cooking pan. The bottom half of the pan will become an instrument similar the the manjo above.I bought the eye bolts for the brackets and the 3/8" all thread for the coordinator rod from the hardware store. The  banjo hooks are new. I made the tailpiece and the bridge.It looks like a banjo and plays like a dulcimer.

Here's a little sound bite to demonstrate one technique: playing like a five string banjo with fingerpicks.

Mack doing a banjo frailing style. It's also comfortable to lay on the lap and do traditional dulcimer strumming.

Here are some pictures of my suggestions on playing:

Like a five string banjo clawhammer or frailing.

On the lap with a goose quill. I think I learned that from one of the Foxfire books.

On the lap with a flatpick. Is there really a correct way? I tried a brass whistle for a noter, also several finger picking rhythms. Nothing I tried hid the banjo sound...

A little experiment in timing. An old style metronome imitates the clock and then I was tapping on the drum surface.  The poor whistling is on an aluminum A with a walnut mouthpiece.

Here's a minute of how I feel about home grown tomatoes.

Item #13

Category: Remembering when

I made this one in 1981 with some guidance from a book on making a blue grass mandolin.  I didn't want to to have the curlies so designed my own.  It's the one I play regularly and it's definitely not for sale. Just thought I wanted to show it off. 

Item #14

Category: Reasonable reassembly

It's a flat top mahogany pot I bought from ebay and an Iida 227 mahogany neck I traded for. The stains are different, but close enough for me. The parts I made are the tailpiece, bridge and the sterling silver cover plate for covering the truss adjustment.The fifth tuner is new and the geared tuners some I got in a trade. They are installed with bushings and washers that I can remove so I can   replace with the proper planetary tuners some day.

I suppose $500 would turn my head, but I'm very satisfied with this banjo!

Item #15

Category:   Restored neck new pot

I got the neck in a vintage mandolin case I purchased from Ebay. There wasn't much hope for the finish so I stripped it and added my own color scheme spray painting on the black and wiping for the "worn" look.

It's a Danny designed pot of 1/8" brass and 34 hooks which I put together after he had it rolled into the hoop. The old pot couldn't be reused for this one; maybe it will be the body for a vintage frailing banjo some day.

The bridge is my design and the tailpiece is salvaged from a five string banjo.

If you look close you can see the locking clamp for the dowel rod is my design. And see the buffalo nickel which Danny is going to epoxy on the heel plate.

The wide nut is Corian.

This is Danny's instrument, so it's not for sale.

Item #116

Category:   Restored pot, used and new parts, new neck

I got the used cast aluminum pot on Ebay,  the slotted rosewood fingerboard, tail piece, the  hooks, and fretwire all from different Ebay vendors. I traded work for the resonator, tuning gears and fifth string peg . 

The neck was laminated  and rough shaped from locally grown   walnut and pear wood by a friend . I finished shaping and finishing with miscellaneous pieces of walnut maple and rosewood. I used white corian for the edge banding and position markers on the fingerboard and the nut.

The bridge is my design.

The action is good and low. The neck is straight and reinforced with a bar of aluminum and strips of steel bedded in epoxy.

Great tone and moderate to loud volume.

This one is for sale for $450

Item #17

Category:   Relocation of banjo head

from the old banjo mentioned above to a drum for playing with a (tabor) pipe bottom of picture.

The G pipe is maple stained cherry with a Brazilian cherry mouthpiece.
The drum is off an old  tenor banjo I got from Ebay.  I had this strip of plastic which I rolled into the rim two layers thick and the shoes are eyebolts from the hardware store .  The hooks are various ones left over from repair jobs.  I put many coats of clear acrylic on both sides of the skin to preserve the painting and to prevent humidity  from making unwanted "adjustments".
I made the drumstick from a dowel.

Item #18

Category:   Reused  neck new pot

The used long neck (Harmony Pete Seeger style five string)  is on a new brass pot with all new parts.

The coordinator rod system is my design. And so is the bridge.

This one isn't for sale.

Item #19

Category:   Reused  neck new pot

This is a vintage tenor neck from the twenties on one of Danny's first brass pots.  I helped with the original installation a few years ago.  This is it's latest reincarnation using the Hoover coordinator rod system.

The flange for the tension hooks is a brass tubing shaped with an elctrical conduit bender. Another Hoover bridge. A second hand tailpiece.

Here is Danny playing a tune, and the tune he's playing.

Item #20

Category:   Remembering how they used to be

This is very old pot made by roll1ng sheet steel over a wooden hoop.  I used the traditional dowel rod mounting with my own design for a clamp.The tailpiece is an old one but not quite as old as the pot.  I made the neck from maple and did the top template from onehundred year old chestnut. The fingerboard is of the same old chestnut.

The friction pegs are vintage and I made the knob for the fifth string peg from ivory colored Corian.  The nut is Corian as much like bone as I have found.The hooks and their  attachment nuts are new and the bridge is a Hoover.

And it's not for sale.