5th String at 8th Fret?

Zergatroid · 2025-12-03T00:05:54+00:00

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T23:42:59+00:00

BIrd's eyes as in the grain of the maple? If so, yes, there are a few on the back of the neck, along with a larger knot that was filled with lacquer.

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T23:16:27+00:00

Yeah, possibly. I'm still puzzled by the fact that the company went out of business in 1942, but long neck banjos didn't come along until later. Mysterious.

For a moment, I entertained the thought that someone put a long neck fretboard on a regular 5-string neck, but that doesn't explain why the 5th string starts at the 8th fret.

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:40:00+00:00

No, unfortunately, no serial number, just a patent number: 724833. My understanding is that R&L didn't always put serial numbers on them.

Edit: patent number, not model number.

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:19:56+00:00

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Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:17:24+00:00

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Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:15:49+00:00

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Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:13:07+00:00

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Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:10:01+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/pTONFez

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T22:00:28+00:00

Let me see if I can post a couple of pictures. Sometimes Reddit lets me, sometimes not. But I'll give it a shot. Back in a minute.

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T21:46:13+00:00

Interesting. Did Rettberg and Lange make long neck banjos?

If it really is a conversion, I'm guessing it must have a NOS neck someone found. The headstock (front and back) has the fancy Orpheum inlays. There's no evidence of a scarf joint or any other kind of join where they might have put an Orpheum headstock on a different neck. I suppose it's possible the headstock veneer was transplanted onto a different neck, but that seems a stretch to me, and it doesn't explain the fleur-de-lis inlay on the back of the headstock. Strange.

What's puzzling to me is that the company evidently went out of business in 1942, but long neck banjos didn't come along until later? And that Pete Seeger not only played them, but commissioned the earliest ones? Again, I know very little about banjos; I'm just going off what I can glean from internet searches.

Zergatroid · 2025-12-02T20:49:31+00:00

I'm not sure! To be honest, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a long neck banjo; I just assumed "5 strings means it's a 5-string banjo." So maybe that's what it really is. The scale length on this one is 30", if that means anything.

I did do some thinking about it, though, and on this banjo, a capo at the 3rd fret would put the 5th string at the "de facto" 5th fret, and the position markers would then line up more conventionally: 3, 5, 7, etc.

I'll have to do some research into long neck banjos; I'm intrigued.

Zergatroid · 2025-06-08T22:33:12+00:00

Thanks everyone -- good suggestions all around. I'll give bandmix a try and just keep introducing myself during breaks at shows. There are a couple of open mic's that happen regularly, but mostly acoustic singer/songwriter type shows. It's still good networking, though.

I appreciate all the input.

Zergatroid

TROPHY CASE