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Hunting
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Serial # 50005 on dowel and pot.
Stamped "Fairbanks Banjo Made By Vega Company", Whyte Laydie, Style R. Tagged "Made Expressly for Oliver Ditson Co." Circa early 1920's.
I kept the same scale length as the tenor, which was 20 in.
I measure the head dia. = 10 5/8 in., 28 hooks
Converted from tenor to fretted 5-string using "wings" and a new, wider fingerboard. This my highest-quality tenor-to-5-string conversion to date (i.e., best tenor banjo to start with). I was pretty concerned that the sound was shallow and a little tinny using Vega medium gage 5-string strings. I played with the head tension, bridge, action with little success. Then I changed the strings, mostly using Vega tenor strings:
0.030" wound 4th
0.023" wound 3rd
0.016" plain 2nd
0.012" plain for 1st & 5th........ (the Vega Tenor set came with 0.009" 1st string, which I replaced).
Sounds great with this setup, now my favorite fretted, steel-strung 5-string.
The Whyte Laydie was the first banjo model that Fairbanks made using a light-colored wood neck, so I decided to use blond, bird's-eye maple for the fingerboard. Put in a MOP star at the 5th fret.
