New Windsor banjo

[Richard L]

I have been asked by a friend to help revive a garage sale find: a New Windsor Patent banjo. Other than the New Windsor Patent emblem on the heel, the only other marking is a barely visible “No 10” etched on the peghead. It looks to be very much a low-end-of-the-scale instrument, and nothing like the handsome Windsor banjos I find on the internet. I would appreciate any information folks might have on this No 10. At the very least, it needs a new head and some strings, but at this point I doubt that it will have anything more than sentimental value to its owner. Any thoughts?

[ProfChris]

I have a Windsor Whirle Junior tenor banjo. This too is a low end model.

It looked rather rough when purchased, but all it needed was a good clean and a new head. A very serviceable instrument, solidly built, and sounds pretty decent. I'd hope yours is similar.

If it's fitted with friction tuners these do, just, work for steel strings, though they take practice. Replacement tuner screws are 6BA size - took me a couple of months and a few packets of other sizes to discover this!

[Anglocelt]

The general rule with Windsor banjos is the higher the model number the lower the grade of instrument. They made a few different model ranges, often graded within the ranges, with those numbered 1 the best. A number ten denotes a pretty low grade instrument, although even the low grades can be useable instruments.

[Richard L]

Thank you, ProfChris. Your experience encourages me to do a thorough cleaning, replace the head, and hope for a decent sounding instrument. By the way, the tuners are geared, and look like the sort you might find on a twenty-five dollar guitar. But they might work.

[Richard L]

Thank you for that information, Anglocelt. The handsome Windsor banjos I have seen pictured have much lower model numbers. I wonder if No. 10 is the absolute bottom of the line. Nonetheless, I will see if I can give it a new life.