100 year old bajolin for sale...

[dadsaster]

Wondering if anyone here knows more about this instrument? I don't have the money for this currently but it looks like it is in excellent shape:

https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/...318285175.html

[doublestoptremolo]

"I've been told it's worth at least $450-$500. Of course, that's if you want to play a double string banjo tuned like a mandolin."

I love that line.

[HonketyHank]

I have one just like it and I really like it -- see my avatar. I don't play it often but when I do, I think it is just fine.

I paid ~$300 for mine two years ago. It didn't have a case and I had to install a new head and it was missing two or three brackets. So $450 is probably a good start for negotiations but I would expect to pay $350-400. They go for $300-400 on eBay.

[allenhopkins]

It's a Little Wonder, which was the least expensive Vega with a tone ring (I think the cheaper Style K lacked one, but I may be wrong). I own one, and it's a nice instrument -- not quite as raucous/piercing as some other mandolin-banjos.

I didn't pay $450 for mine, but I bought mine more than ten years ago. I'd offer $3-350 and see what reaction ensued. Not a big market for mandolin-banjos.

Nice case, though.

[chuck3]

I've got a 100-year old (or so) banjolin as well. I will check the brand and see about posting a pic.

Lyn Hardy, a pretty well known luthier in Woodstock, did a setup and string change for me on this instrument after I got it. She knows a lot about both banjos and mandolins. Her view is that, from a luthier's point of view, the banjolin combines the worst aspects of both! :-) But I couldn't resist the thing even though I have extremely limited use for it.

[Jeff Mando]

Her view is that, from a luthier's point of view, the banjolin combines the worst aspects of both! :-)

Great quote -- made me smile!

[ollaimh]

banjolins are all 10 years old, as are the people who play them

[David L]

banjolins are all 10 years old, as are the people who play them

Was this meant as an insult? I play my banjolin on a regular basis, both at an Irish session and a mixed-bag jam session. It is great for Irish music and for rock-n-roll leads. I am 66 years old and act like a twenty-year-old, but TEN? Never.

[Ray(T)]

I suspect it was a typo and ollaimh actually means 100 - at least that was what I thought when I first read it. I've never actually owned, played or even wanted a mandolin banjo but many years ago I was 10 and I often feel 100.

Incidentally, I'm also 66 but don't tell anyone

[allenhopkins]

banjolins are all 10[0] years old, as are the people who play them

Actually Gold Tone is making new ones.