Troubadour Banjolin

[Jay Bird]

Hey folks, I have a Banjolin with Troubadour on the head. Any idea of its age or worth? It does need some work on the tail piece. It was bought about 60 years ago in Europe and made its way to Canada where it sat in a closet until now. Just some history on the instrument would be cool. Is it worth fixing up?

I posted some pictures here: http://oldbanjo.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/283/

Thanks,

jay

[allenhopkins]

British banjo makers, later musical merchandise distributors, Barnes & Mullins are associated with banjos labeled "Troubadour"; according to the from British Banjo Makers web pages, they had a banjo magazine that was called The Troubadour, and currently they're selling Asian import banjos under that label.

However, this one, with its slotted headstock and "zero" fret, looks more continental-European than British. The resonator construction could be from a number of European (British, French, German) makers.

Worth fixing up? Depends on how much it would cost. It's not going to be as raucous as some mandolin-banjos, with its smaller body and calfskin head. Not a top-line instrument, but in pretty decent shape.

[Jim Garber]

Allen beat me to it. Headstock and tailpiece look German to me, in fact I have seen some German-made tailpieces like that with the Italianate name of Marcelli.

[Jay Bird]

Interesting information. Any guess of the time period? It seems they were popular in the 1920's, does that sound about right?

[flower1]

Hey,

I have the same banjolin and can not find much information about it.
Do you have more info?
Thank you

[David L]

If you do decide to make it playable, I would redo the fret slots so that the pairs were closer together, making the courses farther apart.

[allenhopkins]

OK, check out this thread's timeline. It started four years ago, and that's when the pics were posted. (By the way, I assume you mean "nut slots" rather than "fret slots.")

The British Banjo Makers web pages are down, so it's harder to do additional research on Barnes & Mullins and their Troubadour brand. Here's a fairly short article on the company, which mentions the Troubadour brand.

I would advise flower1 to Google "Barnes & Mullins," the vintage British firm that owned the Troubadour trademark, for more info -- but beware: as is common with other vintage labels, some current distributor has acquired both the "Barnes & Mullins" and "Troubadour" nameplates, and is importing Chinese-made bluegrass banjos to Europe under that label. Most of what you'll find in an initial Google search will be about them.