1907 A.C. Fairbanks Whyte Laydie N.O. 2
1907 A.C. Fairbanks Whyte Laydie N.O. 2. Recently, on a whim, I asked my nephew to have Chat GTP write a snarky description for a vintage Whyte Laydie N.O. 2 banjo. Though it created humorous lines like “Handcrafted in a time when craftsmanship meant overcomplicating things, this banjo comes with stunningly ornate inlay that’ll have you wondering if the original luthier had too much time on their hands. Its aged wood has seen more years than most of its prospective owners and probably carries the scent of questionable decisions made at bluegrass festivals past.” Chat GTP didn’t really tell you about the banjo. That’s my job. The maple neck has a 25-7/8” scale ebonized maple fretboard with scalloped on-end squares, a star, and the first fret bell thingy, all engraved. The matching peghead overlay has the iconic engraved mother of pearl gryphon. The Whyte Laydie rim is 10-5/8” in diameter and has all the features that are normal for this model banjo; scalloped tonering, bracket band for the shoes to attach, thereby eliminating 28 holes through the rim, 2-point shoes, and ball end nuts for the hooks. The vintage skin head was likely installed by C. Cagan, a violin maker from Beverly, Mass in 1953 (see photo of the stamped head). Tuners are the original screw tension friction tuners with grained ivoroid buttons. And we have it set up with Labella #17 nylon strings. The structure of the banjo can accommodate steel strings, but tuning is a bit fussy with a friction tuner and steel string combo. The only alteration that is apparent is the neck has been overcoated with either a thin varnish, or French polish. The work was well done and most people wouldn’t notice. Tome is warm with appropriate sustain. String height is 7/64” at the 12th frets. Maybe a little low for classic banjo fans, but I am happy to throw in a couple of higher bridges should you need them. The price is $3,800 and a TKL hard case is included. And to get the last word, here again is our guest author, Chat GTP. “Get your hands on this piece of musical history before it, like all your good intentions, falls out of tune. But hey, at least this time the out-of-tune part is intentional.”