1910’s Supertone Rim with Homemade Neck, As-Is
1910’s Supertone Rim with Homemade Neck, As-Is. We’ve all seen Supertone banjos, the budget offering from Sears manufactured in the 1910’s and 1920’s. Kinda cheap, but kinda decent. This roughly 10-1/2” #406 Supertone spunover rim lost it’s original neck along the way. The replacement looks like oak with a Micarta(?) fretboard and has a large profile. The synthetic fretboard does not have traditional frets wedged in to slots. The space between the frets was machined out so the fretboard material is the fret. And for the record, though the intonation is not perfect, it is playable. Other details to note; calf skin head is broken. There are 7 extra small holes in the rim. The fretboard is screwed on to the neck, and not all that well, as you can see light between the fretboard and the neck. Still, it’s cool and weird and can ultimately be made playable with a little work. One last note; The banjo was discovered in a junk shop in Greenbank, West Virginia. I suspect that the fretboard was some sort of leftover material from the Greenbank Radio Astronomy Observatory. Or maybe not. Price is $125 and a Superior II gigbag is included.