I've been working on banjos for a long time... I reckon it was the mid-1980's when I started helping my Ol' Man put the finishing touches on his banjos.
It isn't common to see banjos with figured wood shells. It's more common on the older open-back ones than on resonator banjos, where the rim doesn't show much anyway. Still, after all this time, I can only recall a very small handful of them with a birdseye maple rim. Only one of ours (so far) has that feature [#94-18], and has a five-piece neck of flamed maple with walnut pinstripe laminates.
This is the second one to show up in my shop in as many weeks. Strange coincidences. What are the odds two very similar banjos turn up in the same shop that close together, yet unrelated? My instructions are pretty simple; just clean it up and restring. It won't be played, but the family wants to keep it presentable. Someone drilled it at the fourth fret and installed a fifth-string peg. The hide head had a couple holes rubbed in it where the tailpiece was digging in, and another one around the edge. I would replace this head if it were going to be played, but in this case I have cut a couple patches of calfskin hide and glued them in place. Other than that, all the hardware has been cleaned up as much as possible and the pot reassembled. I'll let it sit for a little while and restring one night this week.
Good way to spend an afternoon.
