A light weight banjo with the unique "Hartford" sound. Woody, bright, and unmistakable.
For sale from Metz Music is a super cool and incredible sounding Deering John Hartford Banjo. We performed a complete setup on this one so it is playing at its absolute best and is ready to go when you unbox it. There are some cosmetic defects here and there such as tarnishing on metal pieces, dings under the tailpiece and light finish scratches but nothing major or structural. The original case is unfortunately missing but we can work out a deal on an aftermarket case if needed. By the serial number, this banjo was made in 1995.
People ask why Deering has a non standard inlay pattern on this banjo. It was once the standard pattern and fairly common to just have the inlays grouped right in the middle and out on the ends of the fingerboard. Some of the old banjos like the Farland, and some of those old banjos made before 1900 had this, so John asked Deering to do that. John was a licensed river boat captain and wanted them to put some sort of a riverboat theme into his banjo. And again, they were kind of stumped a little bit, not wanting to just put inlays of riverboats in the fingerboard. Then there was a really neat opportunity because when Chuck, Deering's head craftsman at the time, was growing up and learning to play music his main banjo hero was John Hartford. Chuck grew up in Minnesota and when John Hartford would come to town to play he would never miss a concert and he thought John Hartford was the coolest musician. The idea that he would someday be making a banjo for John Hartford was beyond his wildest dreams so the job of designing the inlays was given to Chuck.
Chuck started studying riverboats and reading a lot. He went to the library and found all the books he could about riverboats. He discovered that there is a whole classic architecture of riverboats that's significantly different than the architecture that goes into houses. People think that the gingerbread on a riverboat is the same as on the house but it is actually distinctly and identifiably different. The ratio of the length to width and the style of the scrolls that go into the riverboat architecture are different than what is on a gingerbread house, a Victorian period house. So Chuck took the riverboat architecture and used that classic form to develop inlays for the Hartford banjo. It ended up having a very riverboat type of flavor because it uses that architecture and that art form without having to have pictures of riverboats on it. Deering accomplished a really classic design for John and Chuck was able to have a wonderful time working with John on the inlay.
When John Hartford passed away the nameplate on the fingerboard was changed from mother of pearl to abalone. So if you find a Hartford with a white mother of pearl name plate such as this one, it was built before he passed away. If it has abalone it was made after his passing.
This is an even lighter weight version - the Hartford Pop-On Resonator banjo which is convertible from openback to bluegrass style by popping on the resonator. (replacing the 2 lb flange with a brass tube).
