Following its original form as an A.C Fairbanks product, the Fairbanks Vega Whyte Laydie featured a natural finish on the maple neck and pot which provided its name. However, the real innovation was the Whyte Ladyie tone ring and bracket band, reducing the number of holes drilled and adding mass to the pot.
Fairbanks
The originals of the Whyte Laydie style banjos were made by the Fairbanks company around the turn of the 20th century, with a particular type of tone ring. The Whyte Laydie tone ring is a scalloped brass ring with a steel tone hoop, which provides higher volume, sustain and ‘ringing’ tone. A C Fairbanks was a large musical instrument manufacturer in Boston, but in 1904 suffered a devastating workshop fire, for which they were under insured.
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MORE →Luke Mercier Flushfret Cubley/Fairbanks Banjo No. 36, 2005
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MORE →This is a very nice Bacon Professional FF Special 5-string open back banjo, built for Fredrick J Bacon of Forest Dale, Vermont, around 1914 by the Vega company. Fred Bacon was a very well known professional banjo player who achieved the ultimate in his time’s mass media exposure – recording for Thomas Edison’s Phonograph Company. The Bacon Banjo Company was formed by Bacon and his wife at their home in Forest Dale, VT in 1906. The banjos were actually built to order by various companies, but primarily by Vega. In 1914, the celluloid Bacon label seen in one of the rear views here appeared in the company catalog. The Bacon Professional FF Special was produced around 1914.
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MORE →A faithful reproduction of the famous Fairbanks Whyte Laydie No.2, the Eastman EBJ-WL1 ‘Whyte Laydie’ open back banjo hearkens back to the early 20th century.
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