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The design and quality build of this William Lange made banjo truly fascinates me. This is my second purchase of this exact model and I’m sure I won’t have it for too long when a prospective buyer tests it out. William Lange was an exceptional innovator of banjos, in particular tone ring systems. He is well known for his top quality Paramount & Orpheum line of banjos. Other Lange-designed banjos include the Langstile line and the Triple-X line, to name a few. Without going into too much detail or copying text from another site please click on this link for more interesting reading on the evolution of the langstile deluxe and Paragon banjos.

The Langstile Deluxe’s tone ring-tube system is a cross between that found on some models of Clifford Essex Paragons and the Triple-X. The Langstile Deluxe – Triple-X similarities centre on the tone ring being supported by tone tubes which transmit sound down through a relatively thick-walled pot into a tone chamber capped by a resonator. The seven piece neck it made from walnut sandwiched with maple stripes in the centre. The headstock is decorated in MOP and has been professionally refinished at some point which has removed the langstile name. 4 quality Grover mini geared tuners which all work perfectly and hold tuning well. The neck is straight, has good frets and low action and plays easily up the fret board. The fret board is made from rosewood and has fancy floral inlay position markers.

When I purchased the banjo the perch pole was loose and the action high so I had the neck reset and coordinator rods fitted to give a perfect angle to use a 5/8th” high bridge. A new renaissance head is fitted and really helps give a richer balanced sound.

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Very rarely I’d come across one of the high end Clareen hand built tenor banjos. Here we have a custom built short scale 17 fret Setanta model which is the ultimate banjo in the Clareen Banjos Range. This 17 fret model has a scale length of 21 in / 525mm and is 30mm width at the nut. The 5 piece neck is made from select walnut with ebony centre sandwiched either side with maple, checkered purfling and cream celluloid bindings with marker dots. The neck is fitted with two non adjustable Carbon Fibre Truss Rods for added strength. The heel cap is uniquely finished with a thick piece of rock maple and ebony and inlaid in MOP with the Clareen ‘C’. Headstock is veneered in ebony and inlaid in mother of pearl centre design and Clareen name and Schaller off-centre geared tuners. The ebony bond fret board also has beautiful MOP floral inlays and virtually unplayed frets. The resonator is made from burl walnut with cream celluloid binding and checkered purfling.  It is a heavy banjo as Clareen build their own tone rings and tension bands from brass with nickel plating. The Setanta model has elaborate hand engravings around the flange, tension band and arm rest. Fitted with an oettinger four finger tailpiece and Clareen smooth white head. This banjo is in first class condition and very well looked after, it was made in 2009. It plays beautifully with a well rounded tone, is bright and crisp, and gives the player the top quality tone they are looking for.

Fitted with a fishman rare earth pickup with hidden flush mounted input jack and comes with a fitted Mike Mullan hard shell case. The new price on this banjo is 4300 euros (£3780) plus the price of a case and pickup 380 euros.

Please make enquiries if you wish to test out the banjo.

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