The Bacon and Day company are universally known for their craftsmanship and exceptional build quality of prewar tenor banjos.  The Silver Bell with its tremendous cutting power is highly ranked in the Irish banjoist ‘sought after’ list. In my opinion the Silver Bell model is the zenith of craftsmanship and offers great value for money. Although this banjo is not original to factory settings it is the marriage of a 1928 B&D Silverbell pot and 1938 B&D Special No.1 neck. The finish is original, It has no breaks, damages or repairs. I have recently stripped the banjo down for polishing and rebuild and have to say that the nickel plating throughout is in exceptional condition as you can see from the photos. I have fitted a new clear head to project the fine sound from the Silverbell tonering and to show off the inner pot design details. New nickel strings fitted gauging 12,18w,28w,36w, and action set low. There are some scratches to the back of the resonator but this is only common to an instrument of this age. These instruments sell for £1500+ and sometimes in poor condition, this beauty is one to be owned and played. Here is an example of a B&D No.1 for sale in the USA

• The pot assembly built in 1928 (SN: 20500)
• The Neck built in 1938 (SN: 38520)
• 19 fret ebony fingerboard with standard cut circular pearl inlay position markers.
• maple neck with 3 ply veneers, rim and resonator with dark stain finish.
• Fancy design pearl inlaid head-stock.
• Triple nickel plated Presto tailpiece
• Origanal ‘GROVERPAT’ geared tuners with ivoroid buttons.
• Nickel plated flange with composite circulars designs.
• Comes with a vintage vega case in usable condition.

Banjo is now sold

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A tune a fortnight = 26 new tunes

You’ll be surprised how quickly you can learn new tunes by practicing regularly. Why not set a target to learn one tune every 2 weeks and by the end of the year you will have 8 great new tune sets consisting of 3 tune types per set. To help out I will be posting a selection of sets from this site including hornpipes, jigs, reels, slides and songs. So check back each week for updates or if you live local why not join one of the tenor banjo classes in Belfast or Glengormley (see details below)

Get the year off to a great start. Play More Music!! Sing More Songs! Dance More Steps!

Book online for Belfast Trad January Term of Classes starting January 11th, 2016. There is no booking fee to book online.

Banjo/mandolin classes at the Glengormley School of Traditional Music will continue on 14th Jan until 28th Jan 2016 (last night of term). Registration for new term will begin on 4th Feb 2016. Please go to our website for further details.

Welcome to the Pure Banjo website, if this is your first visit hopefully it will not be your last. The tunes and skills that I will teach you in class will continue here. I built this site for you to encourage your learning capabilities and development of skills on tenor banjo and mandolin. The traditional music schools recommend informal music learning within the classes, basically learning by ear. So if you are new to traditional Irish music then listen to as much as you can as it will help you to develop rhythm and timing. Pure Banjo has been live for approx. two years now so browse around to see what has been going on in the classes during this time.

I look forward to meeting and getting to know everyone individually and over the next few months I will be adding new videos and audio recordings to help you on your way. If you are a complete newbie check out the beginner pages.

Information on Tenor Banjo / Mandolin Hire

The Belfast Trad classes which are held in the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast still have 2 mandolins and possibly 2 tenor banjos for hire for this term. The cost is £25 for the 12 week duration, please click this link for details…instrument hire

The Glengormley School of Traditional Music have 1 or 2 banjo’s for hire, please contact the traditional school manager Ray Morgan.

If you are looking for advice on buying a new or second hand banjo or mandolin please contact me by email and I will be happy to advise you. I have been restoring vintage banjos for over 20 years and usually have a small collection for sale.