ZEPP Country Music, Inc.

P.O. Box 306
4 East Third St.
Wendell, NC 27591-0306
Local: 919-365-5189 or Call Toll Free within USA: 866-365-5189
Fax: 919-365-5179

2006 The Hopkins "Woodie" Excellent condition. Tony Pass pot, light weight, great sound. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

Chuck Lee

2008 Chuck Lee Glen Rose Vintage His prototype for this model. Cherry, with bracket band and inverted Electric (aka Whyte Laydie) tone ring. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

Fender/Leo

1980s Fender Leo Good sounding, affordable bluegrass banjo. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

1980s Ode Long Neck Made by Baldwin. "Seeger" length neck! For the folkies among us. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2004 Ome Sweetgrass Silverspun open back Mint condition. Gold-plated. Killer banjo. Click on thumbnail or link for photos and more information See and hear this banjo played (3MB .wmv file) or just listen to its MP3 soundtrack.

2002 Ome Juniper Deluxe Megatone Withdrawn from sale by owner.

2003 Ome Juniper Deluxe Megatone A great bluegrass banjo a a great price. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2004 Ome Silver Juniper Deluxe Megatone Chrome plated, and like new! Sold Click on thumbnail or link for more information

ca. 1915 Rettenberg & Lange Orpheum 12.25-inch pot with reproduction neck. That unique Orpheum sound! Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2006 Prucha "Fall in Love" Spectacular cherry banjo. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2007 Ramsey Student A great entry level OT banjo, or just a wonderful, simple instrument for those who aren't into fancy. Sold Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2004 Ramsey Cherry Woody 12-inch pot with a rosewood family tone ring. VG condition. Sold Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2007 Rickard Tu-Ba-Phone 11-inch open back with a beautiful, birdseye maple neck Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2007 Romero Custom 12-inch His 100th banjo. A truly unique collector's piece! Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2006 Kyle Smith Legend A work horse for a professional. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

ca 1890s S.S. Stewart "Pony" banjo Definitely not a museum piece, but a fun little player! Click on thumbnail or link for more information

ca 1890s S.S. Stewart Special Thoroughbred Great condition for its age and mostly original! Click on thumbnail or link for more information

2006 Turtle Hill Wooody Light weight, Tony Pass "Lost Timbre" brand wooden block tone rim. Click on thumbnail or link for more information

Used Wildwood Custom Predominantly wenge neck, wenge block tone rim. A unique piece! Click on thumbnail or link for more information

1980 "Whyte Laydie" LEFT-HANDED Copy

OK, it's not a Vega. It was made in 1980 by Michael Allison of Providence Guitar and Banjo in Rhode Island.

Correctly for a Whyte Laydie, it has a natural blond, maple neck, and shows some figure. The fingerboard has a set of nicely engraved MOP squares, the Vega Star at the 5th fret and a headstock/first fret Trilium. Its being a fairly modern instrument, it does have planetary tuners, of course, including the 5th string tuner (this is a LEFTY, remember). The peghead has a neat dragon inlay.

Again correctly, it has a bracket band on its 10-15/16-inch pot, along with the "Electric" tone ring that came to fame in the Whyte laydies. The rim is nicely capped with ebony.

It has a natural skin head and a No-Knot tailpiece for a classic old-time sound. (sorry, no recording is coming on this one; it's a lefty and I'm not...)

For a 27-year old banjo, it's in great shape. It has a small capo divot under its 2nd fret, but otherwise is in good shape.

With its hardshell case, it's here on consignment for $2500. Remember--it's a LEFTY!

ca. 1922 Vega Tu-Ba-Phone 11-13/16-inch pot with Wyatt Fawley neck

This is a mahogany neck built by Wyatt Fawley and mated to a vintage Vega pot. Unlike most of Wyatt's Vega reproduction necks, this one has an adjustable truss rod (accessed from the heel). The bound, ebony fingerboard has the traditional Tu-Ba-Phone no. 2 pattern of dots and a star, and the peghead has the traditional Vega shape and star inlay. Being a modern neck, a geared 5th string tuner has bee installed, as are 5-Star brand planetary tuners.

The 11-13/16th inch Vega pot has a Tu-Ba-Phone tone ring, of course, and the bracket band and other metal bits are in good shape, though some of the closed-end bracket nuts have been worn down to the brass.

It is currently set up with a natural skin head and a No-Knot tailpiece. Hear this banjo and/or see and hear it played (3mb .wmv file).

This vintage piece is a great player, and is consigned here at $2250 without case. (We'd be happy to sell you a hardshell case befitting such a fine instrument, of course.) Sold

1926 Vega No. Little Wonder Style N with original used-to-be-a-tenor-now-it's-a-5-string neck.

This is a truly strange instrument. It is pretty much a low end, 17-fret Vega tenor banjo that is in so-so shape, except: Someone, somewhere along the line, glued a piece of rosewood along the side of the neck, drilled a hole in the mahogany, stuck a 5th string tuner in there, and made this into a functional 5-string!

Now, admittedly, this is not the neatest job, although whoever did it took pains to make the added piece fit around the tension hoop. It is, though, sorta cool.

It still has the original 4 friction tuning pegs in its rather simple and unadorned peghead, and all of those 17 frets are in good shape. Its 22-inch scale length would make it happy to be a "Bb" banjo, so it's a cool travel instrument, or would be good for a child.

It has a (soft) 10-15/16th inch skin head on it, and the bridge is sitting up on a thin sliver of rosewood, so it's a bit weak and thumpy sounding at the moment, but that's quite all right for a travel instrument, after all! It's also missing its dot inlays at the 5th & 7th frets. It plays easily (though there's not much to be gained by trying to "fret" the 5th string, as they don't extend over there...) Here's an MP3 of how it sounds (played right up against the mic; it's really not that loud!). And, in Oct 2007, I did this video of it (9 mb .wmv).

Anyway, it's here, and it's for sale (I kept it a few years)! $650, no case.