This has been my main banjo for almost four years. It's a Windsor Popular No2, made in Birmingham UK in the 1930s, and compared to the Collins it plays like a dream. It's got a brass covered pot and the extra weight means to just sits there waiting to be played. It's got a nice action, and I now realise what people are on about when they say it plays itself. It's come from the stable of Stan Gee www.stangee.co.uk (see links) who has a number of instruments on his website.
I don't know what it is about vintage instruments but I love them. They come with history and a few knocks. This banjo and been re-fretted and restored at some point and the inlays have been changed to make it look like a Windsor Popular No1 - apparently. They didn't do such a great job though and at some point I'd love to take it to a luthier and get those things put right.
Despite all that, I haven't picked up a more expensive new instrument with anything like the sound or feel that this banjo has. It cost around £200 and feels more and more like a bargain. The only time I've played a modern instrument that felt comparable it cost best part of a £1,000.00. I continue to play it most days and my wife looks at it with a shade of jealously, often 'joking' that 'I'd leave her for that banjo.'
This is what she sounds like. (the banjo not the wife)
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