1921 Bacon Special Grand Concert
The banjo was ubiquitous around
the turn of the 20th century, competing only with the mandolin for
supremacy among stringed instruments. Its standard form until the 1920s had five
strings (usually gut) and an open back, giving the instrument a warmer, tubbier
sound than is generally associated with it today. In the early 1910s, players
began to strum the banjo with a plectrum to complement the tango music craze
that swept the US and much of Europe. The short fifth string often got in the
way of chording, so some players left it off altogether; thus, the four-string
banjo was born.
The concept wasn’t entirely new: mandolin-banjos with
four doubled courses already existed. However, by 1920 a number of manufacturers
had introduced four-string necks in various scales as the strummed banjo
gradually became the rhythmic centerpiece of many bands. Full, ~27” necks became
known as plectrum banjos, while shorter-necked variants became known as tenor
banjos. (Descriptions such as “tango” or “melody” banjos existed as well;
sometimes they were applied to tenor instruments, sometimes to four-string
mandolin-scale variants). The tenor banjo initially featured 17 frets and a
scale around 21”, but around the mid 1920s the norm shifted to 19 frets ad 23”.
This shift, coinciding with the development of the full resonator, allowed for
greater volume, sustain and snap in the tone.
This Bacon banjo, probably built in 1921, shows some
slight departures from standard tenor design of the time. The scale is an
extra-short 20”, which limits sustain and volume but allows exceptionally easy
playability. The banjo has a trademark of early Bacons, an internal resonator
built into the rim with f-holes in the back. This provides nowhere near the
volume boost of a full, modern resonator, but it does provide an audible
advantage over other contemporary banjos with entirely open backs. As a Special
Grand Concert model, its appearance reflected its status at the pinnacle of the
Bacon line: pearl inlays on both sides of the headstock, the fingerboard and the
heel cap; multiple laminations on the neck; and black finish on the back of the
resonator. The neck and rim are both made of holly, though curly maple was
offered as an alternative.
As part of Bacon’s Professional line, however, the
Special Grand Concert’s days were numbered by the time this example was built in
1921. Bacon would introduce its hugely successful Silver Bell line in 1923,
complete with full resonator and modern tone ring, after which the Professional
series would gradually morph into Bacon’s more affordable (and less decorated)
group of models. This was made possible by the opening of Bacon’s Groton, CT
factory in 1920, which would continue to build instruments until its flooding by
a tidal surge during the hurricane of 1938.
It has been commented that some early Groton banjos show
unusual crudeness, or at least inconsistency, for such a high-end manufacturer
as Bacon. This banjo supports this commentary, as the f-holes in the resonator
are poorly shaped and appear to have been eyeballed rather than following a jig.
The inlay, laminations and carving on the neck, however, are top-notch. I
therefore believe that the rim was produced at Groton, where the workforce was
still learning to build banjos in 1921, while the neck was produced somewhere
else. There is some controversy over the origins of pre-1920 Bacons (and even
those of the early 1920s) which I will not attempt to describe in full, but I do
not believe that the Groton stamp on this banjo’s dowel tells the full story of
its manufacture.
The banjo is in remarkably clean condition for its age,
with just a couple of small dings on the headstock and one small chip to the
heel cap. The tuners have been changed (possibly a long time ago) from friction
pegs to planetary gears – a welcome upgrade in my opinion – and the tailpiece
has been replaced. The rest of the parts appear to be original, and the
instrument plays perfectly.
