One of the most ornate and rare Bart Reiter banjos ever made – The Grand Concert, complete with with headstock inlay, fretboard binding, and ornate inlay work both on the fretboard and resonator.

This was Bart's top model, and he has generally been considered one of the top independent banjo builders in recent decades. He's particularly noted for being the best builder of these internal resonator style banjos (influenced by the old Bacon FF Professional and Grand Concert models). After a while he stopped making this model because he put so much work into it that he couldn't actually make a profit from what he was selling it for. Bart has recently retired from banjo building at all so what's out there now is it. There weren't too many of these models, and there won't be any more in the future.

This banjo plays excellently and features an attractive John Balch hide head, which is the perfect match for the bacon tone ring.
Its sound is lush and balanced. The internal resonator adds complexity, richness, and depth to its tone, and it is both clear and mysterious at the same time. It especially thrives in the weird tunings, modal tunes, and such like, though it will sound just fine for all the straight ahead major key stuff as well. Works great for clawhammer, but also holds its own as a fingerstyle banjo.

Neck is straight and true. Intonation is good. 5th string spikes at frets 7 & 9. There is a little bit of fret wear on the first few frets, but they have plenty of life left. There is some finish checking on the neck and resonator, which was a frequent issue on Reiter banjos from this era, owing to the particular kind of finish he used, and is likely to affect any similar model that you find. It is purely cosmetic, and hardly noticeable except on close inspection.

Here’s a chance to own a rare and wonderful banjo.
Will include the stock fiberskyn head as well as a well-fitting hard shell case. Also features a comfortable slim metal armrest.

Can meet in-person in Bellingham, WA or nearby, and can make video sound files for interested buyers further away.

Features:
Internal resonator with eight F-holes
Hard maple neck
Ebony fingerboard and peghead veneer
Ivoroid fingerboard binding
Engraved dot position markers with etched flower at first fret and star at fifth fret
Fancy engraved flowerpot peghead inlay
Satin lacquer finish

Rim Construction:
Bacon-style tone ring
11 inch diameter
Two ply laminated maple
1/2 inch wall thickness
Maple resonator back
Maple inner ring
Tortoise shell binding
Notched tension hoop
24 L-shoe brackets
Waverly tailpiece
5/8 inch ebony top bridge
Fiberskyn 2 head (upgraded to John Balch skin head; I can include the original Fiberskyn head if you want it)

Neck Construction:
26 1/4 inch scale length
22 nickel silver frets
Bone nut
Steel reinforcement (adjustable)
Veneer laminated in center of neck
Four planetary tuning pegs with lovely large and contoured buttons
Geared fifth peg
Traditional peghead shape and neck contour
Maple dowel stick