Stanley Hicks Mountain Banjo 5 String Banjo , c. 1980s
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Stanley Hicks Mountain Banjo Model 5 String Banjo, c. 1980s, made in Watauga County, North Carolina, natural finish, walnut neck, walnut body with skin head, black gig bag case.
This Banjo is a companion piece to Item # 13497 Stanley Hicks 4-String Appalachian Dulcimer having been made around the same time as special orders for Hicks' family members. If you are interested in acquiring the pair, we request that you call our shop and speak with a salesperson to confirm if both are still available.
Watauga County, North Carolina was home to many of the torchbearers of American traditional music and Appalachian storytelling, but Stanley Hicks in particular was a master of many crafts including storytelling, flatfooting, and of course instrument making. From humble beginnings as the child of English immigrants, Hicks taught himself how to build banjos and dulcimers like his father and grandfather before him. Several of his siblings were musicians as well, including his brother and fellow luthier Floyd Hicks who once owned this banjo. Like other resourceful mountain instrument builders, Hicks made use of the easily attainable tone woods on his property and likely used the skin of whatever critter was for dinner that week.
The simple but ingenious design of these banjos is far closer to original African-style instruments built in the southern States by enslaved African-Americans than it is to the intricately factory engraved, complex and pearlescent offerings of companies like Gibson and Bacon & Day which were usually financially unattainable to blue-collar pickers of rural Appalachia. It features a mahogany-esque stained walnut one-piece neck with an slightly rounded D-shaped profile. The top, back, and sides of the body are of the same walnut with a genuine skin head. This is an example of a fretted mountain banjo (a fairly rare variant) with cleanly placed stainless steel frets and a set of hand-carved walnut wooden friction pegs, one of which is lighter in color and looks a bit mismatched but surely is Hick's work.
Hicks was a vital part of the region's folk music community writ large and an avid storyteller, a tradition that holds a lot of weight in Appalachia and earned him several regional and national accolades. He went on to be recorded by the likes of Alan Lomax and was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow in 1983, the highest national honor for folk art. He passed away in 1989 only a few years after the construction of this banjo, building instruments and making music until the end of his life. Today his instruments are considered among the higher quality examples of the mountain banjo tradition, and among the most sought after of this banjo family.
Overall length is 36 in. (91.4 cm.), 10 in. (25.4 cm.) width, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim.
This mountain banjo, made from one Hicks for another, comes to us in delightful condition with only a couple little dings or shows of wear from careful use over the years. It has been played but the finish is organic enough to make any but the heaviest wear (which is not present on this instrument) relatively inconsequential. The frets show virtually no wear and have plenty of life left to give. The skin head appears to be original and not in need of replacement, a somewhat arduous process for this species of banjo, anytime soon. There do not appear to be any cracks or repairs of note on this instrument.
The banjo plays very well to the standards of these instruments and Hicks is still regarded as one of the higher quality builders of his day; with steel strings and hand-made friction pegs it is not the easiest to tune, but rewards the effort with a beautiful and uniquely evocative sound. There is in fact no label or etching on this instrument as is typical for other Stanley Hicks instruments as it was a special order made for a relative; it was purchased from his brother and fellow luthier Floyd Hicks in 1982 before finding its way to us. It has no original case (they came in a handmade bag, if anything at all) and resides in a simple modern black canvas gig bag, functional if not a perfect fit. Overall Excellent Condition.
This Banjo is a companion piece to Item # 13497 Stanley Hicks 4-String Appalachian Dulcimer having been made around the same time as special orders for Hicks' family members. If you are interested in acquiring the pair, we request that you call our shop and speak with a salesperson to confirm if both are still available.
Watauga County, North Carolina was home to many of the torchbearers of American traditional music and Appalachian storytelling, but Stanley Hicks in particular was a master of many crafts including storytelling, flatfooting, and of course instrument making. From humble beginnings as the child of English immigrants, Hicks taught himself how to build banjos and dulcimers like his father and grandfather before him. Several of his siblings were musicians as well, including his brother and fellow luthier Floyd Hicks who once owned this banjo. Like other resourceful mountain instrument builders, Hicks made use of the easily attainable tone woods on his property and likely used the skin of whatever critter was for dinner that week.
The simple but ingenious design of these banjos is far closer to original African-style instruments built in the southern States by enslaved African-Americans than it is to the intricately factory engraved, complex and pearlescent offerings of companies like Gibson and Bacon & Day which were usually financially unattainable to blue-collar pickers of rural Appalachia. It features a mahogany-esque stained walnut one-piece neck with an slightly rounded D-shaped profile. The top, back, and sides of the body are of the same walnut with a genuine skin head. This is an example of a fretted mountain banjo (a fairly rare variant) with cleanly placed stainless steel frets and a set of hand-carved walnut wooden friction pegs, one of which is lighter in color and looks a bit mismatched but surely is Hick's work.
Hicks was a vital part of the region's folk music community writ large and an avid storyteller, a tradition that holds a lot of weight in Appalachia and earned him several regional and national accolades. He went on to be recorded by the likes of Alan Lomax and was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow in 1983, the highest national honor for folk art. He passed away in 1989 only a few years after the construction of this banjo, building instruments and making music until the end of his life. Today his instruments are considered among the higher quality examples of the mountain banjo tradition, and among the most sought after of this banjo family.
Overall length is 36 in. (91.4 cm.), 10 in. (25.4 cm.) width, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim.
This mountain banjo, made from one Hicks for another, comes to us in delightful condition with only a couple little dings or shows of wear from careful use over the years. It has been played but the finish is organic enough to make any but the heaviest wear (which is not present on this instrument) relatively inconsequential. The frets show virtually no wear and have plenty of life left to give. The skin head appears to be original and not in need of replacement, a somewhat arduous process for this species of banjo, anytime soon. There do not appear to be any cracks or repairs of note on this instrument.
The banjo plays very well to the standards of these instruments and Hicks is still regarded as one of the higher quality builders of his day; with steel strings and hand-made friction pegs it is not the easiest to tune, but rewards the effort with a beautiful and uniquely evocative sound. There is in fact no label or etching on this instrument as is typical for other Stanley Hicks instruments as it was a special order made for a relative; it was purchased from his brother and fellow luthier Floyd Hicks in 1982 before finding its way to us. It has no original case (they came in a handmade bag, if anything at all) and resides in a simple modern black canvas gig bag, functional if not a perfect fit. Overall Excellent Condition.