Author: nickhart27

A very nice 19 fret tenor banjo by Ashbury. 11 inch pot with brass tone ring and hardware, geared planetary tuners. Plays very nicely and sounds great. Very heavy. Scale length: 580mm Click Here to Purchase

A very decent Ozark 5 string banjo. This one is nicely made with a fairly substantial pot and a good general build quality. It has a frailing scoop and an open back so more suited to old time than bluegrass playing. Fitted with good geared planetary tuners and three railroad spikes. Plays very nicely and… Continue reading 5 String Banjo by Ozark-£380

An interesting instrument this one. Not a hardingfele in the strictest sense, but it has four sympathetic strings so it does the thing most people want from one. I recently acquired three instruments with Adams’ name on them, the others being a guitar and a cittern. It’s not clear whether he made the whole instrument… Continue reading Hardanger Fiddle by Gerald Adams-£950

A decent baritone ukulele made by instrument behemoth Samick. It’s a little dull sounding but attractively built and plays very nicely £90 Click Here to Purchase

A nice concert size resonator ukulele labelled Clifford Essex but made somewhere in the Far East. Nicely made and sounds good. In nearly new condition, small knock to the varnish at the very tip of the back of the headstock (see photo). Scale length: 365mm £240 Click Here to Bid

A really lovely Greek bouzouki, unlabelled. Four courses, currently strung to be tuned GDAD or GDAE. I spent a fair amount of time getting this one sorted and am glad I did. It has quite flat, brass frets for a nice buzzy tone. The ribs appear to be walnut. Plays well and sounds great Scale… Continue reading Greek Bouzouki-£550

A surprisingly nice tenor mandola, labelled ‘Salterio’ and apparently made in Italy, with a very sloppily applied ‘Gremlin’ decal to the headstock. Gremlin was the name that most of the ‘own brand’ Hobgoblin instruments went under before they switched to Ashbury. Flat spruce top with curved mahogany back, mahogany sides and neck. I rebuilt the… Continue reading Tenor Mandola by Gremlin/Salterio-£240

A nice ten string cittern, made by Gerald Adam in Norwich in 1983. Rosewood back and side, mahogany neck, spruce top with attractive binding and very nice purfling to the back and sides. It’s playing very nicely and sounds great, currently tuned GDGDG, with the bottom three courses tuned in octaves. The frets and nut… Continue reading Cittern by Gerald Adam-£980

A nice Venazualen cuatro made by Thomas A. Chrinios in Barquisimeto. Tuned ADF#B, the A is the lowest string, with the B string two semitones higher (so lower in pitch than the middle two strings). The chord shapes will be familiar to Ukulele players, but this strange variation on re-entrant tuning gives the instrument some… Continue reading Venezuelan Cuatro by Chirinos-£195

A very nice ‘Grafton’ banjo, built in Kent by Andy Perkins. Andy retired a couple of years ago, but for many years was building wonderful banjos from imported Chinese parts. This is a great example of his work and features a frailing scoop and solid geared planetary tuners. Fitted with a heavier Remo ‘Firbreskyn 3’… Continue reading 5 String Banjo by Grafton-£490