Deering (used, 2006) Calico Tenor Banjo

The Deering Banjo Co. is chary with their website descriptions. They describe the Calico as follows: “Honey Stained Curly Maple, Ivoriod (sic) Binding, Wood Purfling, Bell Bronze Tonering.” They also point out that the “Heal (sic) Carving Style” is, um, none – no Heal carving, we guess. So let’s, for a moment, wax rhapsodic and point out that the one-piece back of this attractive resonator is highly figured maple, stained a honey brown, the sides of the resonator display twin rings of colored wood marquetry, each adjacent to the grained ivoroid top and bottom binding.

The inside construction involves twin nickel-plated coordinator rods and a no-hole flathead tone ring. The back of the neck has a modified V-shape and is one-piece of tiger striped maple. The tuners are “Deering” logo planetary, with ivoroid buttons and the ebony headstock overlay, inlaid with swirls of floral mother of pearl and a banner etched “Deering,” is triple pointed and ivoroid bound, as is the ebony fingerboard, which has more moustaches than a cabinet meeting in Krakow. The 17th fret is inlaid with a lovely mother of pearl banner etched “Calico” with feathering (c.f. the eagle).

The rim is maple, the flange has a repeating triple circle between each of the 24 nickel plated brackets. The white smooth surface head that bears the “Deering Banjo Co.” logo with the well-fed eagle rampant is still clean and fresh while the traditional style armrest and “Deering” etched tailpiece are still shining and radiant, and so is the sound of this sophisticated and surprisingly fancy tenor banjo which, when a five-string, is located at the mid-point of Deering’s extensive line, but when a 4-string it is at home near the top of the tenor banjo hierarchy.