MY STROMBERG "A" RESTORATION
Initial pics, from 1999

I purchased this banjo on Ebay from Steve Senerchia, the "Music Man", my first real purchase of anything "Banjo" on the internet
These are the oldest examples of Chas. A.Stromberg banjos, built when Elmer was still a child, and Charles was working the shop alone.
This one was in good restorable condition, well played!

Nice cast brass tailpiece, with logo

Ready to assemble

Elmer Stromberg, and the Cuppophone tone ring

Dark Walnut is my choice, of stain
Some plating is Gold, other Nickel, I like a mixture
I incorporate a raised wooden arch ring to make an smaller active playing surface.
Later Stromberg models actually came equipped in this manner, with a brass hoop instead of wood though.
Mine.....is a 10" wooden embroidery hoop, 2.00, from Wal Mart!
Been working for years and it really perks the tone up.

Custom Stromberg Logo plate

With clear head

I wanted to try it on skin awhile so I mounted one on it

Also a Vega Resonator, that will be a "Close fit" style, and no flanges as was on some Early Vega Tubaphones.
Since Strombergs of this period utilized Tubaphone rims, it works great
 

Chrome plated armrest, engraved

And next to the only other banjo I actually OWN.......
Mondello Accutone #02-16-57

The Stromberg can compete with any heavy hitters from any era of Banjo, and I am proud to be associated with it, and the Stromberg History.

8-2010
Fitting a Dale Small Neck (Circa 1980s)
I had this neck, that came in Dale's estate and it was cut for a weird custom flange and couldn't be used on anything normal, so I decided to work the heel over and get it onto my 11/1/2 " stromberg since I want to play it more often and the 20 fret "Dale Scale" will do exactly what I want as far as scale and bridge position.

Im going to use the one with the Eagle head, it will need to be stripped and then I can cut in the new heel.

I will use all sizes of scrap dowels to fill the void of the old flange cut behind the new basswood facing that I put onto the heel
 

All jammed in tight, glue and trim time

That will cover well, with the new heel colors
ready to drill for dowelstick
 

I will string it on up from here, to see where I stand before pulling it apart for tweaking, and then finish
Probably 2 more times before its where I want it.
 

The neckset is complete, and I set it high so i could add an archring onto the tone tubes as with later Strombergs.
But none of the large rimmed ones had it, and I have used it on several to get alot more POP, they are bassy as a flathead and I like them to have a brighter tone.
The bridge is landing right where I want it to land., close to center, this will have a big volumous tone now.

I have re-installed my high tech wooden archring, gleaned from a .99 cent embroidery hoop and raised my active playing surface up 1/4" and shrunk it to a 9-3/4", down from 11-1/2"
This combination is what makes archtop banjos brighter, both things work to the same outcome.
I do not like the sound of a brass archring as much, Ive tried them several times

I completed the stripping and sanding, retinting and I have the heel cut dialed in, the dowel permanent, MOP dot over the screw until I get to the final finish on this neck

After all of my adjustments and experiments for this round are complete, I add the final finish coats, I just wanted a look to see where I was going.

The Oettinger tailpiece is a special made, with longer fingers than normal to compensate for the longer scale neck and this adds increased downforce to the head, coupled with my extremely high neckset, and massive prototype maple bridge with ebony insert
The setup is one I have been working on in theory, and will now put it to the test

Custom Logo plate that I acquired from Joachim Hippenstiel over , in Germany
I will install it on the final assembly

This time a Gibson style, with no flanges and a new finish

Watching over it's smaller Stromberg Deluxe brother being worked upon.

It was bound in white and I just dyed the binding and micro scraped the edges to mimick the Tortoise shell binding and white laminate on the neck
Banjo plays superb, with full tone up and down and clarity of note.
I finally consider it my main player, after many attempts to get the large rim to do what I wished it would do and with all the modifications and setups over time.
There are literally 100s of setups not shown here.
I believe it is now a banjo that Charles Stromberg, and Elmer Stromberg would be proud to have been a part of.
Thanks for watching this one all of these years!
     

Vinnie