Alvarez (1) Bacon (2) Bart Reiter (2) Bishline (2) Brooks Masten (1) Cedar Mountain (1) Chuck Lee (1) Custom Made (3) Davis (1) Deering (30) Epiphone (2) Fairbanks (2) Fairbanks and Cole (1) Fairbanks-Vega (1) Fender (2) Frank Neat (1) Gibson (115) Gibson Copy (6) Gibson Parts (2) Gold Star (4) Gold Tone (20) Harmony (1) Heartland (Robin Smit... (1) Hopkins (1) Huber (1) Huss & Dalton (1) Iida (1) Jeff Menzies (1) Kel Kroydon (1) Morgan Monroe (1) Nate Calkins (3) Nechville (3) ODE (2) Ome (12) Orpheum (3) Paramount (3) Pisgah (6) Prucha (2) Recording King (10) Rickard (2) Second Life Banjo--Ca... (2) Slingerland (1) SS Stewart (1) Stelling (11) Sullivan (4) Vega (19) Washburn (2) Weymann (1) White Mountain (2) Wildwood (2) Yates (1) Zachary Hoyt (20)

Show More Brands...

Custom 5 & 7 string banjo by Thomas Norwood - on of a kind!

Price: $8,999.00 USD

This 5/7 string was inspired by David Lindley (who showed me one he had made), and I appreciated the possible harmonic complexity. I then had Tom Norwood make one to my design. I designed it to be used “just” a 5 string banjo in case I didn’t like the 7 string setup. The construction is like the 5 string, but with all Brazilian rosewood. Note the fingerboard and resonator binding is even Brazilian rosewood! This makes it look like the frets are “growing” out of the fingerboard (very cool, right?). Please note the bridge design: the 2 high strings are set at an angle so I could either play them separately (Bluegrass or clawhammer style) or hit them together as drones (tuned either as a 4th or 5th apart). FYI, I usually tuned this to G minor or G modal or open C. Phenomenal sound! You could always simply re-string this as a standard 5 string. For more details, please see my other listing for a Norwood custom 5 string banjo. Last photo is of that model.
Decades ago, both banjos were chosen to be on display at the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art for the their exhibition of the best handmade musical instruments (along with a David Russell Young classical guitar - which I later acquired), and others. Includes the rare/expensive Ameritage rolling banjo case. I'm only selling this because I'm old with Arthritis in my fingers so I can't really play and my kids aren't interested. Very good condition, but could use a good cleaning and polishing. Sold as is. If you're in S. Calif, you should come by my offie to check this out.


Interested? Contact Seller to arrange purchase


Shipping: plus $150 shipping

Posted By: MarkCohen7777
United States, Costa Mesa, CA, CA, 92704

Contact Info: markcohen7777@earthlink.net

Condition of Banjo: Used - Very Good Condition

Type: 5-String Resonator, Brand: Thomas Norwood

Ad Status: Active, #114679, viewed 855 times


Photo

Photo

Photo

Photo

Photo

RSS© 2026 BanjoBarn.com. All rights reserved.