Merlin long neck 5-string banjo

Merlin long neck 5 string banjo 1960's chrome Very Rare banjo! also in very good condition Alot of history behind these banjos They are ultra rare and very hard to find. plays very well with "that" tone and good action The long neck is 3 frets longer then a standard 5 string banjo and is tuned in open E Made circa 1963-4 in the Merlin factory in Chicago Only about 140 of these ever made This is the same model banjo that both Tommy Makem and Luke Kelly played (in the early days) An all metal construction bar the fingerboard which is ebony and bridge. These were made in Chicago in the early 60s The following is a blurb from The Merlin Manufacturing Corporation of 3545-7, North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois was formed in 1962/3 by Leonard McCabe, an accountant, and Jay Smith, a mechanical engineer. William “Bill” Malloy who was an amateur banjoist was engaged as an advisor and sales manager. The efforts of the company were devoted to the 5-string banjo, prompted by Mr Smith’s desire to play one after finding it difficult to buy such an instrument. Since he was a mechanical engineer he decided on an unusual approach and to quote from the company’s literature the Merlin banjo was to be “a blend of modern and traditional design”. In fact the instruments were made of aluminium and fibreglass except the wooden fingerboard and the spun brass resonator. The neck of the banjos was of highly polished aluminium and the hoop made of fibreglass; neck and hoop being locked together by means of six screws which were said to allow an adjustment of the neck (see pictutres) It could be “moved up or down and even rotated to bring the out strings closer to the finger board” it was claimed. CC Richelieu, who had been building and playing banjos for forty years was a consultant to the company in a minor capacity. – on a “what’s wrong” basis, as he put it. He wrote “the Merlin banjo as it evolved from a series of rather foolish trial and error experiments, finally turned out t