Here's a fun late-1880s or early 1890s student-to-mid-grade 5-string, built for gut strings, and built by Buckbee, the largest manufacturer at the time. It's original except for one hook & nut, replacement wood pegs (period pegs, though, from my parts bin), new bridge, and a new skin head.
Typical figure-8 Buckbee headstock. Wood nut.
Frets are put directly into the neck. Dots are either bone, ivory, or ivoroid. The previous owner has flattened the first 4 frets to make slides sound and feel like a fretless. I had to adjust frets 5 and 7 to make this application work well... and it does, now. My guess is that this was something popular in the 1880s and 1890s, because I've seen a number of Buckbees with this done to them. Gives it a "half-fretless" feel, which is kinda fun, especially with these nylgut strings.
Rim join.
LOTS of hooks on this rim. Keeps the head nice and tight in weather changes, to be sure!
This was originally a parts-bin ebony-topped Grover bridge, but I've cut the ebony off and shaped the top to resemble (more closely) old minstrel bridges. Original tie-style tailpiece.
Back.
Pegs!
Cherry neck? Not sure. Finish sure cleaned up... this thing was GRIMY beforehand!
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Back of rim.
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Good, practical neck brace. Screw it in to tighten it up.
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