Help identifiying this banjo please

[davezzr]

Hi all, newby here so please be gentle.
Ive bought a used banjo for my daughter to learn on but think it mite be a bit to special as a starter model.
The plaque says 'The Whirle,reg:450220.' 'windsor maker, birmingham'. it also has 'The Emperor 2.' 'windsor G banjo' and has 21frets. it is a 5 string although the bridge is for 4 strings and the 5th string tuning peg is missing (or 1st string peg,however you look at it). It is made of a light wood which i dont recognise the grain and all the fittings are brass, mother of pearl inlay along the frets and green velvet wrist rest.
I have a funny feeling this isnt a starter banjo and i should put it away until she decides if the banjo is the instrument she wants to stay with.
Any help would be most appreciated and thank you for reading my thread

[lordofthestrings]

Welcome, Davezzr.

Windsors was a musical instrument company in Birmingham, England active during the early 20th century, who made string instruments in many different ranges of quality. I remember hearing the factory was destroyed in an air raid in WWII. They had a really massive output of instruments, and many of their 'lower line' instruments aren't that difficult to come by. In order to get instruments into the hands of more players and prospective players, many instrument companies produced inexpensive student-line instruments that were cheap to purchase, and a way for folks to get their feet wet, and glom on to the craze. Remember, the banjo and mandolin were the real in vogue instruments in the early 20th century, and it wasn't until the guitar was further developed that they began to fall out of favor. It's like how you can find a cheap 'guitar' at Sprawl-Mart or on the internet quite readily; people are curious to try them, and pop culture and music has deemed it a 'cool' thing to play, so there's a market for accessible and inexpensive instruments.

If you could provide some pictures of your instrument, I could likely give you a better idea of it's quality, condition, etc.; it's just hard to say definitive things about an instrument sight unseen. I've seen a Windsor "Eclipse No. 10" and a "De Luxe" banjo from Windsor, but not an "Emperor". I've also seen adverts where it looked like the lower number instruments (1, 2, etc) were described as the high-end instruments produced, but I can't say with divinity that that is the case. Again, if you can furnish some pictures, even email them to me and I can put them up here if you're not sure how, I'll probably be able to give you some more details.

[davezzr]

Hi and thanks for your responce. Since posting my thread ive spent the last few hours sifting the interweb and come up with loads of write ups about windsor as well as pics of a few models. One of the interesting notes was that windsor ceased trading in 1940 after being bombed . That being the case puts this banjo a lot older than i thought and it certainly doesnt look sixty years old plus.
I will pop some pics up within the next 24 hours and any more feedbck will be very welcome. I feel ive bought a bit of a gem that should be in the hands of an experienced player
http://s657.photobucket.com/user/davezz ... show/banjo

[davezzr]

http://s657.photobucket.com/user/davezz ... show/banjo

[brewerpaul]

Head on over to banjohangout.org. They have a forum on vintage instruments where people will most certainly know exactly what you have. They also have a setup and repair forum where you can find out how to replace that tuning peg and set the banjo up so it plays well.
How old is your daughter? Assuming she's reasonably responsible, I'd let her play it! She'll be a lucky girl to have such a nice instrument right from the start.