Deering Tenbrooks Saratoga Star 5 String Resonator Banjo w/Spikes Installed #0558

The Deering Tenbrooks Saratoga Star opens with a quartersawn curly maple neck and closes with a curly maple resonator, tuned around Deering's -06- bronze tone ring for a full, ringing voice with plenty of headroom on stage. It's built for the five-string player who wants a bluegrass banjo that projects hard in a jam or on a bandstand without giving up refinement in the details.

The -06- tone ring drives a bright, punchy attack with a deep low end underneath it — the kind of clarity that cuts through a full band without turning brittle on the high strings. The 11-inch violin-grade maple rim and tapered resonator sidewalls push that projection forward, so rolls and single-string runs both come through clean at volume. It's built for bluegrass rhythm and drive, but the slender "D" neck profile keeps it comfortable enough for long sets of fingerpicked rolls too.

The Tenbrooks touches are what set this one apart visually — an AAA-grade ebony fingerboard inlaid with Greg Deering's original Art Nouveau mother-of-pearl and abalone pattern, finished in a rich Tenbrooks Red stain across the neck and resonator with a high-gloss polish. Deering planetary tuners and a geared fifth-string tuner keep it in tune fast between sets, and it ships with a Deering hardshell case for the road. For the working bluegrass banjo player who wants a stage-ready look to match a stage-ready tone, the Saratoga Star delivers both.

Serial #0558 — this listing is for the exact instrument shown in the photos above.