Introducing the Southern Cross HG 50 Bluegrass banjo

We have been working for a year to complete this exciting new model. At the heart of the “Southern Cross” Bluegrass banjo is Chuck Ogsbury’s latest tone ring, the “HG 50″, which is sand-cast bell-bronze and has a slightly different mix of alloys and weight from our other Bluegrass tone rings. It’s about 4 ounces heavier, and when combined with our 50 years of crafting banjos and developing the highest-quality hardware, this banjo will win the hearts of traditional Bluegrass players! The “Southern Cross HG 50″ starts at $4150 with a hard-shell case included.

Southern Cross HG 50 - click photo

With an eye on the rich heritage of American banjos, we have created a model inspired by the simple elegance and great tone of prewar Bluegrass banjos. We have chosen warm-sounding South American Mahogany with African Ebony and Indian Rosewood overlays to be the standard woods for this model, with optional American Walnut and Maple for those wanting a brighter, clearer tone. A radiused fingerboard can be added for those who prefer this ergonomic attribute for great playability up the neck. Our inlays are designed from diamonds of real Mother-of-Pearl accented with Abalone, and we’ve carefully hand-rubbed a dark reddish-brown stain into the Mahogany to match the color of 5-string banjos made in the 1800′s.  (All our woods are naturally dried when they arrive at our shop, and then we let them cure for another 1 to 3 years in Colorado’s dry air before we begin to build.)

In addition to the HG 50 tone ring, we elected to use a modern version of the banjo heads favored by Bluegrass players in the 1960′s, added a lighter Ome Presto tailpiece, and are setting-up the banjo with responsive hand-made bridges.

Other specs are unchanged from our standard Bluegrass banjos: 26.25″ scale length; 1.28″ nut width; our Bluegrass neck, resonator and 3-ply maple rim; Ome’s zinc die-cast flange and solid brass parts with steel hooks; hand-sanded and buffed high gloss finishes; and our chenille-wrapped medium gauge strings. All Omes are crafted by our three builders in Boulder, Colorado, and each year we make about 150 banjos.

Banjo Newsletter has published a review of the “Southern Cross HG 50″ banjo written by Mike Kropp. Contact them if you would like to receive a copy.

If you are interested in trying out one of these “Southern Cross HG 50″ banjos, visit the following dealers: Acoustic Vibes Music, Madison Music, Tejon Street Music, Turtle Hill Banjo Co., Gryphon Stringed Instruments, and Elderly Instruments.