ODE Magician 12″ Mahogany 5-String Open Back Banjo New

We’re excited about the return of ODE banjos. Chuck Ogsbury started building the first ODE banjos in the early ’60s, back when he was just a college kid. He later sold that company to Baldwin, which continued making the banjos until 1980. This current iteration of the venerable brand is a product of the second generation of the Ogsbury family, as Chuck’s son Zen, and Zen’s wife Zoe, are the people behind ODE rebirth.

This ODE Magician model features a 12-inch head, a mahogany neck, and an ebony fingerboard with a generous frailing scoop past the 17th fret. The slightly aged brass hardware and lightly stained neck and shell give it a warm and woody look, and the amber knobs on the tuners continue the theme. The 12-inch head produces a plunky, mellow tone. With a 25 1/2″ string scale it’s very playable and there’s no lack of volume when you want and/or need it. Pretty cool that this Magician represents over 60 years of Ogsbury family banjo-making!