ODE Magician 11″ Curly Maple 5-String Open Back Banjo New

We’re pretty excited about these new ODE banjos, as they offer a similar style to the OME models but they’re more simple and so less expensive. In case you haven’t followed the long and winding history of Chuck Ogsbury’s influence on American banjos, these ODE models are from the Ogsbury family, but the second generation as Chuck’s son Zen is the main guy behind ODE.

This Magician model features an 11-inch head, maple neck, and ebony fingerboard with generous scoop past the 17th fret. The slightly aged brass hardware and lightly stained maple neck and shell give it a warm and woody look, and the amber knobs on the tuners continue the theme. 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. Chuck Ogsbury started building the first ODE models in the early ’60s, when he was just a college kid and he’s still at it. Pretty cool that this Magician represents over 60 years of Ogsbury family banjo-making!