About:
When I first picked up this instrument, the weight and quality of construction were the first things I noticed. Well made, it also sounds amazing – most of my limited banjo experience has been with low end instruments, so this one really blew me away. This banjo is certainly old and has many parts from starting it’s life as a “pre-war” banjo, but a purist would not consider this an original (for many reasons below). The biggest give away is the neck – it is no longer the original 4 string neck and is now a 5 string conversion with a Gibson Flying Eagle neck and is largely a Granada model from around 1929. Here is what I know about the specifics of this instrument (starting from the top):
- Peghead – Gibson Flying Eagle – likely a repro and definitely not the original neck shipped from the factory.
- Gotoh tuners – these tuners are among the best, but the original pre-war headstock would have been loaded with Grover pancakes.
- Neck – Gibson Flying Eagle style curly maple neck. Doesn’t appear to have a truss rod unless it is under the heel (I haven’t removed the neck from the rim). Unknown if this is a true Gibson neck or made to look like one but is definitely not the original – The inlays have a lot of filler, not the highest quality.. It has dots on the ivoroid binding. The strings/neck is offset a bit towards the 5th string. The neck is not a one piece neck – it is two pieces split in the middle and the ears are laminated on the peghead. More than likely not Gibson.
- Coordinator Rod – two brass rod setup
- Tone Ring / Tone Chamber -This is a flathead Mastertone tone ring. This one is a twenty-hole flathead tone ring – See Figure 10 below – the deeper tone chamber was introduced in 1935 and appears to be what this one is made with.
- Rim – The rim decal is a worn “The Gibson” decal and not a “Gibson Mastertone” – this rim also has 22 mounting holes for a different style of Resonator flange mount – this is not a master tone rim, however it is an original pre war Gibson rim with SN 8154-3 stamped in it from the factory and is 3 plys of 1/4″, steamed, rolled and laminated maple. The rim is in great shape with no visible cracks or defects. It was made sometime between 1925 and 1935 (8,000 series factory lot numbers started in 1925, and 9,900 was reached in 1935 with this SN indicating an approximate 1925 born on date). It could be a Style 0, Style 1 or Style 2 (most likely), which would would explain the mounting holes and why the decal is partially cut off during the modification to fit the Mastertone tone ring and flange at a later date.
- Resonator Flange – Gold Plated Engraved Granada. Similar to this PB-Granada Mastertone. This one is in good shape and not showing signs of deterioration like other 1930’s Granada’s due to the interaction of the gold plating with the pot metal components and no warping or flange pull from tightening the head. The early1920’s Granada’s are a 2 piece flange and the one piece flange (like this one) were on the later 1930’s Granada’s. These are made of pot metal, rather than brass, which is mostly a zinc or white metal alloy called Zamac, and is also more brittle and fragile than brass.
- Resonator – Curly maple. No factory number in chalk or paint written in the back. Also it does not have the two concentric rings of wood purfling on the back.
- Tension Hoop – notched hoop with round hooks. Gold plating and engraving. See drawing below – this one is prewar and measures .183″ (post war heads were .190″+ likely due to the casting die wear being reworked over time).
- Head – obviously not an original head. I cant find any markings on it however.
- Arm Rest – Gold plating and engraving. Adjustable and matches the rest of the Granada hardware.
- Tail Piece -No detail here – unknown.
- Resonator Screws – These are the later serrated thumbscrews that replace the earlier hex-head screw going through a separate bracket below the plate that is attached to the rim.
- Plating – there were three basic plating finishes: nickel, chrome (chromium), and gold. this one is the “triple-gold plating” – and the triple came from the time in the plating bath, not that 3 separate plating processes were done. Unclear if this is the “flourentined” or burnished/dulling version or not (it is certainly dulled at this time)
What I have learned:
- 1856 Orville Gibson was born in NY and in 1896 he filed his first and only patent for the construction of a mandolin. He died in 1918, having little to do with the banjo.
- 1918 – the first gibson banjo listed as a TB (tenor banjo).
- 1919 – 5 models TB (tenor banjo), GB (guitar banjo), MB (mandolin banjo) and CB (cello banjo)
- 1924 – the plectrum banjo (PB) and regular banjo (RB, 5-string) and UB (ukulele banjo) were added
- Gotoh was founded in July 1950 making strings for the violin and then started making tuners in 1960.
- Gibson stopped making Banjos around the 2008 recession. Some say it was due to a fire and/or the primary money making venture is in the guitar business.
- plectrum banjos are 4 strings and the Scruggs style of playing is on the 5 string
- The cast pot metal used for the one piece flange is likely Zamac or Zamak – a family of alloys with a base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminum, magnesium and copper.
References:
- Earnest Banjo – the best prewar gibson banjo website out there – tons of great info
- northwestguitars.co.uk on Gotoh Tuners
- Instructables – how to build a banjo (and the parts diagram shown)
- banjo hangout – forum with tons of opinions on pre-war gibson
- BHO – post discussing the flying eagle pattern
- Spann’s guide to Gibson 1902-1941
- siminoff.net history of Gibson from 1918 to 1938
- siminoff.net history of Orville Gibson
- Gibson patent 1,402,876
- Wikipedia – Zamak pot metal
