loading
reading
writing
saving
searching
1925 Gibson Mastertone 5-string conversion resonator banjo - $3,250 (Bellingham)
QR Code Link to This Post
This instrument is from 1925, the first year that Gibson offered the 'Mastertone' model, which was far better than any of their other models. The 1925 and '26 Mastertones have a tone ring that is suspended on springs and ball bearings that are sunk into the rim. Those have 24 holes, 24 ball bearings, 24 washers, 24 springs, and the hoop that touches the head. They were costly to manufacture and Gibson moved to a solid archtop ring (one part replaced `~96!) to reduce manufacturing complexities and costs in 1927. While many other companies have reproduced Gibson's archtop and flathead cast bronze tone rings, and they are now completely flooding the market, no other company in the past 100 years has done a remake of the spring-loaded ball bearing tone ring. Now, as then, it's too labor-intensive to produce.
These ball bearing era mastertones have a sound all their own. They are loud like a typical Gibson-style 'bluegrass' banjo, but they are sweeter, and not as piercing. They also work much much better for clawhammer than the cast bronze flathead mastertone style banjos. This is a perfect versatile instrument that sounds good in many styles of play and in many genres. It was made at the peak of Gibson's foray into the banjo market, when they were sparing no expense to make the best banjo they could. It's been solid for a century, and should easily last for a century more. And because it's not an original flathead like Earl Scruggs' banjo, it doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars.
The neck has a little bit of wear on the first few frets, but still plenty of life in them. It has railroad spikes to capo the 5th string, installed at the 7th, 9th, and 10th frets. It is a gorgeous deep red stained maple. The inlays are done in the same style as the tenor neck, and the two look very very similar. It has geared 5-star tuning pegs. Doesn't have a truss rod cover, but one could be got for ~$10 if you want one.
It currently sports a beautiful skin head. There is some wear on the plating of the metal parts, revealing brass underneath the nickel plating, which I find do be a very attractive look, much nicer than a bunch of bright shiny chrome. It has a Grover Patent Presto tailpiece and an armrest, all of which look to me to be original (but no guarantees). It has 3 of the 4 original resonator attachment screws, which do the job of holding the resonator on just fine. The 2-piece flange is in good shape; these were higher quality metal than the 1-piece flanges that Gibson later started making out of pot metal to save on costs. The resonator looks to be original, but may have been refinished at some point. The ball bearings can be seen when looking in the rim, so I can confirm that it still has them without taking apart the whole thing to count.
Currently has a compensated Nechville bridge on it, which is in my opinion about the best bridge you can get, but if you want a differed height or style of bridge, I have lots of them and can swap out to your preference. The neck is straight and the action is easy. It could be raised or lowered a little with different sizes of bridge, and still be very playable.
All in all, this is a princely, historic banjo that is also a very good player. Happy to show it to you in person or make a video recording for interested folks further away.