Bill’s Banjos
Welcome
to Bill’s Banjos! Now retired from my ‘day job,’ I am able to pursue a long
time passion of old Gibson banjos! One major goal of this site is the production
of a record of my banjo projects covering many years. A second goal is simply
to use the information here as a means of conversation with other enthusiasts.
And the third goal is to make the results of these projects available to the
banjo community with the possibility of getting these fine instruments into the
hands of players who will appreciate them as much as I do.
I
emphasize this site is dedicated to ‘player’ banjos – NOT collectables. I
must confess that I am a big fan of simple, vintage instruments (such as Gibson
Style 1s, 2s, 00s, etc.) that can be excellent banjos as to tone, playability,
and character. These instruments (under my stewardship) have been treated with
great care; however, most do show the common wear and tear of many years of
use. To me, this ‘vintage’ look and feel only add to
the character.
NOTE: The following banjos are available
ONLY via personal appointments. I travel on a regular basis to bluegrass
festivals in the Southeast and will be happy to have instruments with me as
interest is shown. I prefer to deal person to person and do not wish to pursue
the hassles of shipping and risk damage to these instruments. I also feel that
musical instruments are very personal and that what is a fit for one person may
not be for another. As a result, I feel it is very important for anyone in the
market for an instrument to be able to play the instrument before considering a
purchase.
Click HERE
for communications with Bill. (Please use email to establish communications. Thanks.) I am also available via the Banjo Hangout as RB100.
Available banjos (Pre-war
Conversions):
|
8245 – 50
TB-2 1926* |
TB-1 1926* |
TB-1
& PB-1 1926* |
TB-1
1926* |
TB-2
1926* |
TB-1
1927* |
|
TB-0
1928* |
TB-1
1929* |
Mid 30s-WWII |
|
|
*As
per Spann's Guide To Gibson 1902-1941, Joe
Spann, Centerstream Publishing, LLC, 2011.
Non
Pre-war Available Offerings:
Aria Pro II
(late 1970s) Maple with Cox rim and Hatfield gold plated 20 hole tone ring
Gibson RB100
(1965) Original neck and resonator with Hatfield pot - 266-16-56 (resonator)
265301 (back of peghead)
RB1 Gibson
Reissue (1994) 1-9404-03
Gibson Parts
Banjo (Arthur Hatfield neck and resonator and Frank Neat pot with mid 60s
Gibson RB100 hardware)
Gibson Style
Parts (replica) Banjo (Wyatt Fawley neck and
resonator with First Quality Music pot)
Goldstar GF100W (mid eighties)
Goldstar GF200 1952 (2009) 1 of 12 produced in 2009 as
a custom order.
Banjo Parts: Coming soon! (tone rings, necks, miscellaneous hardware) I hope to
start listing in the near future. 9/9/16
I
wish to thank several folks who have provided assistance in this quest. Arthur
Hatfield has provided the conversion work for several of the
instruments and the banjo world is well aware of the quality of his conversions
as well as his Hatfield
banjos. I am fortunate to own Hatfield Buck Creek #33
and it is a wonderful instrument that is not for sale.
Joe Spann has been involved with Gibson
banjos for many years and has written the definitive book for collectors. Spann's
Guide To Gibson 1902-1941 should be in every banjo owner’s library for the historical
information including everything on these wonderful old banjos ranging from
batch numbers to diagrams, photos, to factory order numbers (FON) and much,
much more. My thanks go to Mr. Spann for his efforts in pulling together this
information and making it available to those of us who may be characterized as
obsessed with ‘old Gibson banjos!’
Greg Earnest is well known for his
site dedicated to the history of Gibson Mastertone banjos. If you are not familiar with this
site, you owe it to yourself to check it out and study the wealth of
information Greg has amassed. Greg is also a great banjo player of the Atlanta
area in addition to being a student of old Gibson Mastertones.
Another
book that I highly recommend is Gibson
Mastertone: Flathead 5-String Banjos of the 1930s and
1940s by Jim Mills. Mr. Mills is a talented banjoist as
well as historian and collector of Gibson Mastertone
banjos. This book has documented many of the iconic instruments of Gibson
banjos of the ‘golden era (roughly mid-1920s through the beginning of the
1940s).’ This was a labor of love with wonderful photos and documentation of
instruments well known to collectors.
Like many banjo players, I enjoy
reading about the history of all aspects of the banjo. One especially
interesting topic to me is the history of National finger picks. Dean Hoffmeyer has pulled together a great history at his National
Finger Picks web page! Dean is also producing modern finger picks building on his knowledge.
Enjoy!
North Georgia Bluegrass
Chronicles