Leslie R - Posted - 10/03/2013:  14:06:33

Evidently Fender has made some high quality banjos in the past.  Which model or models were the good ones?

a g cole - Posted - 10/03/2013:  14:34:46

The Concertone was their top-of-the line.  Next was the Artist, which was essettially the same but with somewhat different inlay and without gold plating.  I believe the next model was the Encore, which I know little or nothing about.  I own a 1967-68 Artist.  I think it is a pretty high quality banjo.  The workmanship is high quality.  The sound is good.  It is the heaviest of my 6 banjos at about 11.5 lbs.  The neck is slender; the wood is walnut.  I believe lots if not most of them came from the factory with sliding 5th string capo and Keith D-tuners (mine shows refilled holes where the sliding capo was removed.  The Keith tuners are still on it).  I sure like mine a lot.  I believe most or all the high quality Fenders were made in Californis.

The banjos I am speaking of here I believe were made mostly on the 1960's.  I would not hesitate to buy another if I needed another banjo.  I understand later banjos with that name are not nearly so good.

t

Dwain Booth - Posted - 10/03/2013:  14:45:30

Hi Leslie ,  My understanding is that Fender went from US to Mexico to So. Korea and then to China.  My banjo is a FB58 make in So Korea and its a sweetheart.  Its set up with GHS lights and an Elete skin.  It's very responsive but to me is a little heavy.  Hope this helps.                Dwain

PickaFive - Posted - 10/03/2013:  14:51:06

The third and lowest cost model of U.S. Fender banjos was the Allegro which was a maple banjo with simple round wire tone ring. Properly set up they sound great. There are many prior posts on Fender banjos of both domestic and foreign manufacture. You may want to review the material using the Search feature in the RH upper corner of the page.

The U.S. Fender banjos were manufactured in California and came from the Salstrom Banjo Co. in Oregon, Illinois. The three model names carried over from Salstrom which Fender bought in the mid-1960's.

Edited by - PickaFive on 10/03/2013 14:53:34

lightgauge - Posted - 10/03/2013:  14:54:20

As stated earlier, the Concertone and the Artist were made in the 60's and 70's after Fender bought I believe it was named Salstrom. They were some of the best banjos built in their time. Totally unlike the recent imported banjos with the  Fender name.

deestexas - Posted - 10/03/2013:  15:25:55

From the archives: banjohangout.org/archive/212060

The Old Timer - Posted - 10/03/2013:  15:34:35

Yup, Artist and Concertone (gold plated).

beegee - Posted - 10/03/2013:  17:10:48

I had an Artist back in 1974 that I traded(with cash) for my 28 Granada. I recently bought a near-mint Artist that I have fallen in love with playing. I left the spring-wire 5th string capo in place and it still has the original 5th friction peg. It has Keith-Scruggs-Bump D-tuners that were added and one of the original Schaller planets was lost. I have the original bill of sale.

The Fender Leo was the next evolution that was totally unlike the California Fenders. It was mahogany with a 2-piece flange and alwyas came with a clear head. The next evolution was the Leo Deluxe. Now the mastertone-types are the FB-58(maple) and FB-59(walnut), neither of which are in the same class as the California Fenders.

desert rose - Posted - 10/03/2013:  17:59:05

Dwain

Just to clarify your points

Fender was and is in California. In the 80s they added Japan. Then added Korea, then added China and Indonesia, for GUITAR sources.

For banjo they started in California in the sixtys with the Salstrom Fenders and bought Salstrom and moved all this to the Fullerton factory. The end of the 70s they added the japanese Leo brand and dropped the California production. Japanese Leos stopped and the Korean Fender banjos appeared. ALL Korean banjo production stopped  for everybody  when Sam Ick went bankrupt and the Korean network moved to China where it is today

Scott

JRushing - Posted - 10/04/2013:  06:56:35

This is the only Salstrum I've ever seen. It belongs to Memphis picker Randal Morton. He said it was not as loud as alot of banjos but excellent for recording. I've played it and I really loved the skinny resonator.

This one has a flathead style ring but I'm told some of the original Salstrums had tubaphone style rings.

Leslie R - Posted - 10/04/2013:  18:01:05

I think a Salstrum with a tuba phone ring will be be my next search.

desert rose - Posted - 10/04/2013:  18:16:55

Fender Salstoms and California Fenders are LOUD and powerful bluegrass banjos

Scott

Leslie R - Posted - 10/04/2013:  20:01:22

Ho-yeahhh !!!

Scott, do you know of any, or seen any with the tubaphone style tonering?

f5loar - Posted - 10/04/2013:  20:19:20

There was a time when Gibson banjos were not so great and Fender became the banjo of choice of a lot of the pro pickers.  From 1966 to 1976 the Fender banjo models of Artist and Concertone were really good.  Thin fast necks on most of them.  Loud poping flathead sound.  I can still see Vic Jordan with Monroe in 1968 "Crossing the Cumberlands" on his Fender artist.  Bill Emerson was riding high on his Artist with "Fox On The Run" with the Country Gentleman.  And John Hartford was "Gentle on My Mind" with Glen Campbell on a Concertone.  Ah, those were the days.

desert rose - Posted - 10/04/2013:  21:22:31

Fender Concertone and Artist were ONLY available with the well known heavy flathead and orthodox archtop rings, nothing was ever used in the factory production of these rings. As Ive stressed here many times Fender had absolutely ZERO interest in the banjo or how it worked, thats why they bought the Salstrom company turn key. Never in the history off Fender banjo production was one minute spent on r and d. They called in Chuck Erikson and John Hartford for advice a few times and thats about it.

The people at Fender both in charge and the workers wouldnt know the difference between an archtop and tubaphone ring any more than they would know the difference between a Presto and a Kershner tailpiece, or a notched and grooved tension hoop.

Scott

mikehalloran - Posted - 10/04/2013:  21:31:12

I recently re-mastered the only album that I ever recorded with my Fender Allegro long neck. That was a great playing, great sounding banjo. Mine had a geared 5th and the Waverly tailpiece had an embossed "F" in the tailpiece cover - otherwise it was identical to the one on the right.

Hard to believe I let it get away. Silly me thinking that three long necks was one too many...

Here's a page from the catalog. I have the entire scan in pdf - if anyone wants a copy, message me.

Edited by - mikehalloran on 10/04/2013 21:39:25

beegee - Posted - 10/04/2013:  21:52:56

Mine happens to have a friction 5th and a three-hole bullet-shaped truss rod cover as found on the Allegro. There is no evidence that it ever had a typical 2-hole bell-shaped truss rod cover.

 It was bought new June 3, 1970  from Zapf's Music in Philadelphia for $560 plus $70 for the case. Serial Number 01617 The buyer must have traded something because he got a $190 allowance and paid $4.69 for a strap. The banjo was delivered by Zapf's truck to a Newark Delaware address.

Edited by - beegee on 10/04/2013 22:01:47

Leslie R - Posted - 10/05/2013:  05:23:54

I looked in the BHO classified section. Salstrom is not listed. They must have not made many banjos. Prior to this topic, I never heard of them.

Leslie R - Posted - 10/05/2013:  08:19:48

I have verified Salstrum DID make a banjo with a tubaphone type tonering. I found one fellow who has one and sent him an email.
If anyone has one or knows of one, I will make a reasonable offer.

beegee - Posted - 10/05/2013:  21:42:00

Some time ago BNL published an advertising reprint from Salstrom. I have never heard of a tubaphone-style tone ring, but that doesn';t mean anything. I first fell in love with the Fender when Bill Emerson was playing one. Jimmy Arnold also played a Fender Artist when he was with Cliff Waldron. Back in the early 70' sJerry Edmundson of the Bluegrass Tarheels out of KIngs Mountain had an early one and he wanted to sell it to buy a new Vega VIP because Grandpa Jones' new VIP sounded really good to him. I was trying to work a deal to buy tha banjo, but we could never get together on it. I traded a home made Gibson copy for my first Artist, and traded that for my Granada.

f5loar - Posted - 10/06/2013:  22:16:56

Garland Shuping had a few Fenders in the early 70's.  Heck it would be easier to name who did not have back then........ Earl Scruggs.