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raypicks5 - Posted - 11/27/2007: 18:47:07
I've never heard or played a Vintage (late 70's-early 80's) Gold Star archtop. I have however, owned two Vintage Gold Star flat heads and both were really good in both quality and sound.
How do the Vintage archtops compare? Any opinions/comments appreciated.
Ray
jbjo - Posted - 11/27/2007: 19:50:58
a friend of mine has one and loves it..........
James
Gibson Archtop
"Wipe 'Yo Feets"
twhite54 - Posted - 11/27/2007: 20:24:02
i enjoy the heck outta mine too and it is a great complimentary tone to a f/t...
ethel the wonder basset
"she'd her apron wrapped about her and i took her for a swan.." that's my story and i'm stickin' to it...
wkjrak - Posted - 11/27/2007: 21:02:36
I also love the sound of my 1977 arch top. I own a Nechville Phantom and an Ome Juniper Deluxe, which are flat heads. I am selling the Ome, but i will never sell the Gold Star.
Warren
I'm one of those I Wish I was good enough to play in the Band Joes
Granada - Posted - 11/27/2007: 21:41:32
Hey Folks,
Not to hijack the thread but, does anyone have any pictures of a Gold Star arch top tone ring from the 70's or 80's? Or, did they have any distinguishing marks? Thanks.
Good Pickin' and God Bless
danico - Posted - 11/27/2007: 21:46:28
A friend of mine has one and loves it. The only banjo she has owned all of these years. I have played it and fell in love with the sound myself. I have a Gibson ESS and because of her went looking for an arch top. Ended up getting Rob Bishline to build me a custom salty dog arch top.
hsjim - Posted - 11/28/2007: 08:29:05
I have a vintage Gold Star archtop I bought new in the late 70's. Not sure what year it is because the sticker dissapeared off the rim years ago. I gave it to Richie Dotson at a banjo workshop I attended in Kitty Hawk a month ago. He refit the tone ring and did an overall restoration on it. Richie really brought it back to life. Maybe he'll see this thread and comment on the work he did to it. I also have a new RK82 that I would like him to do some set up on. It's fun to go back and forth between the two when I'm practicing. Two completely different sounds. The nice deep growl of the RK and then switch to the crisp punch of the archtop.
Jim
gottasmilealot - Posted - 11/28/2007: 08:37:23
I owned one and thought it was over-rated. I sold it and have since owned a reissue Gold Star with a Cox rim and First Quality archtop ring which I found to be better in my opinion.
Keith
Richie Dotson - Posted - 11/30/2007: 17:36:25
The setup I did to the Gold Star involved the removal of the original tone ring ... I had to carefully pry it off as it was really stuck. After I put it on the lathe and was able to fit the ring to the rim, change the 30 year old head and upgrade the bridge and clean it up, it was a bit like a different banjo!
I always enjoy getting to work on these old banjos, but the biggest thrill I get is playing all the different banjos that come through my shop from pre-war Gibson flatheads to a modern El Cheapo
I though the banjo was wonderful!
Richie Dotson
Craftsman, Teacher
http:www.BanjoResource.com
(757) 223-7891
fitch5string - Posted - 11/30/2007: 17:50:31
quote:
Originally posted by Richie Dotson
The setup I did to the Gold Star involved the removal of the original tone ring ... I had to carefully pry it off as it was really stuck. After I put it on the lathe and was able to fit the ring to the rim, change the 30 year old head and upgrade the bridge and clean it up, it was a bit like a different banjo!
I always enjoy getting to work on these old banjos, but the biggest thrill I get is playing all the different banjos that come through my shop from pre-war Gibson flatheads to a modern El Cheapo
I though the banjo was wonderful!
Richie Dotson
Craftsman, Teacher
http:www.BanjoResource.com
(757) 223-7891
Hey Richie, is it true that you have a new name..."Luthier to the Stars" ?
Cliff Fitch
FITCH BANJOS
Hand-Crafted Professional Banjos
Banjo Repair, Set-up ,and Restoration
Authorized Recording King Custom Shop
And Authorized Recording King Dealer
www.FitchBanjos.com
SB - Posted - 11/30/2007: 18:39:22
I owned one for awhile, an all maple version. It was OK, but nothing outstanding, and the neck was kind of clunky. I now play a Cox archtop rim/ring and am very happy with it.
Jack
phinski - Posted - 11/30/2007: 23:42:27
My first good banjo was a Gold Star archtop, a mahogany one. I could never get it to sound that good and I sold it years ago. It had a multi-multi-ply rim (eleven I think) and that might have been the problem. If I still had it I'd try a new rim.
Jonathan
Richie Dotson - Posted - 12/01/2007: 08:27:59
quote:
Hey Richie, is it true that you have a new name..."Luthier to the Stars" ?
Cliff ... Just trying to be a good neighbor ... that's funny though.
Richie Dotson
Craftsman, Teacher
http:
www.BanjoResource.com(757) 223-7891
steve davis - Posted - 12/18/2007: 22:03:57
I had a '76 Gold Star tube and plate archtop multi ply mahogany.I put a Stew Mac 3 ply w/flathead which made it sound much better.I sold it to get my Stew Mac maple Vintage kit.Some folks said I traded down in tone.
Sometimes I just gotta wait for better weather
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 12/18/2007: 23:51:37
G12W .. Has been a decent banjo for years, last year decided to upgrade by getting rid of the Multiply rim...It was very heavily finished and verrrrrrrrry tight... After removal, replaced it with an old wood birch block, now its a great banjo.. take and play anywhere, with anybody.....minus (maybe) the neck is a little clunky...
KL
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 12/20/2007: 23:46:14
Found a couple of songs from a jam, bout a couple of hrs after it had be assembled, but don't know how to put em on the juke box...or you could here one!
KL
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 12/23/2007: 23:54:01
Raypick.... Had ken put 3 songs on my homepage today... Its an informal recording of one of our jams about two hrs after the Goldstar was assembled with the new rim... I was running the sound and pickin to so don't expect too much from the bumbles and fumbles!! ( hard to pick with one hand and turn knobs/push buttoms with the other!!?) A lot of the bass was lost in the comp. transferr, but maybe there is enuff of the basic sound left!!
KL
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 12/23/2007: 23:55:26
Lost connection, double posted...deleted
Edited by - Kenneth Logsdon on 12/23/2007 23:56:42
O.D. - Posted - 12/24/2007: 13:42:46
I heard a Goldstar archtop at the Peasful Valley Bluegrass festival when it was still going on and was impressed .
Definite archtop sound with plenty of volume. I talked to Paul Hawthorne about this banjo and he knew of it and was also very impressed. Id seriously consider finding one but I already have 2 Archies.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!
Regards, O.D.
www.oxforddepot.net
www.cdbaby.com/cd/edackerly
silvioferretti - Posted - 12/25/2007: 02:47:03
Don't forget the extremely rare GF-100A model, of which only a handful were built in the mid-80s. Mahogany, 3-ply rim & 1-pc. flange, H&F fingerboard, the archtop equivalent of the GF-100HF. They were nothing short of awesome: a clear archtop sound with lots of bottom. I sold two of them in 1985, and wish I had them now: they must be even rarer than the Crowe models or any Kentucky model of the same era...
Silvio Ferretti http://www.scorpionmusic.com
Check out a new Scorpion banjo at http://www.elderly.com/new_instrume...s/SCORP7.htm
clancyc1 - Posted - 03/10/2008: 09:20:17
All the Gold Star arched tops that I've seen were crappy mini ply rims. Were there any 3-ply shells like the flatheads??
