Joe Spann - Posted - 09/23/2009:  05:56:12

The source of the inlay patterns used in Gibson banjos before World War II has been the source of much speculation. Today, we refer to them with colorful names like "hearts & flowers", "wreath" or "flying eagle." Perhaps not surprisingly, all of these names appear to be anachronisms. To date, no use of our common pattern names has been seen in Gibson's original pre-war documentation or in trade publications from the period. Instead, the names we use today seem to date from the early 1960's, the period in which the demand for reproduction necks began to grow.

Dave Kennedy (one of the earliest Gibson banjo scholars) was fortunate enough to have worked at the Kalamazoo factory from 1965 through 1968. At that time and during subsequent years he asked many valuable questions of the remaining old time Gibson employees. In a recent interview Mr. Kennedy indicated that his questions regarding the inlay pattern names went unanswered. None of the employees he talked to knew anything about official names. He feels that the term "flying eagle" can be laid to his doorstep, as he was the first person to use that term in Kalamazoo.

Some clues can be inferred from the patterns themselves. The pattern we know as "hearts & flowers" is actually made up from simple, pre-cut pearl components which were readily available in the 1920's. But for a single exception, the pattern might be known as the "deck of cards" as it contains hearts, spades and diamonds. The only card suite not represented is clubs. The pattern we know as "diamonds & squares" follows a similar design, using common shapes.

The "wreath" pattern (first used in the Style 5 banjos of 1925) has some design elements in common with earlier shapes used in Gibson mandolins and trap door banjos. It may represent a true original "Gibson" design. If so, then it was likely drawn by Harry T. Reeves, Gibson's draftsman from 1920 through 1926. His initials appear as "H.R." or "H.T.R." on many early Gibson blueprints.

The "flying eagle", "leaves & bows" and "gull" patterns all date to 1928 and Gibson's radical redesign of their banjo line. The prototype drawing for the "flying eagle" pattern shows a much more complicated design than we are familiar with today. In practice, the original design would have been very expensive to cut and inlay. It was likely simplified for that reason.

During the pre-war period there is clear documentary evidence which indicates that Gibson did not cut their own pearl. Nor did they inlay their banjo fingerboards at the factory. The fingerboards were roughed out to shape and thickness and the fret slots were started. The fingerboards were then shipped to the pearl cutting plant where they were inlayed and later returned to Gibson.

The pearl was inlayed using a method which we might find both destructive and crude. After laying out the pattern using metal guides and a scribing tool, a small pilot hole was drilled all the way through the board within the inlay outline. A jewelers saw was then threaded through the hole and the shape of the inlay was removed, creating a huge hole all the way through the fingerboard. The pearl was then inserted from the back and a compound not unlike plastic wood was used to fill the remaining space. The procedure was quick but not particularly accurate. Showing lots of filler can be one identifying characteristic of an original pre-war Gibson fingerboard.

Whether or not the peghead overlays were produced in this manner is still a matter of speculation. The pearwood overlays used at Gibson were very, very thin and would have likely broken if inlayed prior to placement on the peghead face. Rare examples have also been seen in which the peghead pearl was inlay directly into the peghead face. So the peghead pearl may have been inlaid at the factory. An equally persuasive argument can be made that this was outsourced, as the reconstructed lists of pre-war Gibson employees show no one with the title of "inlayer of pearl."

Hopefully, future research will clear up some of these questions.

72chevy - Posted - 09/23/2009:  06:06:18

Thanks for posting...I enjoy reading these very much.

Tommy

beegee - Posted - 09/23/2009:  07:46:30

I read years ago that the John Rie Co. of New York may have cut the inlays. I don't know, I just heard that mentioned from a friend who was a merchandise buyer who bought pearl buttons from Rie and she picked it up somewhere in her discussions because she mentioned her banjo-picking to someone in the company.

__________________________
"It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing." -Seneca

youdye - Posted - 09/23/2009:  09:05:27

Once again, thank you for the info. These are great to read.


Mike Montgomery

4+1=Hootnanny!
O=='={::}

pickNgrin - Posted - 09/23/2009:  09:41:03

Joe-

Thanks for posting these history lessons!

About the flying eagle inlay... I swore that I saw a blueprint of the prototype someplace (in a book or a thread here) where it was referred to as the "bird-in-flight". I guess that is contrary to your research, however, or maybe it came from a post-60s drawing. Do you know anything about that particular name?

thanks...

-matt

raypicks5 - Posted - 09/23/2009:  15:11:56

Great information as always Joe. Keep it coming.

Ray

grich - Posted - 09/23/2009:  21:50:34

[URL=http://img14.imageshack.us/i/fe1kn.jpg/][/URL]


[URL=http://img169.imageshack.us/i/fe2g.jpg/][/URL]


Here's a copy of how the Flying Eagle was originally designed ...

Bill Rogers - Posted - 09/23/2009:  22:34:31

I always liked Gryphon's name for the Flying Eagle pattern: "Elf Shoes and Rolling Pins."

Bill

Frank Ford - Posted - 09/24/2009:  07:39:05

Don't recall who made up that name, but in those daze four decades ago, that inlay was most often called the "Don Reno pattern," and we knew that wasn't an original name.

Cheers,

Frank Ford
www.frets.com
www.frets.net
www.gryphonstrings.com
www.homeshoptech.com

flange5st - Posted - 09/24/2009:  09:26:53

....great info for sure....and I'll agree with Frank Ford, around these parts you used the name of the player than an inlay name proper ie. ...flying eagle /Don Reno....hearts and flowers/Earl Scruggs.......wreath/Ralph Stanley, ( whether it had the big block Mastertone or not)...you would say I want my banjo to look like theirs.........peace

......ad fontes..........

Edited by - flange5st on 09/24/2009 09:27:35

Kevin B - Posted - 09/24/2009:  13:05:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Rogers

I always liked Gryphon's name for the Flying Eagle pattern: "Elf Shoes and Rolling Pins."

Bill

---

John J - Posted - 09/24/2009:  14:17:56

[quote]Originally posted by Bill Rogers

I always liked Gryphon's name for the Flying Eagle pattern: "Elf Shoes and Rolling Pins."


We called it the smashed leach psttern.

John

El Dobro - Posted - 09/24/2009:  17:53:06

Also referred to as the squashed frog pattern.

Don
http://www.myspace.com/eldobro
http://www.myspace.com/pasttimesband
http://www.pasttimesbluegrassband.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/pasttimesbluegrass

beegee - Posted - 09/26/2009:  06:54:26

quote:

---

Originally posted by El Dobro

Also referred to as the squashed frog pattern.

---

Kevin B - Posted - 09/26/2009:  07:50:23

Joe Spann wrote: "Some clues can be inferred from the patterns themselves. The pattern we know as "hearts & flowers" is actually made up from simple, pre-cut pearl components which were readily available in the 1920's. But for a single exception, the pattern might be known as the "deck of cards" as it contains hearts, spades and diamonds. The only card suite not represented is clubs. The pattern we know as "diamonds & squares" follows a similar design, using common shapes."

That is interesting. They sure made clever use of the pre-cut peices.

You see the suits of cards on lap steels sometimes.


Kevin ( )=='=~

'Possum, It's what's for dinner . . ."

The Pope - Posted - 09/27/2009:  12:09:19

Emmons, I believe...

The Pope
KI #9
2 parts Masterclones

"Learn a few chords on the banjo, it's the key to life."

Vince Gill

tubeandplate - Posted - 09/27/2009:  14:49:20

Hi Joe-Great research you've been doing over the years!

From your first post:

"Some clues can be inferred from the patterns themselves. The pattern we know as "hearts & flowers" is actually made up from simple, pre-cut pearl components which were readily available in the 1920's. But for a single exception, the pattern might be known as the "deck of cards" as it contains hearts, spades and diamonds. The only card suite not represented is clubs. The pattern we know as "diamonds & squares" follows a similar design, using common shapes."




They used the Clubs on the UB-4/5 Uke banjo, which is VERY similar to the Nick Lucas/TB-2 pattern; when I put new necks on my pyramid style 2's, I used a combiniation of the UB-4 pattern (and the 3rd fret "club" card design) and the Nick Lucas pattern to make up the missing pieces when going from the tenor number of inlays to the 22 fret 5 string board instead of the usual cop out of just using diamonds and dots in ignorant desperation like most do (I've never seen an original plectrum/5 string neck Gibson banjo with Nick Lucas inlay to see what they would have done, but given the repeat patterns in a lot of the patterns, they might likely have done just as I did). It's an under-known/appreciated pattern, and worked really well in this instance.

I guess my point is, the full deck got used, just not all in one inlay pattern!

Hey Greg-scan the other "R&T JDC model" unused pattern from the same batch of prototype drawings you got the orig "squashed frog" from above....cool pattern I think.....(or is this asking you to give something up?).

Chris


http://www.banjohangout.org/forum/t...IC_ID=152453

Chris Cioffi
(615)382-1376

Edited by - tubeandplate on 09/27/2009 14:49:56