jbalch - Posted - 08/03/2011:  18:14:48

For sale now on ebaY.  Bart says there will be no more of these:

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...:MEWAX:IT

un5trung - Posted - 08/03/2011:  19:59:40

The passing of an era! I like the Reiter professional -- great sound and balance. John do you know why Bart is moving away from IR banjos? Could be any number of things -- he's tired of being a luthier, or he wants to get away from the complicated stuff, or IRs just aren't selling, or he's moving onto a different challenge, or any combination of the above, etc. etc.

I've got my fingers crossed that one of his IR tenors is out there looking for a new home!

Edited by - un5trung on 08/03/2011 20:01:37

jbalch - Posted - 08/04/2011:  04:43:21

Bart has said he will completely retire from making banjos after number 4,000.  His website says that he is now up to serial number 3550. Also, looking at the website, he made 12 banjos a month in 2010.  At that rate, he will reach the target in late 2014 (after 32 years of banjo building....). 

Bart officially discontinued his IR banjos a few years ago.  However, he as made a very small number of them from time-to-time in the past few years. If he says this is the last one...I'd take him at his word.

I assume it takes a good bit more labor to make an internal resonator than a plain rim banjo. Also, I think the demand for IR banjos is limited. I bet Bart made an economic decision a few years ago...that he was not able to charge enough for these to pay for the extra time and labor. 

Edited by - jbalch on 08/04/2011 04:50:03

blanham - Posted - 08/04/2011:  05:21:15

I've noticed he has streamlined production in other small ways, too.  For example on some models, the edge of the rim may be painted black instead of capped with wood, and the 5th fret inlay may be a dot rather than a star.  They're still great banjos, with high quality hardware, but he's winding it down.

bluemule_77 - Posted - 08/04/2011:  05:30:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by blanham

I've noticed he has streamlined production in other small ways, too.  For example on some models, the edge of the rim may be painted black instead of capped with wood, and the 5th fret inlay may be a dot rather than a star.  They're still great banjos, with high quality hardware, but he's winding it down.

---

I'm not sure that's a sign of winding down... I think these have always been features that distinguished different models along the price line.

I once owned a beauty of a Bart Reiter IR banjo.  Wish I still had it, though I am very pleased with its successor as well.

Brian

dbrooks - Posted - 08/04/2011:  06:51:45

Thanks for posting this,John.  I'd  be really tempted but I love my Reiter Regent A-scale.  Now if this were an A-scale. . . . .

David

pgroff - Posted - 08/04/2011:  06:59:52

un5strung,

Back in 2008 John Liestman had a Reiter IR (internal resonator) tenor banjo for sale.  I recommended to John that he advertise it here on the banjo hangout . . . he did, and promptly sold it.  At that time, John thought that this tenor was one of a batch of three IR tenors that Bart had made.  However, when I wrote Bart about it, he replied "I do remember making one tenor banjo, but not three."

So, you might be looking for a very rare bird!

I do have an original Bacon Professional 2 tenor from the 1920s in really nice condition that I can sell you if you would consider an IR tenor that's not a Reiter.

Paul Groff, Miami FL

quote:

---

Originally posted by un5trung



The passing of an era! I like the Reiter professional -- great sound and balance. John do you know why Bart is moving away from IR banjos? Could be any number of things -- he's tired of being a luthier, or he wants to get away from the complicated stuff, or IRs just aren't selling, or he's moving onto a different challenge, or any combination of the above, etc. etc.

I've got my fingers crossed that one of his IR tenors is out there looking for a new home!

---

Edited by - pgroff on 08/04/2011 07:02:14

RWJones1970 - Posted - 08/04/2011:  08:48:44

I hear you David. Has anyone ever seen a Reiter A-scale IR banjo?

Edited by - RWJones1970 on 08/04/2011 08:50:01

jbalch - Posted - 08/04/2011:  14:07:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by RWJones1970



I hear you David. Has anyone ever seen a Reiter A-scale IR banjo?

---

 My fancy 2006 Grand Concert is a custom "true" a-scale.  I assume any A-scale IR banjos would be custom...and probably rare.

dbrooks - Posted - 08/04/2011:  15:05:31

John, I had forgotten that your Grand Concert was an A-scale.  How sweet!

David

jbalch - Posted - 08/04/2011:  17:44:25

David:

I said it was from 2006.  That is the Galax-plus,  The A-scale Grand Concert is from 1994.

When I ordered my Grand Concert, Bart told me it would be part of the last batch of true a-scale banjos that he would make. At the time, he was making the truss rods to a custom length to accommodate the "true" a-scale neck.   

In fact, he dropped the a-scale from his line until several years later when he came out with a slightly longer a-scale banjo using an off-the-shelf guitar truss-rod.

frquent flyer - Posted - 08/09/2011:  11:20:45

What is a resonable price to pay for that Reiter Pro,slightly used?

un5trung - Posted - 08/09/2011:  11:33:06

I bought mine four years ago for $900, but it does not have the heel carving that some do. Is that price representative? No idea. I --

jbalch - Posted - 08/11/2011:  06:47:16

$900 was an extremely low price.  Consider the extra cost (time) to build one of these compared to a regular rim open-back. 

I think back when these were readily available, the retail price averaged around $1200. 

But, I also think the demand for internal resonator banjos is limited.  When Bart produced them on a regular basis, the price was probably too low...because there was plenty of supply relative to the sporadic demand. 

It will be very interesting to see if anyone else picks up the mantle and decides to build these.  If another current builder did decide to do that, I'd bet the the cost will have to be a good bit higher than what Bart traditionally charged. 

r.graff - Posted - 08/11/2011:  07:21:10

Bart's friend Mike Ramsey makes one,in A scale as a 10-24,nice piece.

jbalch - Posted - 08/12/2011:  15:10:58

quote:

---

Originally posted by r.graff

Bart's friend Mike Ramsey makes one,in A scale as a 10-24,nice piece.

---

 You are right!  I know that Mike Ramsey has made some of these.  Do you have any idea what he would charge to build one?

I also know that Hugo Valcke has built a few IR banjos (hugovalcke.be/intro.htm).  Dave Ball has done so too (ballbanjos.com/).

I don't think any of these folks build very many. I'm also sure that most of the banjos the do build are custom,  unique and quite special!  I'm sure they are awesome instruments.   I'd also bet that the cost to order one would be much higher than the prices Bart used to charge for his IR models.

un5trung - Posted - 08/12/2011:  16:21:00

Doc Huff builds IR banjos:

docsbanjos.com/

docsbanjos.com/banjos/available/115/

He doesn't make many banjos and only a few are IR.  

jbalch - Posted - 08/13/2011:  05:14:28

That is a very nice looking custom banjo from Doc Huff.  I bet it sounds great too.

Like the others from Mike Ramsey, H. Valcke, and Dave Ball, it is a custom instrument and not really a Bacon-style internal resonator banjo.  And like I suspected, the $2800 price tag is a lot higher than what Bart traditionally got for his IR banjos.

I'm not saying these custom IR banjos are not worth the money. On the contrary,  I'm sure they are.  I am really just pointing out what an incredible good value Bart's IR banjos were when they were in regular production.

The auction for this final Reiter IR banjo ends tonight...best wishes to the bidders!

Edited by - jbalch on 08/13/2011 05:14:46

un5trung - Posted - 08/13/2011:  06:54:29

Agreed John -- Barts is a production instrument and the others might be described as "boutique.". I'll tell you what I think of Docs when I get mine -- he is making me an IR cello, due in October.

Here is another non-FF IR, a guitar-banjo ca. 1920:
musurgia.com/products.asp?Prod...328122011

I never saw the point of the guitar-banjo. That being said I regularly play a mandolin-banjo, so go figure!

jbalch - Posted - 08/13/2011:  10:19:37

be sure to let us know what your think of the cello-banjo when it arrives! 

pastorharry - Posted - 08/13/2011:  12:04:44

41 bids....1,525.00.....5 hrs. 15 min. to go.  tick....tick.....

pastorharry - Posted - 08/13/2011:  19:00:57

SOLD 1525.00

jbalch - Posted - 08/14/2011:  06:47:24

I think that is the upper end of the range for one like this. 

As it should be:  A good yield for Bart...and a very cool piece of playable history for the buyer. 

Edited by - jbalch on 08/14/2011 06:52:13

Charley Noble - Posted - 08/14/2011:  08:14:03

Happy to hear that Bart's banjo got such a good price in this market on e-Bay. I used to hang out at Elderly Instruments in the 1970's and admired the banjos he was producing then. There's no substitute for a dedicated craftsman.

Quartermaster James - Posted - 12/15/2011:  10:50:04

Do we know how many IR banjos Bart made?

DCM_Dan - Posted - 12/15/2011:  22:56:49

Not to mention there are two examples for sale here on our own BHO classifieds:

banjohangout.org/classified/25583

and

banjohangout.org/classified/25361