banjo5string - Posted - 05/01/2013:  13:08:54

If you can find one in the same condition for 5K, I say buy it.......

Edited by - banjo5string on 05/01/2013 13:09:32

BanjoLink - Posted - 05/01/2013:  13:14:42

As far as the re-issues, as per Mike Halloran (early 70's), as I remember seeing them then.  Although I am not sure how many they made that early (as per the '70 catalog), I know at least one music store that had one.  I don't know if they were made before one of their dealers ordered them or not, but there were not very many.  I am thinking that the entire run did not exceed 75 or 100 instruments  -  maybe much less.  I have not opened mine up fro a while.  I think maybe it was either 37 or 73.  I'll look tonight and see.

Oldtwanger - Posted - 05/01/2013:  15:00:25

quote:

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Originally posted by DHutchens

 

The banjo belonged for many years to Bill "Two Ton" Bryson.  The serial number is from a very reliable source, 9947 - 2.  It was in very very bad condition when it was sold to MAC JUSTICE who had Richelau to do some attempt at restoration... I have not seen the banjo so I cannot say what was or was not done.  But it was a single piece flange flathead...the peghead and fingerboard appeared on the old "Pickin" poster and there was a full page story with pictures in the Philadelphia Bulletin Newspaper in the late 60's.

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f5loar - Posted - 05/01/2013:  16:27:53

Now who is it that has a 70's AA for $5000?  I can't find it on the web.  Already sold?   I can't believe they made a 100 of these in the 70's.  Maybe 50 and that's stretching it.

Edited by - f5loar on 05/01/2013 16:28:30

BanjoLink - Posted - 05/01/2013:  17:09:56

quote:

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Originally posted by f5loar

 

Now who is it that has a 70's AA for $5000?  I can't find it on the web.  Already sold?   I can't believe they made a 100 of these in the 70's.  Maybe 50 and that's stretching it.

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I am not sure anyone really knows - certainly not Gibson, but 100 does seem like a lot.  I'm going to look and see if my label gives me a hint - assuming they numbered them consecutively.

BanjoLink - Posted - 05/01/2013:  18:14:19

Tom - just looked mine up - #40, but there is no clue as to when it was made. For some reason I am thinking it was letter in the 70's, so a guess of closer to 50 may be close.  Maybe someone with a later serial number will know when theirs was made.  I too would like to know if someone has one for 5k. 

banjo.A - Posted - 05/03/2013:  22:15:44

I believe they made less than 50 and they may have been numbered with the Florentines, so half or less of the 50 could be All Americans and the other half or less could be Florentines. So lets say for example numbers 14, 15, 16, and 17 were Florentines and 18, 19 and 20 could have been All Americans. So that would mean half or less of the 50 would be All Americans. Adam...

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/03/2013:  22:19:05

And some of those were tenors.... and maybe plectrums? so very few AA 5 strings exist pre OR post war... Also, wonder how they made the repop fingerboards.. I always heard that they used one of the PW's as a model.. but wonder who did them? ...were they pretty accurate as far as the actual work went? Never saw a PW AA up close....

Oldtwanger - Posted - 05/04/2013:  05:30:20

quote:

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Originally posted by bbanjoboy

 

And some of those were tenors.... and maybe plectrums? so very few AA 5 strings exist pre OR post war... Also, wonder how they made the repop fingerboards.. I always heard that they used one of the PW's as a model.. but wonder who did them? ...were they pretty accurate as far as the actual work went? Never saw a PW AA up close....

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TB-AA 9747-3 is a pristine unplayed original tenor All-American.  I understand it was loaned to Gibson for development of the reissue series All Americans.



Attached pdf is a scan that I made of the original April 13, 1972 Gibson drawing when it was in my possession.



 

Edited by - Oldtwanger on 05/04/2013 05:39:09

RB-AA reissue drawing

bobsvp - Posted - 05/04/2013:  06:11:04

Thank you Oldtwanger for the drawing. As a architect I enjoy viewing hand drawings. It has become a lost talent.
Bob.

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/04/2013:  07:27:53

That's really cool.. You know, I've always wondered about these re-issue AA's.. I never will understand how Gibson came upon the idea to reissue the AA's in the 70's but make them with such 'crappy' components.... I mean, they went to extreme lengths to get the look down .. even getting an original on loan to copy exactly.. But it seems like they just didnt' care about the pieces they were using.. the AA down at SMG has a three piece neck..? Really? I mean when they studied the PW, they got the front of the fingerboard perfect, but didnt' notice that the back of the neck was made with a single piece of wood? How strange......

The Old Timer - Posted - 05/04/2013:  08:04:05

Here's a photo of a re-issue 5 string I took at a bluegrass festival in the 1970s in Delaware or Pennsylvania, can't remember exactly which. Note the price!

mid 70s Gibson All American reissue back

mid 1970s new Gibson All American reissue

banjo5string - Posted - 05/04/2013:  09:28:07

What cost $2995 in 1975 would cost $12606.05 in 2012.    

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/04/2013:  10:37:24

I never really did get that..'adjustment for inflation' way of thinking..

I've always tended to judge pricing by gold or silver prices.. that's more 'real' than anything our governments can come up with.. for example inflation was basically non-existant before Roosevelt took us off of the gold standard.. Nixon finished us off when he took silver out of our coinage, and now Obama is printing trillions.. so I'm not sure what the actual price of the banjo 'should be'.. but I can tell you this.. 2000 years ago, a 1963 dime's worth of silver would purchase a loaf of bread, and it still will today... with change left over.. just my '2 cents' for whatever it's worth.....

jonfinder - Posted - 05/04/2013:  11:20:11

Coinage lost its silver content in 1965. The last year that you'll find silver in a dime or quarter is 1964.  1965 and later coinage is copper-nickel. The president in 1964 was Lyndon Baines Johnson.  Now we may  return to our regularly scheduled discussion of banjos...

banjo5string - Posted - 05/04/2013:  12:13:52

I'm still looking for one in excellent condition for 5K, but no luck yet. If you happen to find one, please let me know. I'll buy it.

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/04/2013:  14:41:01

Pioneer had that one for five but it was years ago

DHutchens - Posted - 05/04/2013:  16:42:31

:)

DHutchens - Posted - 05/04/2013:  17:10:21

>>>>>>I never will understand how Gibson came upon the idea to reissue the AA's in the 70's but make them with such 'crappy' components

They used the components of the day...and of that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were good..... Hindsight is sometimes 20-20..... Sometimes its not.....

That is why Greg Rich and I talked time and time again ...........yes or no........... about making changes in the reissue's in 1987...... Before coming to the realization that Folks were tired or the "new and improved".... so we did things as close as humanly possible with 1987 technology and resources at hand......

jonfinder - Posted - 05/19/2013:  18:07:12

Interestingly Gruhn now shows an All American (1970) for sale for $8K.

gruhn.com

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/19/2013:  18:17:53

Well, when I said "crappy" components, what I was referring to was the multi ply rim and the multi piece neck.. Those were things that you would have thought would have been addressed and made to be more like the originals. There was so much work done on the appearance, that the rim and neck construction, you would think, would have been a no brainer. I'm not referring to the ring, or any metal parts available at the time, only the wood. Surely the neck could have been made from a single piece of wood in the 70's.. even if they felt the multi pieces were superior, evidently someone cared enough to replicate the look of the things from the 30's... just seems strange to me.