Sean ONeel - Posted - 05/10/2017:  21:58:19

I never will forget seeing the cover of Bob Gibson's "I Come For to Sing" album for the first time. I always loved the Vega Pete Seeger but this was so different that it really caught my fancy. Custom made long necks from the Vega shop BEFORE there was an official Pete Seeger model.

I wanted one...badly. A few years back I got Dan Pennington to build one for me on a 1925 Tubaphone pot. I got a '62 Folklore and Dan did the inlays, etc. It was a fine banjo which I enjoyed.

But it wasn't long after that my hands started hurting...and my brain started hurting. I did the unthinkable: I stopped playing music and I sold the banjo I had wanted for years.

Fast forward to late 2016: I finally had myself together again and started playing my guitar and I purchased another banjo. Of course I got the long neck bug again. I bought a neck and put it on the Alvarez pot I had.

I started looking around and I had heard that Mark Hickler was making necks. I contacted Mark and spec'ed out a neck which originally was going to be like a regular Seeger. I tortured Mark with my OCD. Originally I thought I was going to do two necks...the Seeger and another "Bobby." As it turned out I was only going to do one...and so the project was shifted to Bobby.

I changed pots a few times and it wasn't until I got Vega #100029...the 8th Vega made in 1960 and one of the last Tubaphones to have 28 brackets. I knew this was the one. i PROMISED Mark that this was the one.

Monday I received the completed project. It looks just right and it plays better than any banjo I have ever owned. Plus it is beautiful. This banjo is SO cool that today I was just noodling and stumbled on an upbeat tune. Then I realized I had started playing Charlie Parker's Ornithology. On the banjo!

I cannot say enough about how cool this banjo is...and I absolutely cannot say enough nice things about Mark Hickler. He is patient, communicative, conscientious...and he does BEAUTIFUL work!

I Come For To Sing

Neck to rim lacquer match

The flame!

THE FIRST Bob Gibson Tribute from 2012

Inside the pot

Action...

The heel

Full Frontal

Vintage 5 string Kershner tailpiece

Neck back angle

Peghead front

Peghead obverse

Peggy Seeger with her ཱི

The banjo...

mainejohn - Posted - 05/11/2017:  05:33:55

Stunning! I heard Bob play his in person on two occasions in the early 60's. I loved his music and banjo style and to see yours harks back to that great era.

Bob Gibson w/early Vega longneck

 

mikehalloran - Posted - 05/11/2017:  06:43:07

That's so cool!

john bange - Posted - 05/11/2017:  06:48:20

love it

Emiel - Posted - 05/11/2017:  09:16:58

Very cool!

Joe Connor - Posted - 05/11/2017:  12:34:44

It's a shame that Bob Gibson is almost forgotten today. By all rights, he should have been a star in the folk revival of the late '50s/early '60s.

This link is to Gibson singing a sad song that Shel Silverstein wrote about Gibson and his career. 

youtube.com/watch?v=69AkBFXN-p0

Sean ONeel - Posted - 05/11/2017:  12:56:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joe Connor

 

It's a shame that Bob Gibson is almost forgotten today. By all rights, he should have been a star in the folk revival of the late '50s/early '60s.

This link is to Gibson singing a sad song that Shel Silverstein wrote about Gibson and his career. 

youtube.com/watch?v=69AkBFXN-p0

---

You should read "I Come For To Sing." It was not until many years after the Folk Scare that Bob kicked all of his substance problems. By his own admission Bob sabotaged nearly all of his biggest opportunities. He believed that he could not have handled stardom.

kwfolk1 - Posted - 05/11/2017:  13:32:24

Nea!

kwfolk1 - Posted - 05/11/2017:  13:35:18

When it comes to influences, Bob comes in a close second to Pete in my book!

Chris