What makes a Special?

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Ramsey Banjo Owners

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A group for those who own one of Mike Ramsey's wonderful banjos!

165 Members, Created 10/28/2011 -

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From Dan9000 on 2/20/2024 8:03:04 PM

There is a banjo listed in the marketplace as a Special but it doesn't have the Saturn inlay on the head that I associate with those. So what makes a Special, special?

3 Comments
	ZEPP says: 2/21/2024 3:45:59 AM Originally, Mike's Standard model used a then-less-expensive mahogany neck and a black-painted pot, while the Special had a maple neck and a figured maple veneer on the pot to match the neck. When mahogany became more expensive than maple, each model share the same woods, except the Standard's pot remained black-painted, while the Special retain its figured maple veneer. Essentially, if it's a Special, it has that figured maple veneered pot to match the neck. Bear in mind that Mike made many one-offs according to whim, time constraints, and materials' availability, so assigning a model name can get tricky...
Dan9000 says: 2/21/2024 7:57:41 PM Thanks ZEPP! What distinguishes a Chanterelle Special?
	ZEPP says: 2/22/2024 6:00:59 AM The biggest thing is its natural, figured maple veneer on the pot, along with the rolled brass tone ring (shared with the Standard, the Student, and the Amish...and probably a few others that came and went). Again, though Mike played fast and loose with specs. E.g. his earliest Student model started with a one-piece maple neck, the same pot as a Standard, but non-painted, and having a rosewood fingerboard with cheap, store-bought inlays. When he ran out of the one-piece-not-needed-by-Gibson necks he got on the cheap from Bill Sullivan, he switched to his usual 3-piece necks. When rosewood prices went up, he switched to ebony fingerboard & overlays. The Student retained its rolled brass tone ring, so essentially it ended up as a non-pot-painted Standard, but with cheap, store-bought inlays...not really a lot of cost/labor savings there!
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