A friend of mine has a Epihone mb350 with proffessional set up willing to sell at 600$us, is it worth it? could’nt find the info concerning the tone ring, or the pot construction and can’t see or try the banjo before buying. Any opinion about this banjo.
Rob
I think this might be a fancy version of the MB250 so I guess with the same ring and tone ring.
If it’s the quivalent of a mb-250 does the mb-250 woth the asking price?
It's a gold-plated version of the MB-250. $600 is not a "make-me-buy-it" price but it's a fair price. There is no reason to believe the components are any better than the MB-250. Gibson(or Epiphone) does not manufacture these. They have been made under contract in various Asian factories.
Personally I don't think $600 is great. Now if it were an MB 500 (also gold plated) then it would be a good buy.
If you do buy it at $600 it better have a real good hard case...
Robert, I bought an MB250 Epiphone about six weeks ago (all walnut) and love it. Check out Dave Hum playing "Cold frosty morning" on his Epiphone or click on this link:youtube.com/watch?v=c0U...rt_radio=1
Edited by - flyingsquirrelinlay on 03/09/2021 09:03:34
I agree with the opinions on price. $400 or less seems like a reasonable price for the MB-250. How much more is a 350's "gold" hardware and curly maple resonator veneer worth?
Can you get it for $475? Or offer that and get it for $525? At those prices, there's nothing else new or used that compares. At $600, you're close to the occasional RK-35. Though these tend to go for more since the price on new ones reached $1150. Still, there's an eBay seller who routinely has RK 35 and 36 with various cosmetic issues for $600 or less. The problems sometimes look bad but are not fatal.
Not saying you should get one of those. Just putting something behind the opinion that $600 may be borderline high.
And of course we could be wrong.
Good luck.
Robert, a few more thoughts hoping I don't offend anybody. You said he's a friend of yours: Why cant you see the banjo. Is he so far away that he can't send you an MP3 or does he lack the wherewithal to produce a sound clip - my usual problem.
As for price, this is the greatest variable: Supply and demand, market forces, rarity etc blahblahblah. Talk to your friend, is there a hardshell case included, replacement strings, strap, picks etc. I think the Epiphones from the 1980s COULD be bargains, but not always. Again, talk to your friend, make an offer, listen to Dave Hum's Epiphone (I don't know how old), find a place to compromise. Good luck!
Edited by - flyingsquirrelinlay on 03/09/2021 10:05:22
Thanks David, he is in Vanvouver, i’m in Quebec. He sent me an MP3, but that is quite different having a banjo in my hand! On the advice i recived i offered him 475$, waiting for a reply.
I would have love to get an rk 35 or even better an rk 36, but it seem their price are gone up quite a lit on the used market, they are now selling around 900$ used.
Robert listen to the Dave Hum stuff.
I did but there’s a bit too much post processing in his clip to valorize the sound of the banjo wich even sound a bit muffled by all this.
A 2010 gibson rb just pop up on some online classified asking 950$, if it’s a full tone rimg that might be something interesting?
quote:
Originally posted by BachibouzoucA 2010 gibson rb just pop up on some online classified asking 950$, if it’s a full tone rimg that might be something interesting?
From the factory the RB did not have a tone ring. It was like the post-war RB-100, with only a hoop style tone ring.
2010 would be the very end. I thought the last banjos were actually built in fall of '09 and Gibson had already stopped long before the flood.
Just foud out about the hoop, on the other side it seem to have a 3 ply maple rim, wonder if it sound better than the cheaper chinese mastertone copy with multyply pot but with a fuller tone ring?
My MB-250 has an 18 hole brass tone ring with a 5/8 multi ply rim. Took a lot of tweaking to get this in shape(chinese made) but all said and done it is a pretty decent banjo. I've seen the 350 go as high as a $1000 but realistically $400 to $600 is about average.
Still wondering if the epiphone 350 wich i’m looking at, that looks exactly as a IIda 239, or many other made in japan banjo from the ‘70s, is actually a better banjo than thoses with higer build standard under epiphone spec, or if it’s the other way around. So in short is a chinese epiphone mb350, better than an identical lookong lida from the 70’s
Mark, ditto my Epiphone 250, and resonator and neck are walnut. A lovely great sounding banjo for half-a-grand. Probably the "smartest" banjo purchase I've made.
Robert, did you buy the banjo?
