I've seen many Gibson Granada tenor banjos recently from 1925 and they seen to not have a consistent pattern on the back of the head stock.
Some have the flower (?) pattern and some have none.
I've attached 2 pictures, one of each type.
Does anyone know the reason for this discrepancy?
Thanks!
Luke Lastelick
Is it possible the one with the "flower" is not a Granada, but a style 5 or 6 ? All gold banjos are not Granadas.
On the left is a Style 5
The earliest Granada's had this wood inlay on the back of the peghead , also featured a purfling with elongated diamonds. The wood inlay of the same shape was also on 5's but was a different color scheme, and was featured on the five for the remainder of production of that style..
Edited by - DHutchens on 02/02/2023 07:00:01
What Doug said. I guess perhaps Gibson was trying to establish some kind of a "motif" in their gold plated models (Granada and 5 DeLuxe) and thought the inlays in the back of the peghead would be it? They dropped it fairly quickly on Granada within 1925, figuring probably it was better to keep the 2 models distinct (and Granada less costly to make).
And as Doug said, in early 1925 the marquetry in the resonator and under the white fingerboard binding wasn't tan with black rectangles, it was tan with tiny black diamonds. A nice point to look for in a 1925 Granada.
Add in resonator hex head thumbscrew being drilled and threaded through the flange metal, the "MASTERTONE" in the peghead, and shotgun skirt on the BB tone ring and you have a bunch of telltales for 1925 Mastertones.
Go to Greg Earnest's website to see all these points.
Edited by - The Old Timer on 02/02/2023 10:13:13
quote:
Originally posted by ChunoTheDogOn the left is a Style 5
My error, the purfling behind the clover leaf pattern looked dark green on my tiny phone screen
Interesting my old 25 granada tenor neck has the woodwork pattern on the back of the headstock. I was told by someone that it was probably a floor sweep of sorts from a style 5 Nice to know it maybe all correct Dont know if mine is an "early" one or not the serial # is 8133-1 The neck has the elongated diamond purflings also.
also on my '25 granada the resonator screws are the more normal rounded ones with the knurled outer edge not the hex heads I had a ball bearing 3 that had the hex heads .
hey lastelick
