There's a Sullivan Festival for sale on BHO's sister site--Banjo Buyer.
banjobuyer.com/banjo/100145
I've been looking at Sullivan banjos mostly in the 2K range. This one is $1400. Anyone know why this seems to be such a good deal. It doesn't have fancy inlays, but besides that.....
Definitely a plain Jane with dot inlay, dark binding, and finish peeling off the headstock would be my guess. Built with good stuff, but not very attractive. That headstock finish will need repair.
festivals were marketed as plain jane looks but top notch sound parts-
dressed to party was their slogan
this was when i was building my flathead and told them I needed an extra wide finger board so I would not have to deal with binding during refretting or even in the build--and that i was going for clumsy builder specs --dot inlays nothing on peghead etc.--but that I wanted the best rim ring etc.---I kinda wonderd if that got Bill thinking-he loved his work
first I had seen of this sister site thanks
Edited by - Tractor1 on 09/27/2023 06:06:07
The "sister site" just scrapes the BHO classifieds and reposts them in a different format. Same owner and everything.
The actual listing is on BHO Marketplace at the link below: banjohangout.org/classified/100145
That's probably the best deal on a US-made banjo I've seen in a long time. It's basically an RB-250 with different color lipstick.
Yep, that's what I meant by sister site. It's easier there to scan classified than going through the Hangout, where I often get distracted by the forums...
Anyhow, saying it is basically an RB-250 -- well, it's maple and I think I'm (mainly) looking for mahogany, but do you know what tone ring it has? And why is it so inexpensive compared to other Sullivans (several of which slipped through my fingers while I'm trying to sell a like new Martin D-35?) It can't just be the inlays, but I can't find any info about it.
Thx
Alan
I imagine that a lot of the cost savings is due to the condition, peghead finish issues. Even without damage, I've seen Festival Deluxe banjos with the nicer inlay go for around $2000. They've always been very affordable banjos.
probably their regular flathead --you could ask them
