A friend of mine has a reissue RB-3. He cringes when someone refers to it as a reissue - as I just did. I say relax - Gibson made an RB-3 during the prewar period and simply started making the banjo again. It is a Gibson RB-3, not a reissue, but different year of make.
Which made me think…
Of the Gibson banjos, could one say that the RB-250 was always an RB-250, not a copy or reissue, but a basic workhorse banjo that evolved over the years and was always a true original - not a reissue?
Thoughts?
Thanks!
A reissue is a replica. A model that evolves (much like a car) is not a reissue. Today's Ford Mustang is not a reissue of the '64 Mustang. And a 2010 RB-250 is not a reissue of a 1950's RB-250.
The RB 250 has always been somewhat unique and "itself". Especially the bowtie version.
Post 1969 it was redesigned to look like it had some prewar features like the two piece flange, the early RB 3 plain resonator back with no concentric rings, a fiddle peghead and style 75 inlays. Still it didn't look "exactly" like anything that had come before. Not as original and unique as the bowtie Mastertone though.
Of course one could say the bowtie RB 250 looked like a tiny upgrade of the earlier RB 150 (with the addition of a bound peghead and a tone ring). But it didn't look any earlier Mastertone.
So I would tend to agree that the 250 in both guises, has been unique and "itself".
As were the two variants of the Earl Scruggs Standard model.
However, I do prefer the term "reissue" for the RB 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 18, Granada etc after 1987. Gibson really was trying to resurrect extinct models IMHO.
The RB250 was always the basic model Mastertone even though it evolved over time. So, there would be no reissue RB250. It stayed in production longer than any other banjo Gibson made but underwent many changes throughout its history. The 1970s model was a different banjo from the Bow Tie RB250, but it was still Gibson's basic Mastertone. For a while, it was the only Mastertone that Gibson made.
Gibson reissued the prewar models, but they never reissued the RB250 because they never stopped making it until they ceased production of all banjos. I have seen lots of copies of prewar Gibsons, but I have never seen a copy of an RB250 from the 1970's.
quote:
Originally posted by CullodenI have seen lots of copies of prewar Gibsons, but I have never seen a copy of an RB250 from the 1970's.
There were lots of them.
https://www.banjovault.com/banjo/105034
Edited by - Brian Murphy on 09/21/2024 06:29:17
quote:
Originally posted by CullodenThe RB250 was always the basic model Mastertone even though it evolved over time. So, there would be no reissue RB250. It stayed in production longer than any other banjo Gibson made but underwent many changes throughout its history.
Yes. To me this is the same as Fender, where the Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars and Precision and Jazz basses changed over time but never went out of production. Still, Fender did occasionally produce "reissues" of some of these instruments' historically significant or popular earlier versions that many players wanted but couldn't afford on the vintage market. I believe the various reissues (such as '57 Strat and '62 P-bass) featured neck profiles, electronics, and colors closer to the originals than Fender's then-current models.In this same way, while Gibson could not have literally reissued the RB-250 (since that model designation never went out of production), they very well could have produced in the 1990s or early 2000s a reissue Bowtie model Mastertone — had they felt there was any reason to.
Brian expressed this in fewer words: A reissue is a replica.
As to the OP's friend cringing at the 1990s or later RB-3 (a replica of a model from the 1920s and 30s) being called a "reissue" -- he should get over that.
quote:
Originally posted by Brian Murphyquote:
Originally posted by CullodenI have seen lots of copies of prewar Gibsons, but I have never seen a copy of an RB250 from the 1970's.
There were lots of them.
https://www.banjovault.com/banjo/105034
https://www.banjobuyer.com/banjo/26005
Touche. Asian banjo makers made all kinds of them.
I just haven't seen anyone copy a 250 from that era and put the Gibson name on it.
Newest Posts
'Good Saturday Morning' 39 min
'Rikard Dobson ring' 10 hrs
'Kalamazoo KRB' 11 hrs
'Radiused?' 13 hrs
'tone rings' 14 hrs
