Hi!
This is my first post here, so don't judge me too harshly if something is wrong.
For a better understanding, I will first try to describe the situation in general terms.
Historically, in the country where I live (Russia), Country and Bluegrass music is not very popular, to put it mildly.
Naturally, the same goes for the musical instruments on which this music is traditionally played, so finding the right bluegrass banjo, with the right construction and made of good components is very difficult here.
Music brand dealers don't carry such instruments, as they likely won't be in demand and won't sell quickly or well in dealer network stores.
Therefore, the vast majority of banjos sold here are numerous cheap Chinese banjos that resemble real bluegrass banjos only in appearance.
There is also a segment of vintage Japanese instruments - there are people and firms specializing in buying instruments from Japanese auctions, but this is a separate segment.
However, sometimes on the secondary market there are more serious instruments that someone bought in the USA and brought here, or if someone just somehow got the instrument (found it from relatives, gave it as a gift, etc.).
Mostly they are also inexpensive instruments, usually from well-known brands in the world music industry (Fender, Ibanez, Washburn), but sometimes there are also inexpensive models from well-known banjo makers (Deering, Recording King).
Of course, there are people in our country who play vintage banjos from Gibson or other American instruments from respected manufacturers, but as a rule they are professional musicians who make a living playing these instruments and are ready to order instruments through their contacts in the USA or directly from manufacturers.
Now closer to the question:
Last week, on an ad site (our ebay/craigslist counterpart), I saw quite one ad for the sale of a banjo that has all the hallmarks of a real bluegrass banjo and looks very similar to the top models of Recording King, however, I have never come across the brand indicated by the seller in the ad, where it was written: “ «Flagship» banjo”.
There were only a few not-so-good photos in the ad, so I asked the seller to take a few more pictures and what was my surprise when I saw all the signs of an RK banjo in the photo, including the case, but it really said "FLAGSHIP" on the headstock.
The seller is located in the far east of my country, very close to the border with China and Japan, he said that he owns a small music store and this banjo was brought from Harbin (China) more than 10 years ago and has been in the store all this time. Since there were no people willing to buy a banjo in his city during this time, he decided to place an ad for sale on the Internet.
This, of course, looked like some kind of adventure, but the price the seller requested was quite low (about $ 200 including shipping across the country), so I decided to take a chance.
The banjo was delivered yesterday, the first thing I did was take off the resonator and, as expected, I saw a sticker typical of an RK banjo, however, it was obvious that someone was clearly trying to get rid of it.
All the signs, such as gold hardware, engraving pattern, Gotoh tuners, patterns on the neck head and inlays on the fingerboard as well as the remnants of information on the sticker - all indicate that this is the Recording King RK-R97-SN Artist Deluxe model with serial number 0075.
But with one important nuance - for some reason someone replaced the block with the manufacturer's logo with the inscription "FLAGSHIP".
By the way, the inscription itself, although it does not match very well in terms of font, is made quite qualitatively - in a mother-of-pearl insert and under a layer of varnish, in general, it seems that all this was done in factory conditions.
The banjo itself is assembled well and gives the impression of a high-quality product. I already have an RK-R35 banjo, so I have a good idea of what the components from RK should look like.
I did some research on the Internet, aware of this story with unauthorized sold/stolen parts of the RK and the Flinthill banjos, but I could not find absolutely any information about at least one instrument under the "FLAGSHIP" brand.
Maybe it's some kind of individual project from someone who had access to these parts or B-stock parts, or some kind of internal project. In this regard, I would appreciate any guesses about the origin of this banjo.
I am attaching several photos to this post, more photos can be viewed on my google drive folder:
drive.google.com/drive/folders...p=sharing
But, anyway, I think that a good looking solid bluegrass banjo made of high-quality parts, with a real full-weight tone ring, for $ 200 is a pretty good purchase and addition to my humble banjo collection.
--
Alex
Edited by - kas on 12/12/2024 01:01:19
Despite the name change on the headstock, That is in my opinion is a RK-97 , and if you only paid $200.00 for it that is a hell of a deal !!! Set up properly it will play with the best of them. I have one of very few RK-R99SN models and it is the top model made during the same time period. Great banjos and beautiful also. Hell, the case alone is worth 1/2 of what you paid. Great buy!!!
One person that may chime in here that knows more about these than anyone is Scott Zimmerman ( BHO member Dessert Rose ) who worked for RK. He would probably know. Slammer!!!
Edited by - slammer on 12/12/2024 04:43:29
I'm pretty sure I've seen a few RKs with a different name in the pearl block. Maybe a limited run for some distributor?
In any case congratulations on the great deal!
An excelllent deal! If you can get on facebook, Greg Rich is on there, he owns part of recording king and designed these banjos maybe even worked on yours. He’s very responsive and a great guy so reach out to him about your banjo! https://www.facebook.com/greg.rich.56?
Congratulations. You bought a US-designed, Chinese-made, professional grade banjo for 20% (or less) of its actual resale value elsewhere in the world.
My GUESS is this banjo -- in whole or in pieces -- was among the instruments allegedly stolen 15 or so years ago from the factory that was making Recording King banjos. As I recall, we here only heard of the Finthill branded copies.
I believe it was some time later that Recording King moved banjo production to its own facility.
You're right about the name block. Even on the Recording King banjos, the name was not an inlay. It was a paper-thin pearl rectangle with the Recording King name cut out. It was affixed to the peghead so dark showed through the letters and then buried in thick finish. I'm GUESSING either someone removed and replaced the Recording King block on this one, or it never had a name block until FLAGSHIP.
You did good. Enjoy.
Thank you all for your kind replies and congratulations!
I’m so happy!
The more time I spend with this instrument in my hands, the more I am convinced that this is a truly excellent banjo.
Did a basic setup today - cleaning, adjusting the neck/action, head tension, changed the strings and now it feels and plays just fine.
I compared it to my R-35 and the new banjo definitely sounds brighter, it has more “sparkly” tone, very gentle in the lower range while 35 seems to me to have more “body” in the lower-mids.
Can’t wait to check them both with full band at the rehearsal next week!
quote:
Originally posted by kylebAn excelllent deal! If you can get on facebook, Greg Rich is on there, he owns part of recording king and designed these banjos maybe even worked on yours. He’s very responsive and a great guy so reach out to him about your banjo! https://www.facebook.com/greg.rich.56?
Well, now Facebook is some kind of "banned" social network here and it's might be hard to get the access without good VPN, but of course I will try to reach Greg there or via other platforms.
I watched a lot of his videos when I first got into banjo, so I know him as one of the most knowledgeable people in the field.
Thank you for your kind advice!
Greg Rich is "Grich" here on BHO. If you want to contact him,
you could try sending him a message through the Hangout.
Hello
You definitely got a factory original Recording King banjo
We had about 300 stolen from our factory in China and most ended up as Flinthill yours is something I haven't seen before. Buts it's definitely 100%
quote:
Originally posted by grichHello
You definitely got a factory original Recording King banjo
We had about 300 stolen from our factory in China and most ended up as Flinthill yours is something I haven't seen before. Buts it's definitely 100%
Greg, thank you very much for your reply in this topic, it really means a lot to me.
At the moment I have a double feeling - on the one hand I am happy and joyful, because I managed to get a high-class instrument from a manufacturer I respect at a super bargain price, on the other hand, I have a slight feeling of guilt towards RK, because this whole story with the stolen batch of instruments is probably not very pleasant for you.
In this regard, I think I can indirectly support the manufacturer by playing this banjo well, so that people will ask what is this beautiful instrument that sounds and looks so good.
And then I'll say that it's a real Recording King, despite that lettering on the head of the fingerboard, which shouldn't be there at all.
I was planning on buying an RK Elite 75/76 sometime in the future.
Given the circumstances, I'll probably hold off on that purchase for a while, but I'll for sure buy “one more banjo” in the future and i'm quite sure it will be from RK.
