Here are the pics... guess I didnt upload them right in the first post.

Looks like some glue on top of the binding. It wont hurt anything but I do understand, a new banjo shouldn't have issues like that. You can find a Gold Star for extremely reasonable prices (under 1500) and they are better than many instruments being produced new that cost twice that. There are also many good parts banjos out there that can be really great, you just need to play them first. Facebook has several groups for banjo sales that are worth looking at as well. As with anything, I recommend playing the instrument before you buy it to make sure it plays and sounds like you want it to.

Quality control took some time off … it appears. Good luck don’t give up there is some really good banjos in that price range . Don’t get discouraged.

If the Sullivan festival deluxe is still for sale , get that !! USA made, beautiful great condition

The goose acres is priced nicely as well, but to my eye sees a crack in the resonator not mentioned in ad, but I may just be seeing a glare

There are a couple of very nice banjos for sale here on the BHO marketplace. Of the banjos listed in your price range these two stand out. Of course one can never go wrong purchasing a Sullivan banjo. The Huber-Mullens banjo has a Huber pot with a Clancy Mullins neck. I have a Turtle Hill Woody built by Clancy and it is well executed. I also have a banjo with a Mullens-Mastertone conversion neck and I must say that Clancy Mullens necks are among the most comfortable I have played. The nut is a true 1-1/4” wide. I do not know the nut width of Sullivan banjos.

Both of the sellers of these banjos have a very good reputation here on BHO

banjohangout.org/classified/106706

banjohangout.org/classified/108157

That appears to be a production flaw resulting from bubbles in the resin. I would not accept that either. I would imagine that QC is suffering, as it is in everything new. Good luck.

Banjo should not have been released looking like that.

I think those imperfections can be scraped off with a razor blade. But you shouldn't have to do that on a new instrument. And it's possible the flaws are a bit deeper than the surface.

If you turn your attention to used, you're going to have to accept a wide range of flaws.

Good luck.

Take a look at UTE banjos, formerly OME. Great workmanship at half the price.

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnnySilver

Hey Ya'll

After I got my RK-75 from Guitar Center and returned it due to shipping damage, I talked them into sending me the Carl Jackson Signature for $1,799/ 48 month 0% interest. I got that banjo today and promptly returned it. It had some kind of weird holes along the neck (pics below)

Im not sure if Recording King has had a major slump in production quality, but I'm thinking I should entertain other manufacturers. Buying once more from GC is way down on the list just below no bleeping way after they refused email and phone communication over the Carl Jackson. That being said, I looking for new or used.

Starting to suffer from B.A.S., Ive looked at Huber, Hatfield and Stelling though so far on Stelling I get the impression they may not be in business anymore or perhaps I am transposing another manufacturer. I've also looked over some Deering models but some of the reviews leave me a little flat and for the higher price points I would probably go with one of the aforementioned manufacturers. That all being said Im looking to spend ~$2200 or less, mainly to save for something on the Huber, Hatfield or Stelling levels.

Thanks in advance for your help
Johnny

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Jens Kruger and Bela Fleck play Deerings...

My advice is to go to a store with many high quality banjos and try them all out to see what you like. You won't know until you try them.

And at that price point, I'd mostly look at used banjos. 

Marketplace.

Marketplace.

Oh, and the Marketplace.

Thank you all for the great suggestions, Ill definately be heading to Elderly Instruments soon to play a bunch of different ones. Im trying to navigate GC and just get my money back. I gave them one more chance and its the worst so far. . . Im going to double post due to the three image limitation. This is how the 2nd Recording King Carl Jackson arrived to me today. . .

I wonder if its a GC issue or a "political climate" issue, for arguments sake or lack thereof I am not taking a stance one way or the other on the political climate of our time. . . just curious.

Here are a few pics of the fret board, I could post more but you get the point.

Nothing at all wrong with that fretboard. Any dealer knows how to clean it up. Unless the binding was a surface issue that could also be cleaned up, I'd be sending it back, too. I'm an authorized RK and Gold Star dealer, BTW, and defects/sloppy cleanup etc. happens anf we catch things like that.

Quality control at any of the large mass-market retailers is simple: Did it fall out of the box between the time they received it and shipped it? Since the box is never opened and the instrument never inspected, the answer is always, No.

You bought it $300 under MAP and got "free shipping" included. Independent dealers who pay to have the instruments shipped (and that ain't cheap) before they open the box, inspect and set up before shipping to you have a difficult time making money with those margins.

I am not complaining, only explaining how things work these days.

Yes, a road trip to play banjos is certainly the right call.

quote:

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Originally posted by mikehalloran

Nothing at all wrong with that fretboard. Any dealer knows how to clean it up. Unless the binding was a surface issue that could also be cleaned up, I'd be sending it back, too. I'm an authorized RK and Gold Star dealer, BTW, and defects/sloppy cleanup etc. happens anf we catch things like that.

Quality control at any of the large mass-market retailers is simple: Did it fall out of the box between the time they received it and shipped it? Since the box is never opened and the instrument never inspected, the answer is always, No.

You bought it $300 under MAP and got "free shipping" included. Independent dealers who pay to have the instruments shipped (and that ain't cheap) before they open the box, inspect and set up before shipping to you have a difficult time making money with those margins.

I am not complaining, only explaining how things work these days.

Yes, a road trip to play banjos is certainly the right call.

I paid for the original shipping to have it sent over night being I am so stoked to play the banjo, in between not having one to play Ive stopped daily at a few shows that have some real dog banjos just to "practice", none of them would be ones I would actually buy. A few of them have the bridge dented into the head... Ive no idea why...

I totally understand the margins are super tight, I have/had a sales side hustle on Amazon. I'm fine with the recording king banjo and love the deal but I think the banjo should come better than they have. Someone had mentioned that they were epoxy bubbles and it could show up more as time goes on. IDK

Since your a Road King dealer and see tons of new banjos come through, I have a question about the fret board you can clear up. The pictures dont quite do it justice but they are essentially divots in the wood and the wood is missing from them. How would I or the dealer clean that up? Not asking in a smart *** way, as I reread what I am posting it sounds off due to textual limitations.

Ill get up to Elderly this upcomming weeked, I just aint driving hours into Michigan on Easter weekend... They say people drive like crazy, I say crazy drives like they are from Michigan lol

grich (Greg Rich of Recording King) is a member here. Maybe he'll see he's being paged and will have an opinion on your Carl Jackson.

Looks like that chip of red finish could be super-glued in place.

But you shouldn't have to do this with a new instrument.

To my eyes the fingerboard defects look like divots -- missing wood -- as you describe. I lack any knowledge to guess when and how they happened and if any person saw them before this banjo was packed for shipping. They can be filled. But that's something else that a new instrument shouldn't need.

There’s value in buying an instrument from a reputable dealer that will inspect and do light setup on the instrument before shipping it to you. That probably would’ve caught the flaws in these instruments.

I’ve bought instruments from GC before, and it turned out ok, but I checked the instruments in person. If I’m buying online, I prefer a reputable dealer that I trust to do inspection and offer returns.

You might not need to give up on Recording King yet. Maybe try a different source: Sweetwater, The Acoustic Shoppe, Banjo Ben are a few that come to mind — there might be others I’m missing. Local if you can, but that might not be an option.

quote:

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Originally posted by Old Hickory

grich (Greg Rich of Recording King) is a member here. Maybe he'll see he's being paged and will have an opinion on your Carl Jackson.

Looks like that chip of red finish could be super-glued in place.

But you shouldn't have to do this with a new instrument.

To my eyes the fingerboard defects look like divots -- missing wood -- as you describe. I lack any knowledge to guess when and how they happened and if any person saw them before this banjo was packed for shipping. They can be filled. But that's something else that a new instrument shouldn't need.

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It will be interesting to see what Greg has to say. I reached out to Jim Pankey through his email listed on youtube about the RK-75 with some of the questions I posted here. I never heard back from him, not that he needed to reach out to me. I figure maybe he doesnt email that often or doesnt use that account much. I;m really disheartened with Recording King at the moment. I love the banjo! Im so glad I have tried to pick one up, but yeah... This has been really frustrating to say the least.

That being said I am starting to look around more intently at other brands, Deering might even be in the mix but well see. In the meantime Ill still get around to my local music stores and play some of the train wrecks they have just to keep some sort of playing/practice going.

@dfstd Despite the reviews and issues with GC, I have to say they have really done everything they can on their side to resolve the issue. It seems to be a Recording King issue in quality control. As you've said however, buying through perhaps a more reputable company such as Sweetwater may eliminate the issues Ive had in the last 3 "New" Recording King banjos. The area I live in is a cultural dearth where Olive Garden is real Italian food... Dont get me wrong, there are many fine people around here... but "why would you want some hill billy instrument, when you can play something actually cool" not verbatim but essentially what I heard at a local instrument shop... lol Sometimes there just aint no arguing with people, you just cant sink low enough to get on their level and help them understand.

Yep that definitely looks like chip
There's absolutely no reason that should have left final inspection like that. They've been building banjos for 20 years now .... ridiculous
Contact the link is
Info@recordingking.com
Tell them you want it fixed or placed
Greg

What Greg says about the chip.

OTOH, this banjo has a Padauk fretboard with large, open pores. There are ways to make it look much nicer during a setup. That chip, OTOH, is reason enough to kick it back.

quote:

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Originally posted by grich

Yep that definitely looks like chip
There's absolutely no reason that should have left final inspection like that. They've been building banjos for 20 years now .... ridiculous
Contact the link is
Info@recordingking.com
Tell them you want it fixed or placed
Greg

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Thank you for the info Greg, I certainly will reach out depending on how Guitar Center handles it. This marks the 3rd Recording King banjo Ive gotten, the first was damaged in shipping, the last two though... Not to be disrespectful, but it makes me think of looking at another brand, I just want to play the banjo... Ive been going rounds with Guitar Center over the last 3 weeks and have resorted to showing up at different music stores just to practice on train wreck banjos. To say it is frustrating is a slight understatement. I do appreciate the information and will as I said reach out depending on how it goes from here.

Thanks again

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnnySilver

quote:

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Originally posted by grich

Yep that definitely looks like chip
There's absolutely no reason that should have left final inspection like that. They've been building banjos for 20 years now .... ridiculous
Contact the link is
Info@recordingking.com
Tell them you want it fixed or placed
Greg

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Thank you for the info Greg, I certainly will reach out depending on how Guitar Center handles it. This marks the 3rd Recording King banjo Ive gotten, the first was damaged in shipping, the last two though... Not to be disrespectful, but it makes me think of looking at another brand, I just want to play the banjo... Ive been going rounds with Guitar Center over the last 3 weeks and have resorted to showing up at different music stores just to practice on train wreck banjos. To say it is frustrating is a slight understatement. I do appreciate the information and will as I said reach out depending on how it goes from here.

Thanks again

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Ouch! I was thinking of getting a rk dirty 30s banjobut if htis is how they send their top of the line banjos I think I will pass. You should prolly post about it on reddit to, see if they do right by ya. Im gonna hold off till I see what they do. Sorry about your luck but I think I mighta saved myself reading over what you posted.

I got my RK 76 from banjoteacher.com.. absolutely beautiful!! Ross is a great guy to buy from. He never would have sent out either of those that you got. So sorry to hear about this..cant even imagine how disheartening this has been for you. From my understanding even though GC is giving you grief, RK will do right by you if you contact them. Good luck bro!

quote:

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Originally posted by Patrick1962

I got my RK 76 from banjoteacher.com.. absolutely beautiful!! Ross is a great guy to buy from. He never would have sent out either of those that you got. So sorry to hear about this..cant even imagine how disheartening this has been for you. From my understanding even though GC is giving you grief, RK will do right by you if you contact them. Good luck bro!

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Thanks for the luck! I emailed them two days ago now which was on a Sunday per @grich , being that it was Sunday I didn't expect contact that day, but its Tuesday now and no one has followed up on my email yet. I was a bit miffed at GC on the first one that came damaged in shipping because it was so poorly packed, I must say and readily do, they have bent over backwards to get me a replacement and to do so as quickly as they could. They are unfortunately out of stock at this time so there is only so much they can do.

The Jury is still out on Recording King, if I dont hear from them soon I think I will just move on to another brand and be sure to share me experience in a review here, on the GC website and on reddit as @Banjo Slayer has suggested.

Ive got an email out to Huber as Im thinking of doing the "build your own banjo" depending on lead time I may buy one off the shelf and still order the custom one. I have questions about hatfields and some others, but Ill start a different thread on that. Thank you everyone for your support!

Build your own banjo is how I went many years ago. I had it built through Janet Davis but I think she is out of business. I absolutely love my banjo because every detail including radiused fretboard and custom headstock inlays, my choice of wood and tone-ring. It's just everything I wanted, it just lacks a pedigree if I ever sell it, which I won't. It'll get passed down to my grandson.

quote:

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Originally posted by banjopicks

Build your own banjo is how I went many years ago. I had it built through Janet Davis but I think she is out of business. I absolutely love my banjo because every detail including radiused fretboard and custom headstock inlays, my choice of wood and tone-ring. It's just everything I wanted, it just lacks a pedigree if I ever sell it, which I won't. It'll get passed down to my grandson.

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I have heard her name a couple of times in my research so far all with rave reviews. Going custom is definitely rising on my list. Were going into day 3 with no contact from "Roadkill King" as my son calls them now. I am frankly surprised and disappointed especially since grich recommended I reach out to them on the email he provided. I wasn't expecting an instant resolution, but it is getting long in the tooth. Well see how it goes, I might reach out to them just one more time, but I'm starting to think it's time to move on to a different brand. All things being equall, it is a shame that they put out 2 instruments like this in arguably their flagship model. Can you imagine Gibson or Fender doing that?