You are asking about resonator, bluegrass-style banjos from what I can tell, since you did not mention Vega & Fairbanks, Bacon/B&D, Pisgah or SS Stewart, among others. For my part, I play a Clifford Essex, which falls somewhere in the middle of the Well-known to Unknown list.

Well lets hear it all you common name STELLING owners...good grief.

I got to play a matched pair of Gold Star 100 HFs back about 1981 at the Indian Springs Maryland bluegrass festival and they just bowled me over! Played by a young guy (Tice) and a young woman (Moira) who were at least acquaintances and picking buddies. Never found out if they were "an item". It was my first awareness of the Japanese Gold Star flat heads and I was just gobsmacked. Both of the owners were outstandingly good Scruggs/Crowe style pickers.

The next Non Mastertone that impressed me was the Vega Sonny Osborne model I owned for several years. A very very impressive advance in the bluegrass sound for Vega. Quite a banjo indeed.

Since then probably the banjo that impressed me most (non Mastertone again) was at IBMA in either Louisville or Raleigh where I sat in the Huber booth and played every banjo they had there. They were ALL good, which impressed me, but some of them were EXTREMELY good, which impressed me on an individual banjo basis. I was particularly drawn to the maple/gold Lexington model I tried.

Still the absolute top banjo I've ever laid a hand to so far is Joe Deetz' "Ellie" RB 75. That banjo is a bit frightening, up the neck.

I'm no longer "questing" for a better sounding banjo. I have a pre-war Granada Huber conversion, and Greg Rich Granadas that are plenty good enough for me

The day might come where I get an offer to fly somewhere and play, and I would try to buy a California Fender Artist or a Japanese Gold Star as a relatively low-value travel banjo.

Clifford Essex banjos are well known to "classic" fingerstyle players.

Bishline=walnut "rich full tone".

I came across a Mitch "Big E" 38 Special banjo one time that sounded absolutely killer. At the time, I'd never heard of this brand. I've never seen another one since so I can't say they're all really great or I just happened to come across an exceptional example.

Nonetheless, I think Mitch should be more well known.

In December of last year I acquired a Boulder/Ogsbury Style D Ode.  This is a real deal, unmolested 1965/66 Brazilian Rosewood Ode 5-string.   I acquired it from the original owner.  It is different - in a good way (volume, tone, playability, etc.) - from any other banjos, (including walnut Baldwins), that I have played.  And in  response to this thread, it is the best banjo I have ever played!

Take it Easy ... MarK

I would include Yates in this category.

back in the day i played a couple of fender artist banjos that were very good banjos..

also i remember 2 baldwin banjos that really surprised me.

several years ago i was over at warren yates place to get my frets floated on my 11 and he let me pick one his banjos with the new (at that time) venom 33 tone ring... it really set me back ,,, i looked up and grinned and so did he....

and i had a 1981 or 82 i had a washburn banjo ,,it was the mystic DL b-23 maple.. with the style 5 inlay.... i tinkered with it for a while and it made a very good banjo also......

At IBMA some years back I briefly played a Hopkins walnut-chrome banjo--basically an RB-4 copy. (I believe Paul Hopkins was behind the LouZee brand.) It was the only banjo I can recall playing that made me think I was feeling what Earl felt when he was playing in the '50s.

I played a Bart Reiter once. Listened to it for many days and hours. We had a little jam group. Back in the day where one would balance the tuner on your knee.

I didn't think my Gold Star GF100-HF was all that "lesser known?" I got it from recommendations right here on this forum. 

I like my two A.E. Smith open backs, and my Richelieu Lyte Laydie resonator (birdseye maple)

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Originally posted by The Old Timer

I got to play a matched pair of Gold Star 100 HFs back about 1981 at the Indian Springs Maryland bluegrass festival and they just bowled me over! Played by a young guy (Tice) and a young woman (Moira) who were at least acquaintances and picking buddies. Never found out if they were "an item". It was my first awareness of the Japanese Gold Star flat heads and I was just gobsmacked. Both of the owners were outstandingly good Scruggs/Crowe style pickers.

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I am a big fan of gold star. So I will mention Tokai. Some of which rolled down the assembly line at the same time as the best of the gold stars. I have two tokai t1200r banjos that sound real good. They have all the same parts and workmanship as the late 1970s and early 1980s GF 100 gold stars. Maybe I'll sell you one for your travel banjo one of these days

My favorite travel banjo was a late 60s Aria that sold for $175.
I got it for $100 through my cousins store in Rockland.
It was a great upgrade from our family's $35 Silvertone.
I took it with me when I went into the Army and it got rained on,almost run over by a deuce and a half and always played good without ever needing anything.

I think the tonering was aluminum.
When I got back home I bought a new '77 G-11 mahogany Gold Star that I traded a Ventura (squashed frog" banjo and Ventura "Hummingbird" guitar for.

There was a time, about 20 years ago, when just about nobody had heard of Prucha. I happened to have an opportunity to stop in at Greg Boyd's shop in Missoula, Montana. I was positively blown away by them.

So nowadays, they're a well known brand, and still producing superb banjos. But they were pretty unusual at the time...

I have an RK77 Elite that is terrific,, close to any high-end banjo that I’ve ever heard.
A friend at our jam has a Prucha that I tried out - it’s super. With my tinnitus though, I probably can’t detect some of the “special-ness” that others can.

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Originally posted by chuckv97

I have an RK77 Elite that is terrific,, close to any high-end banjo that I’ve ever heard.
A friend at our jam has a Prucha that I tried out - it’s super. With my tinnitus though, I probably can’t detect some of the “special-ness” that others can.

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yeah that constant ringing ain't a tone ring being tapped !!!!!

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Originally posted by eagleisland

There was a time, about 20 years ago, when just about nobody had heard of Prucha. I happened to have an opportunity to stop in at Greg Boyd's shop in Missoula, Montana. I was positively blown away by them.

So nowadays, they're a well known brand, and still producing superb banjos. But they were pretty unusual at the time...

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Similar story here. When I lived in east Tennessee I'd stop by Ciderville Music all the time (a legendary little shop). We're talking 30 years ago ish. There hanging among all the Gibsons was a Nechville. David West, owner of Ciderville would always have interesting and unusual stuff like that. He even had Nechville's turbo drop-in electric banjo conversion module. In the woulda-coulda-shoulda vein, I could have had the banjo and turbo for $1300 back then. It was an early Nechville, the craftsmanship was a little rough around the edges ... and hoo boy has he upped his game since then. Anyway, that made such an impression that I had Tom Nechville make a banjo for me which he hand delivered to me in April 2010. Never looked back.

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Originally posted by banjoy

quote:

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Originally posted by eagleisland

There was a time, about 20 years ago, when just about nobody had heard of Prucha. I happened to have an opportunity to stop in at Greg Boyd's shop in Missoula, Montana. I was positively blown away by them.

So nowadays, they're a well known brand, and still producing superb banjos. But they were pretty unusual at the time...

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Similar story here. When I lived in east Tennessee I'd stop by Ciderville Music all the time (a legendary little shop). We're talking 30 years ago ish. There hanging among all the Gibsons was a Nechville. David West, owner of Ciderville would always have interesting and unusual stuff like that. He even had Nechville's turbo drop-in electric banjo conversion module. In the woulda-coulda-shoulda vein, I could have had the banjo and turbo for $1300 back then. It was an early Nechville, the craftsmanship was a little rough around the edges ... and hoo boy has he upped his game since then. Anyway, that made such an impression that I had Tom Nechville make a banjo for me which he hand delivered to me in April 2010. Never looked back.

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similar story involving tom... we were up at merlefest one year and i went to the venders giant tent and nechville had a booth set up... never played one before .  so i go to looking around and this gentleman with graying hair ask if i would like to try one... i said yeah sure !  so i grabbed one off the table and played it a bit... he watched me and said "wait are you or are you not playing upside down left handed?"

i said you are correct,,,,, he disappeared a minute and came back with 2 other guys and he said play something.... they got the biggest kick out of watching me play... but there was one banjo he had that really twanged my bud.    he called it the XXV ,, beautiful  and sounded so good ,,like butter and played like butter too.  

   he offered me that banjo that day for 2500,,, and i went told the wife about it and she talked me out of it,,, saying we just couldn't swing it right now.... maybe later.  i left so sad.....  but when i went back to tell him i found out it was tom nechville himself,,, he was understanding and gave me his number and told when i was ready to call him.   i still to this day wished i had bought that thing when i had the chance.

i did manage  to come out of there with a new cedar creek case for my  pre war LOL

My submission is my Sagmoen Dobson that I bought in Jan. 2016 from Debra Clifford.   She bought it from Adam Hurt.   It' has a 24 3/4" scale and weighs 4.65 lbs. and has a block, Ashborn rim made out of Makore.  It has a Ren head and steel strings.  I put Gotoh tuners on it.