Hello, all.
I came across (and agreed to buy) this banjo by accident. I assumed it was an RB100 with the wrong resonator, but now that I've picked it up, I'm wondering if it's not either an RB150 with a replaced fretboard, an RB150 that was ordered with dot inlays, or an RB100 ordered with some upgrades.
Some things worth mentioning:
-Number in rim is 6481-1
-Headstock inlay
-Concentric rings on resonator
-Fret marker dots are not like any 100 I've seen.
-This is from the estate of Barry Palmer, a true collector. (But that doesn't mean he didn't own at least a few pieces of junk! Lol!)
So what do y'all think it is?
Is there anything (aside from lower production numbers) about the 150s that make them any better/more sought after?
This thing plays and sounds AWESOME...and not just "for a hoop banjo." This thing actually rips, so it's going to get loved regardless...I'm just curious!
Thanks!
My best educated guess is that is an RB150 with a replaced fingerboard. Still, nothing was set in stone with Gibson. My old RB100 had a dot on the third fret where most of them don't. This one has a dot on the third fret but no dots above the seventeenth. The fifth string tuner looks like the kind that were used on the 150s and 250s. What kind of tuners are on the peghead?
6481-1 would date to the early 1950s, which was a time of a lot of change in the gibson line, its possible that this is original or a replaced fretboard. removing the neck might show you if the fretboard is replace. also the frets themselves, i dont know what they shipped with. Eitherway its a 1950s rb-100. great banjos! I think the resonator is probably the original.
The neck has the stain pattern (dark brown to orange sunburst) like the resonator, so I believe that makes it an RB 150. Also the tulip or squashed frog in the peghead says 150 rather than 100. RB 100 necks are a deep brown uniform mahogany color.
The dot inlay could be factory, or it could be a replaced fingerboard if somebody sent it in to Kalamazoo for a fret job. Gibson was notorious for replacing fretboards with whatever was currently on hand, rather than refretting (viz. Earl Scruggs' Granada which turned into a bowtie).
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