A red flag to look for in these particular banjos is that the rims often delaminate and are not particularly repairable when they do. Definitely remove the resonator and inspect the rim before purchase. Additionally, the binding is often susceptible to falling apart. This is a bigger problem on the ones from the early 70s in my experience, but still worth looking out for.

These banjos can sound as good as anything with the right setup and personally I’d prefer one to any Gold Tone. But there are definitely issues to keep in mind when considering purchasing one.

1. Negotiate the price DOWN! 1970s Gibson Mastertones are PLENTIFUL, not rare. $1800 would be a price for a real "select" one, nice and clean, nothing cracked, broken, repaired. Like the binding on the resonator for instance which on some 1970s Gibsons tended to crumble and fall off like cracked chocolate. It should have a fine condition hard shell case (not necessarily original. If Gibson replaced the neck around 2000 (if that's true) it should be a very fine neck, with no cracking or crumbling of the finish and binding, frets not all grooved with wear, no divots in the fingerboard, good clean matching tuners, etc etc.

Send us a photos of the neck and we can tell you if it's a 2000 RB 250 neck, or some other Gibson model neck (or non Gibson). Technically an RB 250 neck stayed the same during the entire run of RB 250s from 1970 to 2009. It's easy to recognize for "correctness".

The worst structural weakness in the 1970s Gibsons was as mentioned above, that wood "bead" in the rim that is what the flange fetches up on to tighten the tension hooks. That bead sometimes would rip right off the rest of the rim, and leave the flange all cock-eyed around the circumference of the rim. Easy to see. Unfixable except by replacing the entire rim.

I also would prefer an honest Gibson from the 1970s over a Gold Tone if the Gibson is in your budget.

But I repeat, for $1800 it had better be LOVELY and pleasing in every way to you (including the case).

I recently helped a BHO member look over his 1970s RB 250 and it turned out to be a pretty good banjo with a little standard set-up tweaking.

Welcome to the Hangout, Cody !

The photos on your homepage (which were posted today 8/13) show what appears to be a very nice RB 250. If that is a replacement neck, it appears to be genuine Gibson.

Also, the rim is a nice 3 ply maple rim, so you most likely won't have to worry about the delamination, or bead failure that Karl and Dick described in their posts.

Close-up, detailed photos of the pot, resonator, etc... would certainly help, but I would say that if the banjo is as nice as it appears to be in the photos, it probably is close to being worth $1800.00, but it wouldn't hurt to make an offer of, say, $1500.00 to $1600.00

Did they use that label in 1978? New neck and rim? Knowing the serial number might be nice.

quote:

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Originally posted by The Old Timer

1. Negotiate the price DOWN! 1970s Gibson Mastertones are PLENTIFUL, not rare. $1800 would be a price for a real "select" one, nice and clean, nothing cracked, broken, repaired. Like the binding on the resonator for instance which on some 1970s Gibsons tended to crumble and fall off like cracked chocolate. It should have a fine condition hard shell case (not necessarily original. If Gibson replaced the neck around 2000 (if that's true) it should be a very fine neck, with no cracking or crumbling of the finish and binding, frets not all grooved with wear, no divots in the fingerboard, good clean matching tuners, etc etc.

Send us a photos of the neck and we can tell you if it's a 2000 RB 250 neck, or some other Gibson model neck (or non Gibson). Technically an RB 250 neck stayed the same during the entire run of RB 250s from 1970 to 2009. It's easy to recognize for "correctness".

The worst structural weakness in the 1970s Gibsons was as mentioned above, that wood "bead" in the rim that is what the flange fetches up on to tighten the tension hooks. That bead sometimes would rip right off the rest of the rim, and leave the flange all cock-eyed around the circumference of the rim. Easy to see. Unfixable except by replacing the entire rim.

I also would prefer an honest Gibson from the 1970s over a Gold Tone if the Gibson is in your budget.

But I repeat, for $1800 it had better be LOVELY and pleasing in every way to you (including the case).

I recently helped a BHO member look over his 1970s RB 250 and it turned out to be a pretty good banjo with a little standard set-up tweaking.

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All I have to go on currently! He said he couldnt find a serial number.

The ones that have the worst problems with delaminating rims are the ones with black rims. Yours probably won't have that issue. Still, if the rim does delaminate in the future, there are some fine banjo makers who could turn you a new rim.

The pictures you posted look pretty good. That neck seems consistent with what a neck from about 2000 looks like. The rim looks comparable to what was found on RB-250s from around 1987, which is a good thing. Would be able to tell a little better with a photo of the label in the rim. There would be no serial number on this instrument because in the 2000s, serial numbers were stamped in the rim and in the 70s/some of the 80s, they were stamped on the back of the headstock. So this combination of parts would leave it void of a serial number. Definitely try and haggle a bit, but this appears to be a solid instrument with no blatantly obvious reasons to avoid it. Hope it works out for you!

These photos show remarkably good match of the stain on neck/pot/resonator.

Does the gold decal in the rim say Kalamazoo or Nashville? In the 1970s Gibson was still in Kalamazoo, right?

The "T" shaped resonator tabs under the flange certainly look like 1970s Gibson construction.

I can't remember what tone rings Gibson used in the 1970s. Early on I know there were some painfully lightweight ones, and much later they were using "decent" Stewart MacDonald rings.

It's at least a good looking banjo. You'll have to decide how it sounds and feels and if it pleases you.

Good luck.

Looks like this one has a 3-ply rim instead of the multi-ply black rims they were using earlier.

Resonator back looks to be in very good shape, and the binding looks ok as far as I can see.

Serial number should either be on the back of the peghead or stamped in the rim.
But... didn't you say the neck was replaced?
Might be why there's no number on it.

I'm wondering if the rim might have been replaced at the same time?

As others have mentioned, overall, this one looks pretty good.
Offer $100-200 less, but $1,800 is about right for this one. If he won't budge, pay it.
Especially when you consider the inflation of the past few years figured into the price...

It occurs to me the original 1970s neck heel was cut for this banjo's original 2 piece flange. A 2000 RB 250 heel is cut for a ONE piece flange.

It would be worth examining the neck heel notch where the flange fits in to see how well the neck heel was converted (enlarged) from one piece flange cut to two piece flange cut. Hopefully it doesn't look like a farmer did it, nor all boogered up somehow. If it looks like a clean job, well! No need to worry.

Vintage Gibson on marketplace. Vague story about replaced parts with no paperwork. Conveniently missing any serial numbers.

Caveat Emptor.

is it me or does that look like a 3 ply rim ???????

i know some later 78s and 79s had 3 ply rims ,,thats when the change back occured.

biggest thing about it all is  HOW DOES IT SOUND ?   you have to really like how she sounds or you will have regret.......