At that price, you may assume the tone ring is not pre-WWII. That’s a no-brainer. I once owned a converted 1926 PB-1, with a 60s RB-100 neck, and 60s Gibson flathead tone ring. All Gibson, with a pre-war rim and hardware. That’s just an example of banjos that get tagged as “pre-war.” Despite the shell, I never considered that to be a pre-war banjo—the 60s neck and tone ring shot that down. Not all owners/sellers are as precise.

The easiest way to tell is the price. Thousands and thousands of people have scoured the woods for more than 50 years looking for what this banjo is trying to look like. If it plays well and sounds good that is a decent price for whatever it really is.

I recognized the background of the photo immediately; that's Jakes Main Street Music in Beacon, NY.

I haven't dealt with Jake much, but he's always seemed like a standup guy and he's got more banjos than any shop north of Teaneck, NJ.

And his posting is honest; he calls it a parts banjo and prices it accordingly.
jakesmainstreetmusic.com/colle...rts-banjo

I haven't played this one yet. I might get down to Beacon in the next few weeks, though I'm a relative newbie and not sure how much weight my review of the instrument would carry.

It seems unlikely that it's prewar except for possibly the rim.

It wouldn't be curly maple wood unless it were a Granada, and in that case the binding and finish are wrong and it should be gold plated.

It seems very unlikely that the tone ring would be prewar because whoever owned it would probably have different plans for it.

its got a fake mastertone label, the stamping doesnt look right neither does the binding on the resonator, or the wood grain on the rim. there may be some prewar parts here, but i dont think any of the important ones are real prewar. With a fake label and the odd stamp i would not assume any of this is prewar. The description has wording that tells me the seller suspects this as well.

Not pre-war. There are a few "tells" that say a banjo is NOT pre-war. Most of them have been explained here already.

Pre-war Gibsons have a "look" that is not easy to fake. Some of the very best builders can supposedly crank out a fake that will convince all but the experts. This is not one of those. It has too many of the common red flags.

However, it is not priced like a pre-war, they tend to start around $5000 even if not originally a Mastertone!

Spend an afternoon scrolling through Greg Earnest's website and see what you can absorb. This banjo doesn't match up with ANY of the ones on Greg's website.

Thanks for the wisdom everyone, I definitely assumed it was not actually a pre-war. But, I figured the BHO community would be great at explaining why. It's fun to be part of a community that loves banjos as much (or more!) than I do. I'll check out more of Greg Earnest's site.

The term 'pre-war' is truly meaningless. Its interpretation presently is whatever you want it to be, so you as the buyer or the seller can't be right or wrong by using it. Other equally useless descriptors are , "parts banjo", "conversion" "old", "older" or especialy any familial purchase anecdotes, :)

Just curious, how can you tell the Mastertone label is fake?
Just for my edification.
Thanks

One way to spot a reissue Mastertone label is that the words "workmanship" and "will" (below workmanship) both have the letter "I". If the two I's are not perfectly aligned vertically, the label is not authentic.

There are a few other "tells" for a fake label, but mis-aligned "I's" are the easiest to describe.

Those labels have been sold for decades. Note, having perfectly aligned "I's" does not guarantee the label is original. Better copies could have been made. The other "tells" would have to be carefully examined.

I'm sure not all banjo builders have used repro Mastertone labels trying to fool buyers. They were probably just trying to make as an accurate as possible copy or "tribute" banjo.

Very interesting! Thanks, Dick!

I agree with all of the points that Kyle made, but will add that the neck is not prewar... the side dot markers are too small and black (prewars were dark tortoise), the fifth string peg is not quite in the correct spot, the inlays are pretty close shape-wise but machine cut and too cleanly-fitted, the mastertone inlay block letters are too close together; the resonator is a repro as the center sidewall ply should be vertical grain, the interior and exterior stain colors are wrong. The label looks to be waterslide as opposed to the originals which were varnish transfer, and in addition to the i's not lining up, the inner corners of the letters appear to be slightly filled-in, which is a characteristic of many of the fake labels. Also the rim number stamp is close, but the "5" should have a small serif at the upper right.

I'm curious what ya'll think is going on here. Was someone making a counterfeit Gibson intentionally to fool people? Does that happen with some regularity? Is this an "homage" to Gibson instead? If the latter, I don't really understand the fake labeling and stamping. That seems like it's going beyond homage and into trickiness. I know it's all pure speculation but I'm interested in this kind of thing. (Also I'm not accusing the seller of being shady; they've clearly listed it for a price and with a description that lets the buyer know what's going on.)

I tend to think it's more of an "homage" than an intentional counterfeit. It's not a good enough counterfeit to ever fool an experience buyer. That's just me granting the benefit of a doubt.

It just seems really difficult to authenticate a pre war banjo and even then, it’s no guarantee that it will sound good. My goal would be just to buy a banjo that speaks to me, at a reasonable price.