Yea that's because the guitar center AI likes hallucinating and making up names for banjos that don't exist. That and a holiday sale is how I got my 2003 Goldtone (not Gold Tone) OB250AT for a good price. (Edit: WITH THE INCLUDED KEITH TUNERS <3)

Here's a similar but Korean FB-58 that has a different inlay pattern ($400)
guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/V...718866.gc

Or an FB-59 with the gold hardware and uses walnut instead of maple I believe. ($400)
guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/U...071106.gc

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Originally posted by KirbyInKentucky

Yea that's because the guitar center AI likes hallucinating and making up names for banjos that don't exist. That and a holiday sale is how I got my 2003 Goldtone (not Gold Tone) OB250AT for a good price. (Edit: WITH THE INCLUDED KEITH TUNERS <3)

Here's a similar but Korean FB-58 that has a different inlay pattern ($400)
guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/V...718866.gc

Or an FB-59 with the gold hardware and uses walnut instead of maple I believe. ($400)
guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/U...071106.gc

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The Fb-58 is a shoe and plate banjo with no tone ring, so not so appealing, but the FB- 59 looks really good for the price. And yes, GC with discounts is how I got my Sierra with 06 ring, for less than $1k. The photographs were awefull, and the previous owner had put a crap fiberskin head and gross plastic insert bridge on it. I knew it was one to watch, and got my lifer out of it.

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Originally posted by Dean T

quote:

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Originally posted by KirbyInKentucky

Yea that's because the guitar center AI likes hallucinating and making up names for banjos that don't exist. That and a holiday sale is how I got my 2003 Goldtone (not Gold Tone) OB250AT for a good price. (Edit: WITH THE INCLUDED KEITH TUNERS <3)

Here's a similar but Korean FB-58 that has a different inlay pattern ($400)
guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/V...718866.gc

Or an FB-59 with the gold hardware and uses walnut instead of maple I believe. ($400)
guitarcenter.com/Used/Fender/U...071106.gc

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The Fb-58 is a shoe and plate banjo with no tone ring, so not so appealing, but the FB- 59 looks really good for the price. And yes, GC with discounts is how I got my Sierra with 06 ring, for less than $1k. The photographs were awefull, and the previous owner had put a crap fiberskin head and gross plastic insert bridge on it. I knew it was one to watch, and got my lifer out of it.

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You're right let me correct, That first one I thought was just a Korean FB58 is an FB55 which is the shoe and plate banjo. The one you posted was an FB58.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/481342975239595/posts/37446114001669027/

The FB58 and FB59 are decent enough banjos. Even though they are largely Samick made in Korea factory banjos badged for Fender or largely Dae Won made in China factory banjos badged for Fender. The Korean made one seem to have a better reputation although whether that reputation is truly deserved I don't know. They often get over priced because of the name on the peghead and this is a decent price. This one looks like a Samick banjo. Initially it was the Fender Deluxe like the previous made in Japan model.

I think there's good value in these masterclones. Mine, which is badged as an Ozark, cost £120 new (there was a minor crack in the resonator). One problem that applies to mine and something I've read about others is that the tone ring is fitted very tight which restrains the sound somewhat.

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Originally posted by Dean T

I had posted a link to it on a “searching for a banjo on a budget” type thread, but no reaction. I’ve read here over the years, that some of the older Korean and Chinese banjos were really good. This may or may not be one of those, but if it is, $450 is not to bad for a banjo with all the right imitation master clone parts. Add a military discount, a Black Friday deal, GC coupon, make an offer etc… and it might be a fair deal at half the cost of a Goodtime.

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This is a tremendous value (and no-brainer) for either a beginner or someone looking for their first step up from a Goodtime, Cripple Creek, Dirty Thirties, Amazon banjo-shaped-object or ANY sub-Mastertone type instrument. You're exactly right: it has all the Masterclone parts and nothing anywhere close to it is available new at even twice the asking price.

I never recommended these when they were new. Especially in the Chinese era this century. I thought they were over-priced, harsh sounding, and heavy. By 2010 the RK-35 blew them out of the water in terms of both sound and parts (US threaded hardware, Gibson spec pot metal flange, supposedly better tone ring alloy). The bulk of Chinese Masterclones were the same banjo decorated differently for the different brands: Fender, Washburn, Morgan Monroe, I forget who else.

Obviously, if they were harsh sounding then, they'll still be harsh sounding now. And heavy. But maybe with the right head tension and better bridge, the sound can be sweetened.

And $450 is a great price for this kind of banjo.

What I consider the "really good" Korean and maybe Chinese banjos (not counting RK, Gold Star and the newest Gold Tones) would be the Fender Leo and the early Korean-made FB-59 or Deluxe that replaced it and the Epiphone MB-250 that always struck me as different from the bulk of Asian Masterclones. Of course, I could have just been misled by the branding. But the MB-250s I played always felt and sounded different from Fenders and Washburns. Most of them were 2-piece flange, so a different design, for sure.

Slight change in vocabulary. Rather than "harsh," the word I meant was "shrill." I found the Fenders and Washburns that I played to lean way to the treble. But just because I didn't like the sound doesn't mean someone else won't. (And these days, my hearing needs a boost in the treble)

And to say something positive about these: at one of my last gigs with my 2010-2013 bluegrass band, a guy asked me to try his new Washburn. The sound and weight were as I described above. But the neck felt great and the action was super-low with no buzz or rattle. He asked me if I'd play his banjo in the next set and I declined. I hope I did so politely.