Greg Earnest - Posted - 03/24/2026:  21:16:11

I've just listed a great mid-to-late-1970s California-made Fender Artist. Thanks for looking!



Greg Earnest



banjohangout.org/classified/114563

Edited by - Greg Earnest on 03/25/2026 22:11:52

desert rose - Posted - 03/24/2026:  22:27:53

GREAT BANJO Greg!
One opinion, I believe it will be mid seventys or later, there is a name stamp CATHY on the label which is a good dating tool, she was one of the two girls who regularly signed the banjos Laura in the wood shop and Cathy in the assembly shop, she wasnt old enough to have worked in the sixtys or early seventys, Laura and Cathy were friends of mine there

Greg Earnest - Posted - 03/25/2026:  11:35:35

quote:

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Originally posted by desert rose

GREAT BANJO Greg!

One opinion, I believe it will be mid seventys or later, there is a name stamp CATHY on the label which is a good dating tool, she was one of the two girls who regularly signed the banjos Laura in the wood shop and Cathy in the assembly shop, she wasnt old enough to have worked in the sixtys or early seventys, Laura and Cathy were friends of mine there

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This is great information, Scott. . . it does indeed say "CATHY" on the label!  I thought maybe that was a former owner.  I obviously have a lot to learn about these things.  How late were they made?  It IS a great banjo.  Kind of nuts, really, for the money they seem to bring!  Thanks!

ge

Culloden - Posted - 03/25/2026:  19:44:58

You can channel your inner Bill Emerson with that.

Greg Earnest - Posted - 03/25/2026:  21:36:53

quote:

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Originally posted by Culloden

You can channel your inner Bill Emerson with that.

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I've been doing just that!  I taught a student "Yesterday" with it this evening. . . 

desert rose - Posted - 03/25/2026:  21:41:18

Hello Greg

We made the Artist and Concertone banjos until late 1979 early 1980.

Both Cathy and Laura were established in the banjo line when I started in 1977, they started at Fender a few years earlier, mid seventys roughly, and they continued until the end of banjo production, they had regular jobs in the guitar production but were dedicated to the banjo making when instruments were made, Laura was a wood shop worker and Cathy was in the asembly shop, they were both the blonde cuties of Fender.

Greg Earnest - Posted - 03/25/2026:  22:10:24

Thanks! So is it possible to date this one any more exactly than mid-to-late-seventies?



ge

Edited by - Greg Earnest on 03/25/2026 22:11:17

desert rose - Posted - 03/26/2026:  06:02:00

No way to get closer without the original music store sales reciept.
Serial numbers are useless, that label in the banjo was printed in 1965 and used until 1980, along with two other labels and three different serial number styles
Fender Sales was the seperate sales division of Leo Fenders company, it was in Santa Ana while while factory was in Fullerton, Fender sales stoped existing in 1965 when cbs bought the name and banjos were not made until 1966, makes sense , not

Greg Earnest - Posted - 03/26/2026:  09:48:22

Thanks so much!