in this pic of hartford ,scruggs and blake i don't recognize the gibson banjo hartford is playing. it looks like a modified 250 ?
Looks like it could be a 1068-69 Bowtie with some added inlays?
thought they had the flyswatter head stocks.
Although the fiddle peghead WAS on the final iteration of the bowtie 250 in about 1969, the bowtie inlays appear to be from pre-1960, in that there is a skinny bowtie one fret higher than the MASTERTONE block.
I think it's more likely that this is an older neck that some luthier worked on to reshape the peghead and add the little inlays.
But it could be a 1969 neck with a pre-1960 fingerboard put on it...
Since flat heads were very rare in the 1950s, this may be a parts banjo too. Note the old 4 hump tailpiece.
Great photo.
Edited by - The Old Timer on 04/21/2026 08:07:59
That headstock shape and peg placement look odd. Could have started out as a flyswatter.
According from his interview in the "Masters of the Five String", it is a Prewar Gibson Granada tenor pot, with a replacement flat head tone ring and an "69 RB-250 neck....he put the extra inlays in the neck ...used his pocketknife!! Wild looking ride for sure!!
I used to own late 60's RB250. That definitely looks like a modified period neck.
thanks LEVI .. you da man.... i figured if you saw you would know.
if you notice it has holes in it where some ugly tuners or some type of cam tuners were once mounted.
the best i can come up with on my research the photo is from 1971.
Edited by - 1935tb-11 on 04/25/2026 13:38:10
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