Submitted by revellfa (see all reviews from this person) on 10/1/2013

Where Purchased: eBay

Year Purchased: 2008
Price Paid: Don't Remember (bought USED) historic exchange rates / currency converter

Sound

Totally unique. You can't get it anywhere else. Funky old sound that will inspire you to pull songs out of a banjo that you didn't know existed. Flatback resonator adds to the unique tone. The tone with the original skin head is fantastic. You will struggle to get volume but tone is fantastic.

Sound Rating: 9

Setup

I've never seen one of these five strings that didn't have a bow in the neck. The skin head can be fickle as expected but the banjo is well made and setup fine.

Setup Rating: not rated

Appearance

Simple, straight ahead and beautiful. I love the look with no flange. If you get one with the original skin head that is a bit yellowed you are very lucky indeed when it comes to appearance.

Appearance Rating: 10

Reliability

Incredible. Some of these Gibson budget brands look like they left the factory yesterday. The've been around this long but the bow in the neck concerns me with this model. I've owned three five strings and about five tenors. All of the tenors had perfect action and all of the five strings had bows in the neck. That I don't get. The friciton tuners are actually not a problem. I've had Kalamazoos with the original friction tuners that stayed in tune better than any other banjo I've had. Seriously, I've had these friciton tuners stay in tune unplayed for months.

Reliability Rating: 8

Customer Service

doesn't apply.

Customer Service: not rated

Components

Components were the bottom of the line for Gibson at the time but hey, the've held up. No complaints whatsoever. These Gibson budget brands are amazing.

Components Rating: 10

Overall Comments

One of my favorite banjos of all time for two-fingered, clawhammer and general old time music.  Very highly recommended.  Benton Flippen and Doc Watson played these for their entire lives.  Just think of how many times they could have traded up but decided to just keep the old Kalamazoo--that tells me all I need to know about these fine "budget" brand pre-war Gibson banjos.

Overall Rating: 10