This banjo is a complete mystery – the mystery part being “How in the world could somebody have owned this instrument of this elevated reputation and intense beauty and treated it this poorly?” This was one of the 3 top of the line Gibson banjos – every other example of this level Gibson banjo we have ever seen was in “excellent plus” because the people that owned it knew they had something valuable and so they treated it with kid gloves. It is so improbable that somebody would have beaten up this banjo, made at such a lofty level in the Gibson hierarchy, to the extent that they did. We are suitably appalled and upset; you have no idea. One of our competitors once said ‘Mistreating an American fretted instrument is like carving your name in your child’s back.’ We cannot disagree. This level of malfeasance and abdication of personal responsibility to something once fine and rare is regrettable.” Nevertheless, we feel that it can be brought back to health sufficiently to make it saleable.
Back in the 1920s and ‘30s when a player bought a Gibson Mastertone banjo they could ask Gibson to etch their name on the truss rod cover. This pearloid truss rod cover is etched “Malcolm Smith.” One could also order from a list of several appointments to make the banjo one wanted. This owner wanted the “Ice Cream Cone” made up of clear, red, green, yellow and blue rhinestones with the script “Gibson” logo above made up of red rhinestones. Originally the front border of the headstock was decorated with larger clear rhinestones but the binding on this headstock has largely fallen off (due to disturbingly callous misuse) and many are missing along with part of the binding. The back of the headstock is made up of a veneer of carved and painted floral design with leaves, flourishes and swirls – but the veneer is chipped and pieces have fallen off. In addition the headstock overlay itself, which is made up of 3 layers of contrasting color woods, was, when this arrived, separating and lifting, but our repair shop has reglued the veneer and now it is stable.
None of these cosmetic deficiencies can be restored – at least not by us. There probably are people out there who can do this but they’d charge a fortune and take years to do it. None of the tuners are original; they are all cheaper mismatched replacements. The original tuners would have been fancy, etched, gold-plated, geared and with large mother of pearl buttons. They are, of course, gone. The heel of the neck is carved and painted but hand-wear and careless use has muted the colors and reduced detail and contrast. The back of the neck shows hand wear – it is no longer glossy finish and it appears that the entire back of the neck was oversprayed. Nearly all of the dark stain and finish on the underside of the rim is worn off. The binding on the outside and inside of the rim is multi-color sparkle in red, gold and green and this remains in place with 16 small holes drilled in various places. The banjo is missing all 4 thumbscrews that hold the resonator to the flange, 6 gold plated brackets (all of the brackets, stretcher band and flange were oxidized and with gold wear but already we have cleaned up the metal parts considerably). The original tailpiece is gone, as is the bridge, and the nut was replaced with an ill-fitting imposter.
The old Mylar head was worn out but we have already replaced it; the frets were completely worn out but we have replaced them.. This banjo has the 40-hole archtop tone ring, twin coordinator rods through the rim, it retains its “Gibson Mastertone Guarantee” gold colored label, though it shows wear. Most of the internal portion of the mute remain inside, (not the padded mute part, though) but the device that once engaged the mute button on the outside of the engraved, gold-plated armrest is, of course, gone, as is the device that connects the armrest to the stretcher band. Its two-piece flange was bent up and twisted along an area 9” long on the bass side and 14” long on the treble but chances are we can straighten it out a little. Although the stretcher band and tone ring (outside the rim) are etched with diamonds and other patterns, the flange, for some reason, is not.
The fingerboard binding is missing. While it is possible and even likely that this binding was the fancy gold, red and green sparkle we cannot supply that but we will be supplying ivoroid stained to look old. The fingerboard itself is worn and chipped, and so is the wooden rim and resonator. The resonator is woefully damaged; it is chipped, broken and large sections of wood are missing around its top edge as well as the ivoroid (crème) binding. It is missing one of its four shoes that connect flange to resonator. The back of the resonator, extremely fancy with a carved musical motif depicting a harp, a banjo and a clarinet, has experienced water damage, and so it is chipping and splitting, draining off (no pun intended) both color and detail. There is, in one 8” area, a separation between the rosewood and the crème celluloid binding on the side, and the floral carving on the side of the resonator is likewise chipped and scuffed. Although this discussion largely summarizes the incoming condition of the banjo there are things we may have missed and we reserve the right to revisit and expand the description (the litany of its ills) when we have gotten into the repair and marketing of the piece.
We feel that, when all of our remedial work is completed, this will be a fine player, and amazing sounding. It can be converted to five-string (by a luthier that does that sort of thing) if a purchaser wishes to have one of the top of the line Gibson Mastertone banjos in that Regular Banjo (RB) configuration, or it could be utilized as the ideal jazz and ragtime instrument as a tenor. Watch this space. We will report on improvements as they take place.