gibson top tension copy 5 string banjo - $3,500 - (Scottsboro, AL)
i want to say up front that i am not a gibson expert by no means and when i bought this banjo the seller stated that he himself thought it was a copy so i had rather say that it is than to try to even begin to sound like i was passing it off as anything other than a copy....so with that said i will start by saying if you have been looking to try a top tension but didnt want to fork out several thousand dollars for one then maybe you are in the right place.....as we can see someone wanted to replicate one of the gibson top tension banjos very simuiar to what a rb-7 or rb-12 would look like....i did do enough research to see that the headstock appointments along with the fingerboard inlay and resonator style is not exactly what the 7 or 12 would have...maybe similar but not exact..maybe they wanted it to be evident that they were not trying to build it to be indistiquishable from a real one so they built it to basically look similar...the banjo does have considerable fret wear on the first 4 or 5 frets and will need to be dressed or replaced..also the tuners are somewhat stiff and if i were going to be keeping the banjo i would put some better tuners on it...anyway...it is a great playing and sounding walnut top tension banjo ....it has a kentucky 5 ring in it...if you have any questions? feel free to ask,thanks
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From ebay.com - 1 month ago