Identifying A Prewar Gibson Banjo
Determining the authenticity of a prewar Gibson banjo can be a real challenge, for a variety of reasons:
- The Gibson company produced a fairly wide variety of styles.
- Prewar Gibson banjos frequently failed to conform to the standard catalog specifications, by dint of cost-saving measures to diminish inventories of excess or less-than-desirable components, thus casting doubt on the deviant banjo's authenticity.
- The actual number of authentic banjos is relatively small, so the experience of examining and playing them is limited to comparatively few individuals.
- Demand for these instruments is high, which has led to significant efforts toward reproducing them, with varying degrees of success.
- The majority of these banjos has been modified in some way by their owners over the years, due to the adjustability of the components, changes in playing style, etc.
Read more about this topic: Prewar Gibson Banjo
Famous quotes containing the words identifying and/or gibson:
“And the serial continues:
Pain, expiation, delight, more pain,
A frieze that lengthens continually, in the lucky way
Friezes do, and no plot is produced,
Nothing you could hang an identifying question on.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Found this picture of Angie laughing in a restaurant with some other people, everybody pretty but beyond that it was like they had this glow, not really in the photograph but it was there anyway, something you feel. Look, she said to Lanette, showing her the picture, they got this glow.
It’s called money, Lanette said.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)