1929 Vintage Banjo

[Jack Gretz]

Hey Folks, Anybody in here good with vintage banjos? I have a "kalamazoo" built 1929 Banjo and I am trying to get some information on it to help out a customer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[HANGAR18]

No idea. Is Nashville the name of the manufacturer? At first I thought you might have been talking about Gibson but I don't think they had a factory in Tennessee back then. If I were trying to determine the value without knowing who made it, I would probably begin by analyzing the construction methods and materials. Good luck with your Google searching.

 

[Jack Gretz]

I was trying not to say the name as respect to the forum to which this belongs. But yes "G" built but in Kalamazoo. Looks to be a TB-2 But it has a pearloid fingerboard on it which is the wrench that is messing everything up

 

[gush]

I know a guy that had a G banjo.about that vintage. If it has the same rosewood ring then it is worth some serious bucks.

If memory serves me, he got very close to 70,000 for it. It was not put together but the rosewood ring made it that valuable.

 

[HANGAR18]

I was trying not to say the name as respect to the forum to which this belongs. But yes "G" built but in Kalamazoo. Looks to be a TB-2 But it has a pearloid fingerboard on it which is the wrench that is messing everything up

That would explain my confusion. There have been a lot of different names on headstocks which came out of the Kalamazoo factory over the years and so I guess that is what I was thinking. If it's a Gibby, that should be easier to determine a value. Don't they have something like a "Blue Book" of values for big name vintage instruments like that?

I'll tell you what... I'll give you a thousand dollars for it and then you won't have to deal with it. hahahaha