Here is a unique, beautiful, light-weight, and exceptionally good-sounding banjo for sale. It says "Gold Star" on the headstock, but it's really an instrument that combines the craftsmanship of two of America's legendary banjo builders/luthiers - Frank Neat and (the late, great) Tony Pass.
The banjo started it's life as a 1983 Gold Star 100-FE. When I bought it, the pot was in exquisitely good shape, but the neck was shot. I called Frank Neat and asked him to make a "Bela Fleck look-alike" neck for me. I've always loved how Bela's neck looks. It's got an ebony fingerboard, Flying Eagle inlays, railroad spikes at the 7th and 9th frets, no "Mastertone" block inlay at the bottom of the neck, and the Style 4 headstock pattern. The only thing that Frank wouldn't do is put "Gibson" on the headstock. "We can't put Gibson up there on a banjo that's not a Gibson," he said. So, we settled on "Gold Star." I sent off the banjo, and got it back 6 weeks later with one of Frank's remarkable necks - complete with his son's expertly-done, hand-cut inlays.
My tinkering wasn't over! I had begun playing open-back banjos, and was getting used to their light weight. I had heard that Tony Pass had developed what he called a "Bluegrass Woody" rim. The birch block, thin-skirt rim had a wooden "tone ring" built into it. Actually, the rim and "ring" are one solid piece of wood! I called him, and he said that if I sent him just the pot of the banjo, that he would convert the original Gold Star pot into one of his Bluegrass Woody rims. Here is an excellent article that accurately describes what happens to a banjo when it has been given the Bluegrass Woody treatment......http://www.tonypassbanjorims.com/images/WoodyReview.pdf
I sent off the pot, and it came back a month later totally transformed. Gone was the heavy tone ring and old Gold Star rim. In it's place was the Tony Pass Bluegrass Woody - with the original Gold Star flange, stretcher band, tailpiece, bracket hooks, coordinator rods, and resonator still intact. Tony was able to determine exactly where the holes for the neck to rejoin the pot should be drilled into his rim based on their placement and angle in the old rim. Sure enough, the Frank Neat neck joined up to the new Tony Pass rim perfectly. I didn't even have to mess with the coordinator rods or truss rod to alter the action. It was virtually the same!
The only reason I'm selling this banjo is that I have moved in the direction of playing open-back banjos in the "Clawgrass" style that has been made popular by Mark Johnson. I don't play hardly any 3-finger style any more. I'm playing without picks, and am using a banjo just like Mark's that I got on this site about a year ago. The Neat/Pass Bluegrass Woody is just too nice to be sitting around in the case. I want someone to play it. As the article states, you won't believe that this banjo doesn't have a metal tone ring in it. It's got plenty of power and punch, and it has that "sweet/deep woody tone" that is often associated with Bela Fleck. Here is a video of me playing it. You'll see that I'm not working very hard at all, and the sound that comes out is sweet! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFvqubPM8bE
Frank Neat charged $1,050.00 for the mahogany neck he made for me. Tony Pass' bill was $450.00. So, someone will, essentially, get this banjo for just a little more than the price of the neck. Price is firm, as I will also cover the shipping costs anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. As you can see from the photos, the resonator is in near-mint condition. The neck is, essentially, new. I haven't put too many hours of playing on it, so the frets are in great shape. The banjo comes with an excellent, Deering archtop case that is in perfect condition. Please contact me if you have any questions about the banjo. Thanks.
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