Heartland (Robin Smith) style RB-18 flathead Top Tension, mahogany neck and resonator, amber tuners, gold plated, style 18 engraved tension hoop, genuine prewar (replated) Presto tailpiece, radius fingerboard with art deco inlay, back of resonator is curved (convex), inside is flat (just like the prewar Gibson TT resonators). I got this banjo in a trade and was told the original rim and flathead tone ring were replaced with prototype Sullivan floor rim and V-35 tone ring by Bill Sullivan a few years ago.
Whatever was done, this is one of the most powerful, most melodic, cleanest, loudest, and warmest sounding TT I have ever played and in some ways it sounds better than my '39 Gibson style 7 flathead, in my opinion.
The only negative about this banjo is the neck. It is fairly chunky and, quite frankly, just a little too big for my hands and I was about to send it to Arthur Hatfield to have it slimmed down a bit. If you buy it and find the neck too large, I'll cover the labor cost for Arthur to make it smaller. Also, there is a 1 inch "scar" on the resonator (shown in photo) and the arm rest gold has mostly worn off.
My reason for selling.....I found another nice prewar and something has to go to keep the wife as happy as possible.
Comes with new radius capo and a reasonably decent case.
BTW.....I'll probably have Charlie Cushman do a complete setup on it this weekend.
I have posted three videos made on my I-phone this morning (not the best quality) with two songs played on the Heartland and the third on my prewar Gibson (just for comparison purposes).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1palsRFofCU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGj2YzBnx4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6yuaNHShNw
IF YOU ARE NOT PLEASED WITH THE BANJO, CONTACT ME WITHIN 48 HOURS AFTER RECEIPT AND, UPON RETURN IN ORIGINAL CONDITION, A FULL REFUND (LESS ANY OUTLAY ON MY PART) WILL BE GIVEN.
$3,300 or best reasonable offer.
Thank you for your interest and please let me know if you have any questions.
Allen
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