Well, here it is, the Huber True Tone banjo you've been wanting. This Kalamazoo, which I bought new from Huber in January 2010 (after it had been assembled all of two days), has since had a full True Tone upgrade, with HR-30 ring and engineered rim. The Kalamazoo model is a copy of Steve Huber's original style 75 in that it has a straight grain maple neck and a radiused fingerboard.
This is, quite simply, the best new banjo I've ever played. It is one of those instruments that is completely open: just brush the strings and it gives you everything it's got in both tone and volume. The tone is superb for a new banjo, with wonderful old-sounding overtones, especially on the third string. It is rock solid up and down the neck tone-wise. At the same time it is a powerhouse of a banjo, making it especially good for people who don't pick hard. In fact, the volume is really startling, which also means that you can pull all the tone out of the banjo without having to dig in to reach it. The fourth string is a monster on this instrument as well. This Kalamazoo has the best of the maple sound, meaning that it has sustain, but without ringing on too terribly long so that the note separation remains outstanding as well. I can tell you that the True Tone upgrade made a great banjo into an incredible banjo. And with ten years of playing it will be at yet another level, as it will gain further tonal complexity with time.
Why am I selling it? I recently found a Huber from 2003 that has had the heck played out of it for all these of years, and it got the True Tone upgrade just before I bought it. To my ear all that playing time has helped that banjo develop. I have no doubt whatsoever that this Kalamazoo will gain the same complexity for whoever puts the time in on it.
I have over $5K in the Kalamazoo. In addition to the upgrade, it has two Keith tuners and I'm including the pricey Huber capo since it, like the neck, is radiused. I've decided to take a bit of a hit on the price in order to get it to its next owner. And you may know that the turn-around time over at the Huber shop is pretty long these days, so if you order yourself a new True Tone it will be a bunch more money and maybe a year's wait. Here's a great one you can have now.
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