You can also look for one of two types of decals inside the wooden rim.

These screws can just be undone with your fingers and once the back is removed, you will likely see a factory order number in three places…stamped into the wooden rim:Īnd written inside the resonator, both in large chalk numbers in the center, and in smaller red or brownish numbers near the edge: On some earlier Gibson banjos, the screws will have small hex-shaped heads instead of the large round heads. Kay 5 String Banjo Bell Tenor Banjo Slingerland Tenor Kay Tenor Banjo Gretsch Tenor Banjo Harmony 5 String Banjo Vega Fairbanks Tenor Banjo Style Vintage Grover Banjo Banjo 17 Fret String Banjo Made In Japan Kay 5 String Bacon And Day Fairbanks Banjo 17 Fret 1 Tenor Banjo Ss Stewart Banjo Paramount Tenor Vega Tenor Vega Little Wonder 4 String Resonator 17-Fret Tenor Banjo Vega Vegaphone Tenor. The resonator will be held in place by three or four large screws that look like the one circled in this photo: removing the resonator is no more invasive than raising the hood on a car. Most prewar and wartime Gibson banjos are actually marked with factory order numbers rather than serial numbers, but for right now you don’t need to be worried about the distinction unless you’re just especially interested! If your banjo has a wooden back, or resonator, you’ll need to remove it to get to the factory order number. ’ll-Stay-Around-DG-5218.For questions about your banjo’s serial number, please send me an e-mail. The following videos and sound files demonstrate just how good a properly set up RB- 00 can sound in its unaltered configuration with no tone ring and a 1/2″ rim. The peghead tuners are the original Klusons with Catalin buttons, while the friction fifth-string peg features an ivoroid button. It remains in original condition with the exception off a replaced tailpiece cover and a complete refret by luthier Mark Bramlett of Woodstock, Georgia railroad spikes have been added at frets seven and nine. Rumley, but this banjo is known to have been in North Carolina since the late 1940s. Gibson’s shipping ledger gives no location for J.R. factory order numbers) was shipped on Jto a J.R. #DG-5218 (see Gibson banjo serial numbers vs. A thinner maple rim, no tone ring, lighter-gauge hardware, plain dot inlays in an unbound fingerboard, and a silkscreened, rather than mother-of-pearl, peghead logo allowed Gibson to produce this model at an extremely low price while retaining the adjustable truss rod which separated Gibson-brand instruments from the company’s budget-brand offerings. “So that anyone may own a genuine Gibson regular banjo, we have created this fine model for only $27.50”, said the 1937 Gibson catalog of the RB- 00. Introduced circa 1935 and in production through World War II, style 00 was the least expensive banjo bearing the Gibson name in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Gibson banjo serial number location