Down from the mountain

Written by Dermot on Saturday, 19 September 2009

"I got this - a Gibson 'Mastertone' RB 250 banjo - for a number of reasons. In terms of how it looks, it pretty plain and simple, which I like. It's kind of at the bottom of Gibson's Mastertone range, but that's because it doesn't have any fancy inlays or 'bling'...the materials are all good though, and that's what matters to me. Also, Dock Boggs, perhaps my favourite banjo player, used one. You'll probably see Earl Scruggs' name associated with it as well, but I believe he mostly used a Granada"

"I got this a couple of years ago and had my friend Malcolm (a banjo maker and repairer) set it up. It now plays and sounds wonderful. It's got the classic 'fiddle' headstock and seagull inlays as well, which I really like.

"This model dates from somewhere in the early 70s, which isn't deemed to be a 'classic' period by afficianados. According to some, it needs to be pre-war (or certainly the tone ring does). I'm not sure...it works very well for me.

"Mine is fitted with a schubb 5th string capo...I know a lot of players don't like these and prefer to use spikes, but - as I don't use mine exclusively for bluegrass - I sometimes play in odd keys and like the flexibility of the schubb. I've also got a Fishman pickup in there. In truth, I'd rather mic it up all the time, but that tends not to be very practical in most situations (and, unfortunately, most sound engineers just don't get acoustic instruments, I'm afraid.)"