1930 Gibson PB Granada Original Flathead w/ F. Neat Neck 5-String Banjo - Used

$81,500.00

Details

The early 1930s Gibson Granada banjos with flathead tone ring have long enjoyed near-legendary status among bluegrass banjo pickers. With a few rare exceptions, virtually all were originally made as plectrums which were later converted to 5-string models by replacing the neck (the more popular tenor versions had a different tone ring). This example is unusual as it had a storied existence for decades as a plectrum, before it began its second stage in life as a 5-string.

Paul Martin was a banjoist and band leader in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1920s who attracted Gibson’s attention by playing regularly on NBC radio. Gibson, then as now, was looking for high-profile artists to help promote their brand, and in the wake of plummeting mandolin sales it looked like banjos might be their ticket out of a financial quagmire. Believe it or not, in 1930 when Paul Martin and his wife traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan to pick out a high-grade Gibson plectrum banjo, the guitar didn’t dominate American popular music as it would years later. While Gibson had introduced showboat banjo models, such as the Florentine, with carved resonators and celluloid fingerboards, the Granada was the top Gibson Mastertone aimed at real players, and with gold plated & engraved metal parts and a profusion of pearl inlays on the figured maple neck it delivered lots of flash from any stage.

This PB-Granada began its second life when it was purchased from Martin’s widow in the mid-1980s and converted to a 5-string. Martin had altered the original neck with an additional string (not a drone string) and mounted small lights inside the shell to keep the skin head tight (the Paramount banjo company actually sold a kit for this purpose, as skin heads loosened, dulling the tone). One of Martin’s additions was fortuitous, the gold Grover Presto tailpiece is for five strings, a rare find today.

These Doehler one piece die-cast resonator flanges are somewhat fragile, and the original for this banjo was broken. A replacement flange from a 1931 TB-2 was found and gold plated. With the exception of the flange and the tailpiece, all of the metal parts are original, including the armrest and tension hoop with Granada engraving (there are a few small screws that don't match, the tailpiece hanger bolt is nickel). The original rim is Gibson’s thick 3-ply maple “fat-boy”, topped with an equally desirable heavy weight 20-hole flathead tone ring. The 9582-5 FON is stamped on the interior wall of the rim, and Gibson painted a matching number on the interior of the resonator. The inner sidewall of the resonator shows the modification Martin made to accommodate his “head lights”, and there's also a 1 1/2" section of the binding on resonator wall which has been repaired, and crack in the finish below it (see photos). We're assuming that the scratches to the Gibson decal and inner shell wall, and wear to the original coordinator rods, are also the result of the original owner's tinkering and mounting of the electric lights. (There's a period photo showing an electric cord dangling from the resonator flange.)

The original plectrum neck went missing in the late 1980s (back then original necks were rarely saved), the shell and resonator, with the exception of the flange, are much as Paul left it. The 5-string neck, made by Frank Neat in the late '80s, is an accurate reproduction of Gibson’s 1930 Granada style, and has the original 4-to-1 Grover tuners with pearl buttons. The resonator was refinished in the original sunburst coloring. For decades this Gibson Granada saw lots of use, and although the owner had a light touch there's fret wear that you can see in the photos. This vintage Mastertone hasn't been cleaned and scrubbed and polished, it doesn't squeak when you move it on your lap. It plays like what it is, an instrument that's seen lots of use in two distinct phases that cover almost a century. Comes with a Calton case