Best banjos: Our top picks The Recording King Elite Flying Eagle is a dream contemporary banjo, inspired by an icon of the past - the legendary Gibson Mastertone. It’s a powerfully voiced, handcrafted ...

John Bernunzio, head of Bernunzio Vintage Instruments in Rochester, N.Y., explains why: Few musicians want to play an old banjo--the one big exception being Gibson Mastertone bluegrass banjos from ...

Although the Mastertone was mass-produced, only about 200 remain of this superior prewar vintage. Still, the Gibson isn’t the Goliath of the collection. Having first heard the banjo as a ...

Country Music Hall of Fame member Scruggs' Gibson RB-Granada Mastertone banjo -- heard on his 1950 composition "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," played alongside Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys ...

Maybe $3,000. Might have been as much as $5,000. APPRAISER: This is a 1929 Gibson Mastertone banjo. We took the back off, we looked at the serial number. Firmly 1929. It has gold hardware.

Epiphone is celebrating American roots music in a big way for 2024 with a new Bluegrass Collection that features an Inspired By Gibson Earl Scruggs Golden Deluxe banjo, Mastertone Bowtie Open Back ...

Missoula musician Lon Ishler is still in shock after his cherished 1965 Gibson Mastertone banjo went missing from his van earlier this week. “I know people say that things can mean everything to ...

Today, we are grateful and elated to celebrate the donation of another such treasure ­– Earl's Gibson RB-Granada Mastertone banjo ­– an instrument made iconic by the creative power of the ...

In 1939, Odell "Speedy" Tolliver left his home in far southwest Virginia for Washington, D.C. He had a suitcase and a Gibson Mastertone banjo he'd bought brand-new for $135, a small fortune in the ...