WHY BUY VINTAGE?
Why buy vintage? This is just my personal opinion….I mean
I’m not trying to start a thread or anything!
There are clearly some top class makers of banjos out there so you may
well ask the question: Why buy vintage when you can buy brand spanking new?
Well first of all I want to
say that I think the quality new banjos made by the likes of Tom Cussen, Dave
Boyle, Deering and others are absolutely fantastic instruments and I cannot
criticise them one little bit and I am not criticising you if you happen to play and love your modern instrument!....I
myself own modern banjos. They do not come cheap however and I think vintage
banjos, generally thought of as pre-war offer exciting and interesting
alternatives.
The variety of designs found
on vintage instruments always amazes me and despite being in the pleasant
position of owning, albeit briefly! lots of different banjos from different
makers I still come across types of tone rings, inlay patterns, resonator
designs, engraving designs etc. etc. which I’ve not seen before and this
maintains my enthusiasm and interest in these 80 year old beauties. Because they
were hand made variations in even the same models are evident occasionally. Also
more often than not the same builders made the cheap entry level instruments as
well as the top end models, with the same care and attention to quality. Of
course there are always exceptions. eg. It has been said that you can always
spot a fake Gibson as the inlays are better than the original!
The materials used in most of these old instruments were top quality. Much
has been said about the use of slow grown wood and mix recipes of the metal
castings contributing to the tone of the banjos. I don’t know the specifics
of this but certainly to my ears these factors and the design of the different
parts such as the tone ring really do produce distinct
and very pleasant tones which sometimes are greatly different to the sound of
modern instruments as well as from other vintage instruments.
Very few banjo players who have stayed with the
instrument for any length of time are still playing the banjo they started with.
Therefore any decision regarding purchase should include some thought about
resale. Banjos are no different than most items for sale. New things depreciate
rapidly. Your competition when selling a relatively new instrument will clearly
be brand new instruments. Your price must therefore be significantly lower or
the customer will buy the new instrument. I usually recommend that people buy a
good condition older instrument as these will almost certainly appreciate in
value with time.
For me the enjoyment of playing music on an instrument which was made 80
plus years ago is not the least of reasons for choosing vintage.
RETURN TO HOMEPAGE
RETURN TO BANJOS FOR SALE