Used

1998 Gibson RB-6 Sparkle 5-String Banjo – Used

Original price was: $6,500.00.Current price is: $5,525.00.

Pickup available 211 Lambert Ave, Palo Alto, CA

Details
Specs

Gibson’s Style 6 Mastertones have always been rare, and the original versions were only in production for about a decade beginning in late 1927. Gibson’s reissues of Style 6 were also made in limited numbers, starting in 1995 and disappearing a dozen years later. And this example is even more rare as it has a 40-hole archtop tone ring. (We don’t have any production totals for how many of the reissues were done in gold sparkle/Argentine gray sunburst like this one versus those with “checkerboard” binding.) While both the finish and the gold plating on this example are in excellent condition, this banjo did get played, as indicated by the wear to the first 5 frets (there are some shirt button squiggles to the lacquer on resonator). It’s original throughout with the exception of the tuners, which have been changed to a new set of Gibson-branded engraved gears (the button on the 5th peg was changed to match the headstock set). FON stamped on the inside of the shell, btw, is 6-9801-1. An excellent sounding Mastertone, and the combination of the gold sparkle binding and dramatic Argentine gray sunburst makes it a banjo that really stands out in a crowd of RB-3s and Earl Scruggs models!