Gibson / Mastertone Style 11 / 1930 / Stringed Instrument
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Gibson Style 11 pot (mid 1930s)
No serial number (standard for this model). Colored maple rim, nickel hardware including the one piece pot metal flange with almost no warp, pearloid decorated resonator with red and black silkscreened designs on the back, colored finish on the sides of the resonator, white binding. Single coordinator rod, non-original Presto tailpiece, Remo head. The added tonering is nickel plated Huber high-profile flathead. The mahogany conversion neck was made by Frank Neat, it features the standard Flying Eagle inlay in the rosewood fingerboard and peghead. The neck has the white binding and blue color matching the blue tint on the resonator. The finish on the neck and peghead shows yellowing matching the prewar hue on the resonator. The tuners are Grover two-tab, the fifth string peg is Fivestar.
Style 11 was introduced in 1931 as a lower-priced standard model which had a simple brass hoop instead of the tonering, but it featured the same one-piece flange and maple rim as the Mastertone models and that is why these banjos are very popular to make the five-string conversions. RB-11 was played by Earl Scruggs when he joined Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys in 1945.
This instrument was purchased from the banjo guru Curtis McPeake back in 1996 and is set up to deliver the „prewar“ sound. The original tenor neck is not with the banjo. This is my personal instrument and can be heard on different records of P. Kůs & Fámy.
Price: USD 7.000 / Approx. € 5.273
Vintage Beauty, Czech Republic 
Vintage Beauty is a fun project which was put together by František Bašta and Martin Mikuláš from the Czech Republic in 2009. The momentum of this endeavor was driven by long felt love and admiration of vintage stringed musical instruments and their mystique. Being an active musician since 1987, Martin has played both banjo and guitar and was a member of different bluegrass and country bands in the Czech Republic through the years. František is primarily a businessman who doesn’t look toward this project only as an investor, but he also shares the passion for the aesthetic and tonal beauty of older and vintage instruments.
This project has no aspiration to become a new Gruhn Guitars or Elderly Instruments. By far we can never learn enough to close in on their knowledge and experience in the business, we don’t pursue it on full time basis and most importantly, we don’t live in a part of the world where banjos, mandolins, guitars or dobros are so frequent and move so quickly among musicians and collectors.
We don’t even know if we are building a small collection of older and vintage instruments or if we want to start it as a small business. What we know for sure is that we want to share the beauty of our instruments with other people who are interested – musicians, enthusiasts, customers or collectors. We are looking forward to communicate with you no matter if you want to discuss, buy, play or record with any of our instruments. Call us if you are looking for something you are not able to buy here, we can either get it for you or give you some advice where to ask. Also, if you are interested in any instrument presented on our web site and it doesn’t have a price tag, call us! Everything can be for sale if the conditions are right!
Best regards,
Martin & Franta
