Gibson Five-String Banjo: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This banjo was made by Gibson, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1950-1953. It is a Five-String Banjo, style RB-100, marked #7075-4, with a maple shell, neck, and resonator, sunburst finish on the back (the neck may have been refinished as it doesn’t appear to have the same sunburst finish), rosewood fingerboard with pearl position dots, 24 brackets, 2:1 Grover tuners, and a friction fifth-string peg. The peghead shape is unique to style 00 banjos. There is no tone ring or brass hoop but only a bead turned in the top of the rim to serve as a bearing for the head. Silkscreened on peghead:

”So that anyone can own a genuine Gibson regular banjo, we have created this fine model for only $27.50. Similar to style TB-00 on page 48 except has 27” scale with 22 frets and five strings.”

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1940=1942
• date made: 1940-1942
• maker: Gibson, Inc.
• Object Name: banjo
• Physical Description: maple (overall material)
• Physical Description: rosewood (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: animal skin (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 38 in x 14 in x 3 1/4 in; 96.52 cm x 35.56 cm x 8.255 cm
• place made: United States: Michigan, Kalamazoo
• ID Number: 1981.0157.01
• accession number: 1981.0157
• catalog number: 1981.0157.01
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.