Yates 558 Owned and Used by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco 5 String Banjo (2021)
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Yates 558 Owned and Used by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Model 5 String Banjo (2021), made in Hickory, NC, serial # Y555, shaded maple finish, laminated maple rim, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black tolex hard shell case.
This very fine Mastertone-style banjo is a recent denizen of the Wilco loft. This curly maple banjo was designed to replicate the last Granada made in 1936, TB-558-3. This is how Yates themselves describe the instrument:
"In tying to recreate these old treasures, we replicated the hand made inlays to capture even the imperfections of that time period. These old inlays were without perfect symmetry and it captured the real hands on look. Today we use CNC to cut our inlays, but the patterns were straight from the past. With that basic exception, everything else is hand made by Warren Yates."
"These banjos have the ability to sound far bigger than their physical measurements dictate. They are cannons with tone to spare, and dry, meaning no unwanted overtones to cancel sound. These banjos cut through the fog and carry sound over great distances in their own range as not to step on the other instruments in the band. You "CAN" have that $100,000 sound at a fraction of the cost."
The Yates 558 banjo does have a very traditional look down to the carefully shaded finish and aged nickel plated hardware, that looks very naturally aged in. It is marked inside the rim "Yates Aged" and signed on the label by the maker. Compared to many other modern Mastertone clones it has a somewhat dark and sweeter tone, even with a taut plastic head. This is an excellent traditional bluegrass and old-time Mastertone, one of the nicer iterations of this now-timeless design we have seen.
Overall length is 37 3/4 in. (95.9 cm.), 11 in. (27.9 cm.) diameter head, and 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 26 1/4 in. (667 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/16 in. (30 mm.).
This banjo shows signs of only light use, The clouding to the nickel plating appears largely intentional and there is some light scuffing to the finish, mostly on the resonator back. This is an excellent playing and sounding traditional styled modern Mastertone banjo, ready to go in the original HSC with the Wilco Loft markings on the bottom end of the case.
This very fine Mastertone-style banjo is a recent denizen of the Wilco loft. This curly maple banjo was designed to replicate the last Granada made in 1936, TB-558-3. This is how Yates themselves describe the instrument:
"In tying to recreate these old treasures, we replicated the hand made inlays to capture even the imperfections of that time period. These old inlays were without perfect symmetry and it captured the real hands on look. Today we use CNC to cut our inlays, but the patterns were straight from the past. With that basic exception, everything else is hand made by Warren Yates."
"These banjos have the ability to sound far bigger than their physical measurements dictate. They are cannons with tone to spare, and dry, meaning no unwanted overtones to cancel sound. These banjos cut through the fog and carry sound over great distances in their own range as not to step on the other instruments in the band. You "CAN" have that $100,000 sound at a fraction of the cost."
The Yates 558 banjo does have a very traditional look down to the carefully shaded finish and aged nickel plated hardware, that looks very naturally aged in. It is marked inside the rim "Yates Aged" and signed on the label by the maker. Compared to many other modern Mastertone clones it has a somewhat dark and sweeter tone, even with a taut plastic head. This is an excellent traditional bluegrass and old-time Mastertone, one of the nicer iterations of this now-timeless design we have seen.
Overall length is 37 3/4 in. (95.9 cm.), 11 in. (27.9 cm.) diameter head, and 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 26 1/4 in. (667 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/16 in. (30 mm.).
This banjo shows signs of only light use, The clouding to the nickel plating appears largely intentional and there is some light scuffing to the finish, mostly on the resonator back. This is an excellent playing and sounding traditional styled modern Mastertone banjo, ready to go in the original HSC with the Wilco Loft markings on the bottom end of the case.