Goose Acres Bluegrass Model 5 String Resonator Banjo (1996)
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Item # 13440
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Goose Acres Bluegrass Model Model 5 String Resonator Banjo (1996), made in Cleveland, Ohio, serial # 821, natural finish, laminated maple rim, laminated mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original hard shell case.
Goose Acres was the family business of Bob Smakula and his father Peter H. Smakula, two names often spoken with a distinct reverence within the world of banjo lovers. After humble beginnings building dulcimers in the 1970's, a teenage Bob enlisted the aid of his father Peter, a German immigrant and all-around steward of American folk music. The pair grew a small repair operation and their "Thumb Piano Factory & Dulcimer Works" into the Goose Acres Folk Music Center. More than just a store to share the fruits of their own lutherie, it was a repair shop and a vital meeting ground that served all manner of local pickers and folkies all the way up to the likes of Norman Blake and Doc Watson. While Bob continues to this day to build and preserve fine folk instruments under his own name, Goose Acres ceased operations in 2006 and Peter passed shortly after in 2008.
This turn-of-the-12st-century Goose Acres "Bluegrass Model" 5-string is built around a standard patten Mastertone-style maple rim and cast flange with a 20-hole flathead tone ring. It is less of a straight Gibson copy than most instruments of this type. The neck and headstock are more in the classic Vega pattern than Gibson style, made of laminated mahogany with a thin center strip and topped with a dot inlaid ebony fingerboard. The headstock is faced in ebony with a small "GA" logo. It carries typical Planet tuners with large pearloid buttons, with Scruggs pegs on the G and B strings. The tailpiece is a flat-plate Kersher style and the bridge is a compensated Moon. This is a good sounding banjo, with plenty of volume but a warmer tone than some, offering a nice ringing but never brittle sound.
Overall length is 37 1/4 in. (94.6 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 1/4 in. (32 mm.).
Overall this banjo remains in fine condition, looking lightly used over the past 25 or so years. There is some surface marks to the metal hardware but very little actual playwear. It plays very well and resides in a molded fiberglass HSC. Overall Excellent Condition.
Goose Acres was the family business of Bob Smakula and his father Peter H. Smakula, two names often spoken with a distinct reverence within the world of banjo lovers. After humble beginnings building dulcimers in the 1970's, a teenage Bob enlisted the aid of his father Peter, a German immigrant and all-around steward of American folk music. The pair grew a small repair operation and their "Thumb Piano Factory & Dulcimer Works" into the Goose Acres Folk Music Center. More than just a store to share the fruits of their own lutherie, it was a repair shop and a vital meeting ground that served all manner of local pickers and folkies all the way up to the likes of Norman Blake and Doc Watson. While Bob continues to this day to build and preserve fine folk instruments under his own name, Goose Acres ceased operations in 2006 and Peter passed shortly after in 2008.
This turn-of-the-12st-century Goose Acres "Bluegrass Model" 5-string is built around a standard patten Mastertone-style maple rim and cast flange with a 20-hole flathead tone ring. It is less of a straight Gibson copy than most instruments of this type. The neck and headstock are more in the classic Vega pattern than Gibson style, made of laminated mahogany with a thin center strip and topped with a dot inlaid ebony fingerboard. The headstock is faced in ebony with a small "GA" logo. It carries typical Planet tuners with large pearloid buttons, with Scruggs pegs on the G and B strings. The tailpiece is a flat-plate Kersher style and the bridge is a compensated Moon. This is a good sounding banjo, with plenty of volume but a warmer tone than some, offering a nice ringing but never brittle sound.
Overall length is 37 1/4 in. (94.6 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 1/4 in. (32 mm.).
Overall this banjo remains in fine condition, looking lightly used over the past 25 or so years. There is some surface marks to the metal hardware but very little actual playwear. It plays very well and resides in a molded fiberglass HSC. Overall Excellent Condition.