Hello, I was wandering what was better a master tone or a true tone banjo. I’m thinking of getting another banjo, because mine right now is neither of these. I am also wandering what the difference was between the 2.
True tone and master tone
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By “Mastertone” I assume you mean a Gibson Mastertone, which can be anything from a 2000’s RB-250 to a pre-war flathead costing upwards of $100K. Gibson doesn’t make banjos anymore, so any Mastertone you acquire will be used.
(I will mention that Gold Tone acquired the Mastertone trademark in recent years, but 95% of the time when the average person says “Mastertone” they’re still referring to Gibson.)
Truetone refers to Huber banjos, some of which are closely modeled after Mastertone designs and others which are a little more unique in aesthetics. Huber still makes banjos, just not at a very rapid rate, so you may end up wanting to buy used.
As far as models/variation within these, it all depends on what you want. I recommend reading up/watching videos on the different models such as the Style 3, Style 4, Style 75, and Granada (which are some of the most common/quintessential banjo styles). Wood type is the primary difference between these, along with aesthetics— e.g. the Style 3 is a mahogany banjo and almost always nickel plated, and the Granada is a gold plated maple banjo.
Also in the world of pre-war Mastertones, you’ll commonly run into banjos called “conversions”. This typically refers to a banjo that started life as a tenor (TB) or plectrum (PB) banjo, and was converted to a five-string (RB). An original five-string flathead banjo is the “holy grail”, similar to prewar Martin guitars or Lloyd Loar mandos, but most pre-war banjos you encounter are conversions.
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Thanks for the info!
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