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Wyatt Fawley is a very experienced building with over 30 years
of experience. He is famous for his high quality reproduction of Vega necks.
His "Retrotone" series are
a
Professional
grade of
traditional
Bluegrass banjos. Typically, his banjos have the following:
3 ply maple rim
Sand cast bronze flathead tone ring
Antique lacquer finish with shaded bindings
Dual coordinator rods in the rim
Dual action truss rod
5 star planet pegs
Double bound mahogany resonator with
tapered inner sidewalls
mother of pearl inlays in rosewood fingerboard
Painted headstock veneer of thin pearwood as on 30's banjos
Presto reproduction tailpiece
single leg brass armrest
Nickel plating
He explains:
"If you think that all of Gibson's component banjo parts are somehow "proprietary" and
you simply cannot get the same quality elsewhere, you are mistaken. Gibson's
metal parts on the new Mastertones, with the exception of pegs and tone rings,
are all from the Czech republic, and are available to other shops, even small
outfits such as ours. Gibson's wood components are not made "in house".We
use the same quality metal parts, from the same suppliers, and our banjos feature
our own unique "proprietary" flathead ring, proudly made in the USA.
Our banjos use the same brand of pegs as the new models which they are meant
to parallel. While we do not manufacture our resonators (nor do the others),
our necks ARE made completely "in house". All inlay cutting and installation
are accomplished right here, and necks are not built on pre-fabricated blanks,
but are rendered from raw lumber right here in our shop. We also use raw rosewood
and ebony to make and slot our own fingerboards."
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