Playing Since: 1965
Experience Level: Purty Good

Gender: Male
Age: 79

My Instruments:
Primarily a banjo player, but gotta have a good guitar around. I play vintage instruments, mostly old pre-war Gibson banjos.

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Created 4/24/2011
Last Visit 12/18/2013

I retired in 2001 and moved from Alaska back to southern Maine, which is where I was born. I owned music store in Wabash, IN in the late 70s early 80s named The Bandstand. We met lots of great pickers and great folks through that store. Some of the best memories of my life. A number of the folks have contacted me after seeing my bio, and it is great to know that the store was well thought of. Back then I got into building necks for tenor Gibson banjos, which could be had for a couple hundred dollors at the time. I also built complete banjos based on the pre-war Gibson design. Anyway, after retiring I needed a couple of necks for some old Gibsons that I had so I started making some. Well, I told a couple of friends what I was doing and they said, send them one so they could try them. Pretty soon they started talking about them on the hangout and now it doesn't feel like I'm retired anymore. The difference is that I really love what I am doing now over when I was in the rat race. I have been collecting old Gibsons, anything 1964 and older, and using these to convert into Mastertone style Gibson banjos. As many of you know, they are basically the same pot assembly as the coveted pre-war Gibsons and make great conversions, usually at a fraction of the cost of a pre-war. Anyway, that's how I fill up my days. I have met so many nice people through this new chapter of my life. People that started out as customers but have become close friends. Thank you all for that. I always love to chat, and learn more about the old Gibsons...Bill