(gretsch)Ode style C opinions
marc gijsen
I want to purchase a Ode style C 5 string banjo. Hearts and flowers inlays.
As far as I could find out it's a Gretsch Ode, one of the last banjo's they
made'('80's). Am I right? The seller asks 1500 ? (about 1200 u.s. dollar)
with HSC for this banjo in mint condition.
Any advice? Reasonable price? Sound?
Marc
Mike Stanger
"marc gijsen" <marce...@home.nl> wrote:
Hi, Marc...
If the peghead has only the ODE inlay, it's most likely one of the late
models. Earlier Gretsch-Baldwin Odes have a metal ribbon above the "ODE"
with "Baldwin" silkscreened onto the ribbon. The first Baldwin made Odes
have a pearl ribbon with Baldwin engraved into it. (these banos have a
slightly different peghead shape than later ones). Gretsch was a
division of Baldwin pianos during much of the Ode production, and made
most of the Baldwin Ode banjos. They also made B&D and Bacon banjos,
too- Gretsch bought out the Bacon Co. in the late 30's, and continued
making Bacons until the Gretsch Co. was finally shut down by Baldwin in
the late 80's. One of the Gretsch family, Fred Gretsch III, eventually
bought the company in the early 90's and revived it, and then sold it to
the Fender Guitar Co. in 2002.
Pre-Baldwin Odes have only "Ode" inlayed into the peghead, and have to
leaf inlays above the letters.
The C Model is a very good banjo- a real sturdy, good sounding
workhorse. The rims are multi-ply (common during the time period they
were made), and they have a very heavy brass one piece flange. The Ode
flathead tone ring is close in dimension to a Gibson but somewhat
shorter and has a slightly different angle on the inside of the ring.
They have a different tone than a Gibson- more silvery and generally
brighter. They tend to sound better when set up tighter than a Gibson,
and don't have as much bass to the tone, but have good string to string
balance. The Ode tailpiece is quite massive and long, which contributes
to their singular tone. Their resonators are shallower than Gibson's,
and the scale length of the neck is longer, which allows more fretting
room on the high frets. The extra length of the scale gives the banjo's
tone more bark, and the feel of the action is different because the
strings are a little tighter when the banjo is tuned to pitch. These
qualities are part of the reason so many melodic style players tend to
favor them. It's very easy and fast to get all over the neck on an Ode,
and they can be set up with a very low action if desired.
In some ways, I think they are better than the higher-priced D Model,
which is gold plated (and thinly plated, too). They are easier to keep
looking good, for sure. The later banjos have rather narrow
fingerboards, and for some unknown reason, the nuts are slotted even
narrower, with quite a lot of room on the edges. I replaced the nut on
my D Model and widened the spacing on the slots. There is less room on
the edges of the fingerboard now, but I've never had any problem with a
string slipping off the edge of the board, and the spacing is better
now. If you buy the banjo, you may want to have this done.
A good clean C Model can go for $1500, but this seems to be about the
top of their price range. If the banjo has medium-heavy playing wear and
tear, you might want to negotiate the price, but if it's clean and not
beat up, it could be worth the money. The Odes seem to be getting more
attention these days than just a few years ago, so I think your
investment would be pretty good. You would probably get your money back
after a couple of years if you wanted to sell it, but it will most
likely stay at the same price level for several years to come. As a
player, Odes are hard to beat, I think.
regards,
Stanger