Clippings: Gretsch "Twenty-Five" Tenor Banjo Ad (1927)

Update: I was curious enough to check out what $25 inflated to today's money supposedly would be, and per this website it's $324.60 -- almost exactly what I'm asking for Gretsch "Twenty-Five" number 2 right on my inventory page. Not bad! However, I tend to think that if you wanted an American-made tenor of the same quality, made brand new these days (think: Deering or similar), you'd probably be looking at $900-1200 right off the bat.


So, I've worked on two Gretsch "Twenty-Five" brand tenor banjos, and I was curious as to what the heck was meant by the "25" -- 1925? Model 25? It turns out, no, it just cost $25 to purchase. This ad, from 1927, is nearly identical to an earlier 1926 ad that ran as "Just in time for the Holidays..." -- so, that probably places production of these starting in 1926.

Want to see the two that I worked on? Click here for one, and here for another.

Note that both of the ones I worked on lacked the original resonators which probably deteriorated, were swapped out, or were lost over time after removal from the banjos. Both had resonator attachment bracket marks in the middle of the dowels, which I thought had been from aftermarket resonators that were later moved to other banjos -- but apparently not!

Here's the second half of the ad. It's pretty cool to look up something in Music Trade Review and actually find it on the first search. Usually I have to dig a lot to find information about peculiar models.