Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers

I am getting a lot of questions about the story and the set-up of Bobby Thompson’s studio banjo, also referred to as the “Hee-Haw Banjo”, and would like to give an in-depth description of the perhaps most often recorded banjo ever. Bobby gave me the banjo in 1996 because he could no longer play it anymore due to his illness.

I’ve always loved Bobby Thompson’s banjo sound ever since I started to play the banjo in 1968. The sound of his banjo and his great musicality to me represented Nashville more than anything else.

Extremely rare, walnut 5 string banjo, built in Boulder Colorado in 1966. Serial number 277, *which is the earliest Style D in the Baldwin/Ode database. Scene by making the ODE banjo, one of the favorite instruments of the folk revival era. Instrument, and Baldwin ended buying ODE while Salstrom was later purchased. I should have checked the serial number of that one I just saw.

But as unique as his banjo sounds on the countless recordings (so far my collection of albums featuring Bobby Thompson’s excellent banjo work contains about 400 records or more) as unique are the features of this historical instrument. Alone the model name of the banjo is controversial. Bobby always spoke of his Baldwin Style E Prototype but it actually looks like a Style D except for the tailpiece and the armrest which are not engraved. Banjo aficionado Ed Britt and I inspected the banjo thoroughly and we came to the conclusion that it’s definitely a transition model from the time when ODE was taken over by Baldwin in the late 1960s. In fact it doesn’t even have a serial number. It has all the specs of a pre-Baldwin/ODE banjo but already with the Baldwin banner in the headstock.

The neck is wider and cut slightly different than on the later Baldwin/ODEs, the heel is tapered, and the truss rod adjustment is accessible from the back of the heel as opposed to via the hole in the heel plate on later models. The inlays are a little bit different, too, and it’s got that “propeller inlay” at the 22nd fret as a special feature of the older ODE necks.

The metal of the flange is significantly thinner, and it has only one coordinator rod just like the old ODEs. During the transition period they obviously changed the model name, too which later led to some confusion. Anyway, all those little differences resulting from the particular way the early ODEs were milled are minor to the modifications Bobby did himself to achieve the best sound and playability for him. Bobby as a studio musician was very sensitive in terms of how his banjo should sound and how the neck should feel.

He modified virtually every single part of his studio banjo and set it up so it would almost play by itself. Bobby picked up the banjo at the Sho-Bud store on Nashville’s Broadway in the beginning of 1967, so the banjo was most likely built sometime in the fall of 1966.

I am getting a lot of questions about the story and the set-up of Bobby Thompson’s studio banjo, also referred to as the “Hee-Haw Banjo”, and would like to give an in-depth description of the perhaps most often recorded banjo ever. Bobby gave me the banjo in 1996 because he could no longer play it anymore due to his illness.

I’ve always loved Bobby Thompson’s banjo sound ever since I started to play the banjo in 1968. The sound of his banjo and his great musicality to me represented Nashville more than anything else.

Extremely rare, walnut 5 string banjo, built in Boulder Colorado in 1966. Serial number 277, *which is the earliest Style D in the Baldwin/Ode database. Scene by making the ODE banjo, one of the favorite instruments of the folk revival era. Instrument, and Baldwin ended buying ODE while Salstrom was later purchased. I should have checked the serial number of that one I just saw.

But as unique as his banjo sounds on the countless recordings (so far my collection of albums featuring Bobby Thompson’s excellent banjo work contains about 400 records or more) as unique are the features of this historical instrument. Alone the model name of the banjo is controversial. Bobby always spoke of his Baldwin Style E Prototype but it actually looks like a Style D except for the tailpiece and the armrest which are not engraved. Banjo aficionado Ed Britt and I inspected the banjo thoroughly and we came to the conclusion that it’s definitely a transition model from the time when ODE was taken over by Baldwin in the late 1960s. In fact it doesn’t even have a serial number. It has all the specs of a pre-Baldwin/ODE banjo but already with the Baldwin banner in the headstock.

The neck is wider and cut slightly different than on the later Baldwin/ODEs, the heel is tapered, and the truss rod adjustment is accessible from the back of the heel as opposed to via the hole in the heel plate on later models. The inlays are a little bit different, too, and it’s got that “propeller inlay” at the 22nd fret as a special feature of the older ODE necks.

The metal of the flange is significantly thinner, and it has only one coordinator rod just like the old ODEs. During the transition period they obviously changed the model name, too which later led to some confusion. Anyway, all those little differences resulting from the particular way the early ODEs were milled are minor to the modifications Bobby did himself to achieve the best sound and playability for him. Bobby as a studio musician was very sensitive in terms of how his banjo should sound and how the neck should feel.

He modified virtually every single part of his studio banjo and set it up so it would almost play by itself. Bobby picked up the banjo at the Sho-Bud store on Nashville’s Broadway in the beginning of 1967, so the banjo was most likely built sometime in the fall of 1966.