1980 ODE 6505 Style C 5-String Resonator Banjo, Walnut, Original Gretsch Case

This is a 1980 ODE 6505 Style C, a walnut five-string resonator banjo built in Booneville, Arkansas in the final year of ODE production. The rim label reads MODEL NO. 6505, SERIAL NO. 3-80-30, MADE IN U.S.A., which dates it to March 1980. It has a professionally done neck repair near the heel and a non-original clamshell tailpiece, and it comes in its original Gretsch case.

It has been played, and it sounds like it. The tone has the depth that a walnut pot develops over forty-five years of use. Geoff's verdict in the demo: "It's just an extraordinary banjo."

Style C is the walnut trim level, and this instrument matches that spec throughout: walnut neck and resonator, a laminated center stripe down the back of the neck, two concentric purfling rings in the back of the resonator, and cream binding. The fingerboard is ebony with pearl fleur-de-lis and half-moon inlays, and the peghead carries the block-letter ODE logo with a fleur-de-lis beneath it. Hardware is nickel, with a one-piece flange, a geared fifth string tuner with a pearloid button, pearloid buttons on the four main tuners, and an armrest.

Condition: Geoff's first words in the demo are "There's no scratches and nothing, the frets look brand new," and the photographs bear that out. The finish is glossy, with light wear: a few small marks on the back of the neck and on the heel cap. The metal has been shined. Years ago the neck cracked near the heel, and it has been professionally repaired. It is visible in the photographs and we have not tried to hide it. In Geoff's words, it "doesn't affect the structure, the strength, the playability of the banjo," and it is the reason he priced this one about $500 lower. The clamshell tailpiece is not original. Everything else you see is as it came to us.

Why a Gretsch case? Because in 1980 ODE and Gretsch were the same company. Baldwin bought ODE in January 1966 and Gretsch in 1967, and moved both to Arkansas. The case is correct to the instrument.

• 1980 ODE 6505 Style C, serial 3-80-30, made in the USA
• Walnut neck and resonator, laminated center stripe, two purfling rings, cream binding
• Ebony fingerboard, pearl fleur-de-lis and half-moon inlays
• Nickel hardware, one-piece flange, armrest
• Non-original clamshell tailpiece
• Professionally repaired neck crack near the heel
• Original Gretsch hard case
• Right-handed

Banjos we ship from our shop are set up by our banjo tech Tara. Banjo Warehouse has been selling fine banjos since 1980, now based in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Free shipping. Call or text Geoff at (404) 218-8580.