Nice!
I love banjos and have had numerous. My best was a Hatfield Walnut Custom with a Huber tone ring and Cox rim, it was beautiful and sounded so great but times got tough and I had to let it go.
I was down to only 1 my first, an Baldwin ODE series 2 archtop (aluminum pot) but the other day I added a Deering Vega.
I had been wanting an open back again for a while. I had an Gold Tone Cripple Creek back when that was the only open back they sold. I was into bluegrass @ the time and my nephew wanted one for Christmas so it went to him. I also had 2 Goodtimes openback and resonator, but I never bonded with either and flipped them.
I really like ODE banjos and lusted over OME through the years. When I decided to buy an open back I saw that OME has reacquired the ODE name and are now making a mid priced banjo ($1700-$1900)models under that name. They also have a UTE line of affordable no-frills openbacks for under $900. I had read that they were using maple drum shells for these which helps keep the cost down.
On my Baldwin I can take the individual flanges, brackets, and resonator off and have essentially the Series 2 openback. So I was weighing buying a wood rimmed ODE and using it a my grasser then keeping the Baldwin as an openback. That is when I found the Vega and it fell well into my price range whereas the ODE would have exceeded the budget.
