I also have one of these and I must say it is a very fine instrument, despite it's being made 60 years after my Gibson. ;0)
There are very high quality banjos being made today. Even the relatively inexpensive Deering GoodTime resonator banjos (around $900.00 the last I looked) I've heard have really good tone. This is a *very* hot discussion/argument in banjo circles. Are the new Stellings, Huber's, Prucha's, Cox's, Sullivan's, etc. as "good" as the Pre-War Gibson's? My real opinion is play it, if you like it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.
There are very high quality banjos being made today. Even the relatively inexpensive Deering GoodTime resonator banjos (around $900.00 the last I looked) I've heard have really good tone. This is a *very* hot discussion/argument in banjo circles. Are the new Stellings, Huber's, Prucha's, Cox's, Sullivan's, etc. as "good" as the Pre-War Gibson's? My real opinion is play it, if you like it, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.