The banjo was manufactured by Saga Musical Instruments, South San Francisco CA, at their factory in Japan.

The Serial Number is 810345. The banjo's original factory tone ring is still intact.

Tom has played this banjo on every recording session from 1986 (starting with the Johnson Mountain Boys Requests album) to 2006 (on the yet to be released track, Foggy Mountain Rock, and continues to play the Gold Star each month on mp3s for Banjo Newsletter. Even on the 1992 Lynn Morris album The Bramble and the Rose, where Tom is holding a Gibson RB-4 in the cover photo, he played the Gold Star on the recording.

In its current configuration, the tailpiece and neck are not original. Tom replaced the original factory neck in 1997 with a Frank Neat copy. The Presto tailpiece came from Snuffy Smith in 1997 to replace the Kershner that Tom swapped from his 1977 Stelling Bellflower when he first acquired the Gold Star in 1981.

Tom uses stainless steel National fingerpicks made in the late 1960s / early 1970s. The thumbpick is a Dunlop calico heavy.

Tom uses GHS PF185 Almost Medium strings. The bridge is a Snuffy Smith .656" with standard string spacing.