The Makings of a Great Banjo

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: kendall
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:55 PM

I love the sound of Granpa Jones' banjo. Can someone explain why his is so unique in sound quality?

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:40 PM

Two words keep appearing in this thread "sound" and "love". And the greatest of these is love. It is one thing to daydream, to speculate, to think analytically about the person you would like to fall in love with. It is something entirely different to fall in love. Love is worth waiting for.

Analysis is fun. Keep it up. I love to do it myself. But unless you are under some sort of significant pressures you haven't mentioned (you begin recording your new CD next week, etc.), don't buy a banjo just to get it over with. Judging from your other banjo thread, you are having a blast looking for a banjo. Why bring the search to a premature halt?

Finally, after you've found the banjo of your dreams, keep looking. As any banjo player will tell you, there's room in your heart for more than one dream-banjo.

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:38 PM

Thanks for your thoughts here Rick. Just wondering, was that your resonator banjo you were playing at the Freetimes Cafe? I've never seen you play that one before.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:23 PM

Seems to me I should stop analyzing the instrument so much and just buy a 'fricken' banjo already!

Little Neo

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 12:18 PM

Among the many dichotomies in my life are the way I've chosen banjos. Now anyone here for a while knows how much I love the look and feel of vintage instruments, but when it comes to banjos, my tastes have been positively WEIRD!

I've owned Harmony Bakelites (yo Don) Gibson RB 3, Deluxe Vegaphone from 1923, Cole's Eclipse from 1910, August Pohlmann Civil War Fretless, and several Vega frailers from various years.......BUT....my working banjos of choice for ove twenty years have been Japanese Ibanez and El Degas (late 60s vintage) models stripped of their flanges and resonators. Why? They're incredibly sturdy, are a bit lighter than Stelling or Deering, and I can let ANYONE play them without worrying about accidental damage. I doubt if I still owned the antique Vegaphone, I'd be passing it around a classroom for inspection.

T'other reason is that I believe with a tightening wrench, selection of heads and various peices of foam rubber, you can pretty well customize these sixties (that's important) Japanese banjos to any sound you want.

Now please Arnie...don't take this the wrong way, 'cause I know you feel about banjos the way I do about guitars and mandolins....but I LOVED the sound you got from your "kit" banjo. It's a Stu-Mac isn't it?

Local HARD playin frailer Chris Coole uses a Japanese banjo and sets it up to sound very "plunky". He uses heavy strings and high action that would intimidate many.

Saw Mike Seeger use a Gibson RB2 Mastertone as a frailer many times.....but he's excused, 'cause he was travellin' with several other instruments and you can only carry so many!

By the way, Uncle Dave, Doc Boggs, Stringbeans, and Grampa Jones all favoured resonator Gibsons and Vegas.

Rick

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: GUEST,Arnie
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 11:54 AM

At some point you have to piece all those factors in and pick out a banjo for yourself that you think could be good. Get it, and work with it as best as you can. You may end up loving it, or hating it - but there are always more banjos out there just in case. Some folks have a few different banjos to keep them happy (like me for instance). Good Luck! Arnie

Subject: RE: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: DonMeixner
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 08:40 AM

Bonnie,

I have bought several banjos and all of them different in brand and apparent quality of construction. Some I bought preferentially over "Better" banjos. When it came down to cases, I bought based on tone and touch, nothing else. I played a Harmony Bake-a-lite Sovereign for years before I got my Ode. Tone and touch, nothing more.

Don

Subject: The Makings of a Great Banjo
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 21 Nov 00 - 08:14 AM

It was an incredible adventure going banjo shopping with Guy Wolff for an open back banjo. I learned so much.
I thought it would be interesting to find out from others what they thought are the makings of a really good banjo.

I now understand the difference in some tone rings - whyte ladie is bright, tubaphones offers significantly deeper tones, and I can't quite describe the bacon tone ring but it had its own personality too.

I think I am looking for a banjo that has a pretty wide tone range, with deep undertones. I have a feeling it maybe the tubaphone.

I understand now that the pot size makes a difference. 12 inch pots offer a deeper tone than the 11 inch pots.

I can sense the depth of character/personality worked into a vintage banjo compared to a new banjo of comparative quality and construction but at this point in time, I am not prepared to spend lots of money on a vintage banjo.

The height & thickness of the bridge also affects the action, compensation and pitch. Straight thin bridges have high pitch, thick bridges have deeper tone. The moon shaped bridge can offer better harmonics.

Fibre skins heads seem to be the most popular for open back banjos. Real skin heads are too tempermental and the frosted or plastic type seem to be the best for bluegrass resonator banjos.

I still have a difficult time appreciating the potential of the banjo when you play it off the rack in the store. I've been told with a good set up, the banjo will sound so much better. How do you base what you hear in the store to what you will finally have after a good set-up?
Changing the string from light to medium gauge will help too. Often the strings on the banjos in the store are a light gauge.

I know the bottom line is.....Do you like how it sounds? How do you like the tone? How does it feel?

Just wondering what others have experienced with buying a banjo and what qualities others have based their banjo purchases on.

Bonnie