Tone-Rings: Dobson or Bacophone or Whyte Laydie?

[SpruceTop]

Perhaps, I was a little harsh on my criticism of the Bart Reiter Galax I've just received. It's made of top-quality components and is nice and solid and I could probably live with it if it was properly setup. Bart must ship his banjos in a "raw" setup state as all the strings are high and the nut needs work on it to make it easier to fret the strings. I have 30 days to evaluate it but I'm likely to send it back soon and try something else. Thanks All for your feedback!

[Swamp Yankee]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Perhaps, I was a little harsh on my criticism of the Bart Reiter Galax I've just received. It's made of top-quality components and is nice and solid and I could probably live with it if it was properly setup. Bart must ship his banjos in a "raw" setup state as all the strings are high and the nut needs work on it to make it easier to fret the strings. I have 30 days to evaluate it but I'm likely to send it back soon and try something else. Thanks All for your feedback!

Lower action can be as simple as a lower bridge. Nut slots are another story - but easily dealt with. Lots of clawhammerists like a higher action, so there's that too.

Having said that - there's a Rickard with a full spun over rim and a Whyte Laydie tone ring at Elderly's that's freakin' gorgeous. It's never ceased to amaze me how a one-armed man can make such beautiful banjos.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Swamp Yankee

Lower action can be as simple as a lower bridge. Nut slots are another story - but easily dealt with. Lots of clawhammerists like a higher action, so there's that too.

Having said that - there's a Rickard with a full spun over rim and a Whyte Laydie tone ring at Elderly's that's freakin' gorgeous. It's never ceased to amaze me how a one-armed man can make such beautiful banjos.

Yes, a lower bridge would definitely help the Galax's playability. One of the nice things that Pisgah did was ship my 12" Walnut Tubaphone setup with an 11/16" bridge and Patrick also included a 5/8" bridge that I swapped-out and that made the banjo play like butter but still with plenty of room for hitting it hard.

Question: Does the little, white bone 5th-string string nut just sit in a round routed slot so it can be removed to sand some height off the bottom of the post? The 5th string is way too high on the Galax as received. Thanks.

[SpruceTop]

Finally, now that I've had some time to play with my new Bart Reiter Galax Whyte Laydie banjo, I'm liking it more and more. The one thing that irks me is the height of the 5th-string which is almost the same as the other strings and makes it more difficult not to hit the 5th-string when trying to pluck the 4-string. This could be easily remedied by lowering the height of the round, white bone 5th-string nut. Is this easily done by loosening the 5th string, removing the nut, sanding an appropriate amount off its bottom and replacing and restringing the 5th-string? I've never done this so I don't know if the 5th-string nut is glued in or just sitting in a routed-out round hole. Any help on this matter is much appreciated.Thanks!

[SpruceTop]

Playing today with my Pisgah 12" Walnut Tubaphone and my Bart Reiter Galax 11" Maple/Mahogany, what a wonderfully noticeable difference in tone! The Pisgah is richer and more resonant but the Reiter Galax is more punchy and in your face. If I had to choose one or the other, it would be the Pisgah for its overall tone and feel but both banjos are nice to have.

[Swamp Yankee]

I don't think the bone pip is just set in there and held in place by the strings, but you can try and see if it pulls out. Otherwise, you'll have to file the string slot down to the height you want.