Been bitten by the Banjo bug

[roylor4]

Get a used Deering or Goldtone. Play good. Sound good. Sell later if you decide to and lose little or no money.

I crummy banjo to start on is a waste of money and destined for the local CL classifieds in short order.

[Lacks Focus]

Cheap (new) banjos almost invariably have metal (steel or aluminum) rims instead of wood. That, coupled with the almost certain absence of a tone ring, make them sound like crap, not to put too fine a point on it. Playability isn't as much of an issue as it can be with inexpensive guitars, since the neck usually attaches to the rim with a pair of threaded rods, allowing you to adjust the angle of the neck - easy to do, though maybe not so easy to do well. The only other thing you might need to do yourself is some filing at the nut if it's too high. Bridge placement is entirely up to you, so you'll need a good ear or tuner to get it right. (BTW, once you get it in the right place, you want to change strings one at a time, or mark the bridge's location on the head with a pencil or some painter's tape if you take all the strings off.)

But all the adjustments in the world won't make up for the fact that it doesn't have the materials necessary to make it sound anything close to a good banjo. IMO.

To "paraphrase" an acronym from the bicycling world, you'll be buying not a banjo, but a BSO (banjo-shaped object).

[Slow mo bro]

what's your plan for the closeted lap steel guitar you have? (hint hint)

Long gone.

[Slow mo bro]

If I were to look for a better model ie. Gold tone or Deering, what am I looking for? There are a few what looks like new Gold Tones for $200-$230. Are they the lower end models with lower end accoutrements I presume.

[Denny B]

Originally Posted by PTC Bernie

I left a banjo in an unlocked truck one day. When I came back there were three more.

I never get tired of telling that joke.

And then there's my favorite:



"A gentleman is a man who can play the banjo, but doesn't." - Mark Twain

[Lacks Focus]

Here are my suggestions. Keep in mind they're just my opinions, and how well they correlate to what's actually out there at what a beginner might consider to be a reasonable price point, I don't really know.

Look for a wood rim if possible. It’ll probably be laminated, and that’s OK at this price point.

A tone ring would be nice, but it’s probably out of your price range. If they provide one, you want it to be cast, and ideally from bell brass, or better, bell bronze.

A cast metal flange is better than a stamped or pressed one.

A resonator isn’t a necessity unless you plan to play the instrument in band or jam settings, as it’s there to redirect the sound out to the front instead of it getting soaked up by your abdomen. That’s the real reason resonators exist, though some misguided folks will tell you one is strictly for old-time (open-back) and the other for bluegrass (resonator). Entry level resonators will probably be laminated wood, and that’s OK.

Some method of capoing the 5th string is going to be necessary if you’re going to play in other keys. Most entry level banjos don’t come with anything like that, but some might. If they do, that’s a plus. There are sliding capos that mount a track permanently on the side of the neck, next to the 5th string, while others install little model railroad spikes in the surface of the fretboard that you can hook the 5th string under.

Tuning machine quality is going to be all over the map. You want geared, not friction, though you may find that the 5th string tuners are only friction. You may just have to take what tuners are on the instrument, as the other parts of the instrument are the ones that affect the quality of the sound, and where you should focus your interest/money.

Hope that's of some help. Good luck.

[roylor4]

Yeah, everything that Craig says pretty much rings true.

My wife plays both Deering and Goldtone banjos.

The Deering Goodtime stuff is all very good. I actually prefer the tone of my wife's Goldtone openback to her Goodtime resonator banjo, but both are very nice instruments. She got the Goldtone used for a little over 2 bills and has played the dickens out of it.

I don't know anything about the Goldtone composite and therefore cannot comment on them. I would go with a wooden rim - tried and true. She has a CC-100 open back and it plays and sounds great.

Can't go wrong with a Goodtime either IMHO.

BTW - Having railroad spikes installed is a fairly cheap process. If you get one you will understand the need for them in short order - especially if you play with others.

[dgaemc2]

I too was recently struck by the banjo bug and have really been enjoying my Deering Goodtime 2 with resonator! I highly recommend saving up some cash to buy it new......or buying one used and save some cash!

My Goodtime sounds very good to me, feels great to play, has good intonation across the fretboard, and stays in tune.

I am finding the banjo to be a very fun new instrument for me to learn and play with my Goodtime 2!

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[jjtrain]

I'd have to join the Goodtime crowd on this one. Before I picked up the guitar, I wanted to learn banjo so I spent weeks researching them, then decided a guitar was better... ...and I still don't regret it.

A Deering Goodtime I (that's a one '1') banjo runs for about $350 online and should be a similar price in a store. Getting one of these is like getting a yamaha guitar, sounds decent enough, but sturdy as a rock and you can use it as a paddle when you're up the creek without one.

Out of all the different banjos, the Deering Goodtime series was the only line of banjos that was universally recommended to me, followed closely by Gold Tone. I think Recording King produces a decent banjo, or at least that's what I heard.

Gretsch might be another one to look at.

If you want an easier instrument to learn, I've seen these 6 stringed banjos that are tuned identically to a guitar. Actually, it's a cross-breed between a guitar and a banjo. Gives banjo like sound when fingerpicking, but a guitarist doesn't have much of a learning curve to it. If you can fingerpick a guitar in a clawhammer, travis, or scruggs style, you'll do fine on one of those I'm sure and most people don't know the difference. However, such a banjo I think is looked down upon by banjo players and guitarists alike, simply because it's a novelty and "not a serious instrument", whatever that means. I guess some people take music too seriously.

You might also want to look into tenor banjos. The chicago style tuning is DGBE, just like a guitar's treble and mid-range strings. Chords are pretty simple and the picking must be pretty easy with only four strings. They are an odd instrument, but are seen often in Country, Bluegrass, Blues, Irish, and american folk music.

Good luck, I hope a cure can be found because banjos are a whole different animal. There's no way I could be fast enough, or smart enough to play a banjo with any decency. I like to strum and do a sloppy travis pick.

--James

[wood&wire]

+7 on the Goodtime. I recently acquired a Goodtime Classic. For around $580 it comes with the tuning knobs on the back of the headstock, 5th string railroad spikes pre-installed at the 7th, 9th, and 10th frets, and a frailing scoop at no extra charge. The wood is also stained to look like mahogany instead of the blonde wood of the regular Goodtime.

http://elderly.com/new_instruments/n...CGOODSCOOP.htm

[6L6]

See a doctor before it's too late!!!

[H165]

"I'm sitting here staring at an open back Harmony that was used as a starter guitar."

Wow, that must be quite a conversion!