Do You Like Banjos

[John Eldredge]

Ok, totally brand new on the forum. My name is John, I am a luthier, I am from Alabahama. Over the last three days, I have been working on a "tune up" on a 1967 Gibson RB 250, and a 1982 Stelling Staghorn. (Also a 1955 Martin D28 NH which I will put on the guitar side of the forum). The Gibson was sweet and gentle, All it needed was neck adjust, fret dress, fingerboard polish and clean, head tune and intonation. The Stelling is of a different color. They are both going to a festival, this weekend, in Georgia, but after, the Stelling is gonna have to get some major surgery. Talked to Sherry and Geoff Stelling and have all the fiddly-bits lined up, so good to go.
What would you all like to see, or hear about, or whatever, in the forum. I can work, take pictures, post, if that's ok, but I would like to know what ya'll think is appropriate. These are fabulous, vintage instruments, and just being able to fiddle with them (and play them when I'm done) is a joy. Just looking to share. Tell me what ya'll think. Ciao. John

[DCCougar]

Welcome to the forum! Yeah, banjos get a bad rap, or at least a lot of derogatory jokes. I like 'em fine. In fact, I picked up a cheap Washburn just to have one around, but I haven't been playing it hardly at all, opting for my 12-strings. In any case, we always love photos, even of banjos.

[SpruceTop]

I Love Banjos!

Current Banjos:
Vega No. 2 Tubaphone
Vega 12" Old Tyme Wonder
OME North Star Walnut Brass Tone Ring
Deering Sierra Maple Flathead Resonator
Eastman EBJ-WL1 Whyte Laydie
Rickard 12" Maple Ridge Dobson
Pisgah 12" Walnut Tubaphone
Bart Reiter Regent Whyte Laydie

On Order: Ozark Custom 12" Figured Cherry Pot/Figured Cherry Neck, Brass Tone Ring

[rick-slo]

Do like bluegrass. First got interested in banjos from watching the
"Beverly Hillbillies" TV show and more interested from listening to
the Dillards albums. Got an Art Gariepy 5-string banjo in the mid
1960's.

For example from the Dillards:

[mesa]

I really like the sound of a gourd banjo, but don't play one

[Steve DeRosa]

We do - but we don't talk about it in polite company...

[DBW]

I like banjos. I grew up watching Grandpa Jones and Roy Clark with my Dad. Sometimes I strum Dueling Banjos with my Guitar. Some people don't like when I do this because they watched Deliverance. I also don't have a banjo partner. I don't have one yet but I will one day. I like the all-black ones- Deering Midnight I think they're called.

[Paul Roberts]

Hi John. That's an impressive gathering of instruments you have on your workbench.
Alabahama. Is that anywhere near Colorahado? If so, perhaps we can do some business.
I began playing banjo on a '62 bowtie RB-250, back when it was made. From there I migrated to a Vega Tubaphone tenor, which Bob Givens converted to a 5-string for me, when his shop was still in his parents' garage.
These days I'm into cello banjos.
I'd like to know how you're tuning the heads. I'd never used a drum-dial, until recently and I'm impressed with the refinement it brings to the tone, at least on the cello banjo. Funny it's taken me so long to get into the drum-dial, since I'm pretty finicky about most of the other adjustments a banjo affords.
Do you use one?

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Paul Roberts

Hi John. That's an impressive gathering of instruments you have on your workbench.
Alabahama. Is that anywhere near Colorahado? If so, perhaps we can do some business.
I began playing banjo on a '62 bowtie RB-250, back when it was made. From there I migrated to a Vega Tubaphone tenor, which Bob Givens converted to a 5-string for me, when his shop was still in his parents' garage.
These days I'm into cello banjos.
I'd like to know how you're tuning the heads. I'd never used a drum-dial, until recently and I'm impressed with the refinement it brings to the tone, at least on the cello banjo. Funny it's taken me so long to get into the drum-dial, since I'm pretty finicky about most of the other adjustments a banjo affords.
Do you use one?

I have a Digital Drum-Dial that I've only used once to check the tension on my Pisgah Custom12-inch Walnut Tubaphone. The tension as received from Pisgah was very even on all 18 brackets. That was about 4 years ago and I've not used the Drum-Dial since then. It's a handy device to have and I really should check all my banjos.

[Bob Womack]

Back in the '70s I had a friend who as a teen, played banjo. I lived in Knoxville, TN, so that was fairly normal. But this guy was good. Even as a teen he had a Gibson RB250 and could make it sing. I bored him by asking him to play bass in my rock group but he did it. He started building instruments, starting with a mountain dulcimer and worked his way up to hammered dulcimers. While he was in college he took time off and went to a school for Luthierie in Vermont. He offered me his #1 guitar. I was a student and couldn't afford it. Darn.

A few years later he started building Old Time banjos, you know, non-resonator banjos. We've stayed in touch and I've watched his career blossom to where he has become one of the most respected banjo makers in the country. Have you heard of David Ball Banjos? Here he is in 1990:



HERE is one of his banjos for sale.




Bob

[Rudy4]

Dave Ball is a talented A grade open back banjo builder and is featured in the Craig Evans "Conversations with North American Banjo Builders", available in the Smithsonian Folkways collection of music-related videos.

https://folkways.si.edu/conversation...rs/smithsonian

[posternutbag]

As a bluegrass guitarist, I have a “love/hate” relationship with the banjo. On the one hand, when a pre war Gibson flathead is to my left rolling hard, I curse having to overdrive my acoustic guitar to keep up, but on the other hand, I have been in some bluegrass adjacent bands without a Scruggs style banjo, and boy do I miss it when it isn’t there.

[John Eldredge]

Originally Posted by Paul Roberts

Hi John. That's an impressive gathering of instruments you have on your workbench.
Alabahama. Is that anywhere near Colorahado? If so, perhaps we can do some business.
I began playing banjo on a '62 bowtie RB-250, back when it was made. From there I migrated to a Vega Tubaphone tenor, which Bob Givens converted to a 5-string for me, when his shop was still in his parents' garage.
These days I'm into cello banjos.
I'd like to know how you're tuning the heads. I'd never used a drum-dial, until recently and I'm impressed with the refinement it brings to the tone, at least on the cello banjo. Funny it's taken me so long to get into the drum-dial, since I'm pretty finicky about most of the other adjustments a banjo affords.
Do you use one?

Hi Paul. I'm in the Bahama part of 'bama; sandy beaches, palm trees, magnolias, and honeysuckle riding on the vine. We do have roads though (got them a couple years ago) and can get purt' near anywhere, now
I do use a drum-dial to refine the process. I start by simply mechanically tightening cross-pattern-wise till the nut resistance feels right and they all feel pretty uniform. Then I run the drum-dial over the perimeter targeting about 92 (different targets for different heads). Tune to pitch and then tap tune in a hex pattern to G#(or G, or A, or whatever, depending on what voice the customer wants). Final check with the drum dial.
For head tuning, I have a setup with a directional mike and a spectrum analyzer that's accurate to within 0.05 Hz. Way more than necessary, but I use it for evaluating wood and voicing guitar plates and bodies at various stages of a build; it's just really convenient. I call it 'bonging'.

[John Eldredge]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Back in the '70s I had a friend who as a teen, played banjo. I lived in Knoxville, TN, so that was fairly normal. But this guy was good. Even as a teen he had a Gibson RB250 and could make it sing. I bored him by asking him to play bass in my rock group but he did it. He started building instruments, starting with a mountain dulcimer and worked his way up to hammered dulcimers. While he was in college he took time off and went to a school for Luthierie in Vermont. He offered me his #1 guitar. I was a student and couldn't afford it. Darn.

A few years later he started building Old Time banjos, you know, non-resonator banjos. We've stayed in touch and I've watched his career blossom to where he has become one of the most respected banjo makers in the country. Have you heard of David Ball Banjos? Here he is in 1990:

Bob

That's a great story, Bob. I know "of" David Ball, but have not had the opportunity to hear him, or play any of his instruments. Something I will have do.
John

[mr. beaumont]

I do, quite a bit. I'd really like to own a plectrum banjo some day. Welcome aboard, I'd be very interested in seeing your work.