gtaunton - Posted - 09/29/2009:  05:54:51

Just curious about how long you guys think it takes for a banjo to be "broken in." I've had a Blackjack for a couple of years now and it seems like it starting to come out of its shell some now.

The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD (Isaiah 38:20).

Forrest - Posted - 09/29/2009:  06:06:16

I'm going through the same thing with a Huber Berkshire that I bought back in late March. I've played it almost exclusively and it's seen a minimum of an hour of practice time a day, with twice weekly jams, festivals, band practices and gigs added in on top. I'm just now starting to see it open up some and start to break in, mainly in the sense that the tone is deepening and starting to broaden some. The head tension and tuning has also started to stabilize. I can't wait to see what happens over the next year or two.

"Run, Forrest, Run!"

Bagpussfrog - Posted - 09/29/2009:  06:15:01

Instruments definately improve the more you play them. I have a Lowden handmade acoustic guitar from Ireland, and I've had it for about 6 years, It sounds better now than it ever did, and I'm sure banjo's are no different. Indeed my Wildwood is already sounding loads better than when I bought it,

I think the more you play, the more the vibrations affect the tonewood, so it opens up the sound and improves the tone. I'm no expert though, I'd loive to hear if anyone has a more informed opinion than mine ;P

_________________________________________________________________________
When you want genuine music - music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whiskey, go right through you like Brandreth's pills, ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pinfeather pimples on a picked goose - when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!

Mark Twain
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CoolSpring - Posted - 09/29/2009:  07:32:07

When I got my RB-250 I could tell a significant difference for the first few months and then it gradually slowed down and started to stabilize. I had to tighten the head a few time among other tweaks. There were times later on within that first year that I seemed to notice a slight difference usually for the better. Somewhere around the 18 month period give or take a month or so it seemed to change a little for the worse and for a while there was something that I didn't like but I couldn't tell what it was. That only lasted for a brief time though. Now at about the two year mark I think that it sounds better than ever, great tone. From what I have seen I think that the "breaking in" period depending on how much you play falls somewhere within that first year but I think that it will still change slightly from time to time for years down the road. That's my opinion.

goldtopia - Posted - 09/29/2009:  08:25:12

It seems looks like there are some characteristic differences in the way different types pf banjo wood matures. Even though there is some maturity in the wood before it is machined there is even evidence by what people say that there are further changes after machining after the banjo is made for the next two or three years, making an appreciable difference to the sound. I am not an expert in these matters, it seems like a release of inner properties and then a further release from the inner soul ( so to speak) due to the relinquishing of its outer machineing for the finished product. This is what I suspect but can easily be proven wrong by the experts. Mot all woods behave the same way requiring different maturing times and drying conditions at various seasonal times. I don't know if there really is an expert in these matters apart from Desert Rose, as I cannot think of any other.

Bill.O

www.bluegrassminstrels.co.uk

1four5 - Posted - 09/29/2009:  08:52:57

Just my personal opinion, but I think finding the right set up and letting it seat and settle and the parts work together, does more than playing a banjo for a long time hoping it will sound better someday. When both come together then that's magic.

Dean

3fingers - Posted - 09/29/2009:  09:12:47

I with Dean on this one. I'v got a RB-75 VL that shipped out of Gibson in May of this year and not to long after went to Charlie Cushman for a set up and I'm not noticing any drastic changes as of yet some days it really sounds like its "on" but nothing drastic and I dont know if it makes any difference but it spends very little time in the case, just to and from practice and shows,the rest of the time its on a stand next to its older RB-3 brother or grandpa LOL

Craig
http://www.myspace.com/borrowedtyme2
Come along down to the barnyard lets have us a little banjer pickin
Jeremiah 6:16
Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8 10:9, 10:13, 1st John 5:10-13.

Pepper Laing - Posted - 09/29/2009:  09:16:03

I also think after spending some time getting to know your banjo, you start to find the sweet spots that were always there to begin with, and you then start to play that banjo more on the sweet spots. It takes time to find them.

www.myspace.com/pepperlaingt...nestarkillers

beegee - Posted - 09/29/2009:  09:22:17

Yeh, it's the thousands of moving parts of the banjo that have to rub against each other and wear down the rough edges. Add liberal amounts of goofer-dust to speed up the process.

Seriously now...it's not like breaking-in a new saddle or a pair of boots. I think it has more to do with getting used to the sound and feel of a new banjo than it does with anything magical that happens in the structure. Does wood at 15% moisture dry out more if the environment is at 79% humidity? Does a tone ring that was machined 12 months ago and plated 9 months ago, undergo some radical change in dimension or density when mated with other parts? I think not. If tweaking the set-up over a many-months time period is considered "breaking-in," then maybe....


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