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www.budbennett.com
Playing Since: 1978
Experience Level: Purty Good
budbennett has made 165 additions to Banjo Hangout
Interests:
[Socializing]
Occupation: library guy and stained glass artist
Gender: Male
Age: 46
My Instruments:
Stelling Whitestar, Nechville Phantom, STEALTH!
Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Butch Robins, Tony Trischka, Leon Hunt, Courtney Johnson, David Grisman, Sam Bush, Funkadelic, Grateful Dead, New Grass Revival, many many others....
Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 8/10/2005
Last Visit 11/20/2009
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @5:45:44 AM
When I saw that Tom Nechville was going to be at Merlefest, I figured he would be driving right by town on his way to and from there, so I asked him if he could stop somewhere close and look at my Phantom. He said sure and we ended up meeting at a music shop called The Fretmill in Roanoke Virginia. (By the way, Roanoke is home to John Lawless of the Bluegrass Blog and John happened to be in the Fretmill with his camera and I suspect he will post pictures of the following on his blog site.)
So, I walked into the Fretmill and met Tedd who was sitting on a stool playing a Nechville Classic- Tedd is a nice guy and pretty funny too and I visited with him while Tom and Al talked to the store owner. I had come for a banjo tune-up, so the guys had me play a bit for them so they could get a feel for what exactly *I* needed from the banjo. Tom took my banjo and within maybe two minutes had it sounding better with a few tweaks and he handed it back to me. I played and Tom took it back and tweaked more and it sounded much better. The an amazing thing happened, Tom turned into a mad scientist almost- he took off the neck and showed me all of the inner workings then started making adjustments, handed the neck to Al and was tweaking the pot, he'd move from where the pot was to where Al had the neck and make a quick adjustment then back to the pot, then he'd talk to someone in the store, all the while handing things to Tedd and asking for differnet things form Tedd. Then magically he put it all back together and handed it to me and honest- it sounded like a TOTALLY different instrument from the one I walked into the store with.
After that we all went to lunch and talked and had a good time. During lunch Al and Tom had to conduct some business on the phone and I was again impressed with how Tom could quote prices, inventory, build options and ideas off the top of his head while eating a burger and chatting with me. Tedd kept me entertained when Tom and Al were busy. Then they were off to Charlottesville for another leg of their journey. They're great guys and I had a great time with them and now I have a much better sounding and playing banjo.
If you ever get a chance to have Tom work on your Nechville, DO IT! I feel like he listened to me play and knew what I needed form the Phantom and then he showed me how to get it. I am totally impressed and amazed at the new sound I'm getting. The playability was great before but now it's amazingly easier to play.
Nechville is a fantastic brand and should I find myself with a pocket full of cash anytime soon I am going to have a hard time deciding on whether I want a Nechville with the Cascade inlay or the Heart Blossom inlay. That Heart Blossom one is gorgeous and I am very tempted to make a stained glass of the first flower in the pattern, I've actually got it all mapped out in my head what I'd do and what the border would be. I might have to ask Tom about that soon as I have some time in the glass shop.
Anyway, enough rambling. If you have a Nechville, get Tom to work on it for you sometime!
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Jerry Rabun
Nerdgoggles Bridge
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Stelling Whitestar (10 photos)
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