Overall Comments

This is is a repost from 10.26.2009
I have been playing mando and dobro in bluegrass bands for about 40 years. Recently I decided to start playing banjo. I started reading forums on BHO a few months ago and asked Chris to advise me on banjos, their pricing and Calton cases.

After looking at a few banjos online and based on Chris’ counsel I chose on ebay a 1996 Gibson RB4 that looked pretty grungy and played a lot but the price seemed right. He had advised me on others that were overpriced and I chose not to purchase them.

When I initially received it in a rather dilapidated original case I decided to purchase a Calton case and Chris pointed me at George Gruhn. Now I had a case in which I was comfortable shipping it to Chris in.
My first impression of the banjo was that it was played a lot and very dirty. The up the neck sounds were not consistent with what I thought a banjo of this quality should be. It looked OK. There were no major cosmetic issues. It was just very dirty. In further conversation on the phone and via email I decided to send it to him for set up.

After Chris got it and evaluated it we talked further and decided he would do the following; a complete fret job/level the fretboard ,new bon e nuts, a neckset involving moving the neck's position, clean up, speed neck, some minor lacquer touch up and repair around the truss rod cover screws, and general set up with all work geared towards maximum tone and playability.

What I got back after three weeks with Chris I was blown away. It looked like a brand new banjo and the sound far exceeds my expectations. His work is truly masterful, thorough and shows he is a complete nut job perfectionist.

His advice on packing it for shipment was very thorough and based on his experience of shipping many banjos when he worked with Steve Huber. I followed his advice on shipping it to him and got it back so well packed I think it could have been dropped out of an airplane and would have survived the hit.

At any rate I highly recommend Chris for any work on your banjo and I am happy to discuss it anytime.

Ps The banjo has been in my hands since Oct 2009 and it is phenomenal. Settled in, it is even better than the first blush. Thanks Chris!

Robin Smith

Overall Rating

10