Posted - 12/25/2009 :  20:55:56      

Just a footnote, but having only very recently learned to handle some of this fundamental setup stuff myself...I applied Geoff Stelling's basic setup list to assist a friend in bringing a 1990's Gibson RB250 'back to life'...after he'd apparently left it sitting in a closet for about the past nine years. It was a pretty 'dead' sounding banjo by this point in time and the neck definately needed some tweaking, (not to mention a brand new set of strings.)

Anyway, we found that the basic 'specs' from Geoff Stelling's setup list worked equally as well to bring this long-neglected RB-250 back to life! In fact, it sounds so good now that I don't think he'll be inclined to let it languish in a hallway coat closet again, any time soon!

Posted - 12/26/2009 :  08:42:56    

Great advice here, that I'm going to keep for reference. Still, if my old Bellflower would ever sound less than crazy-good, I could maybe justify a nice car trip to Afton, Va. for a setup by Geoff.

Posted - 12/27/2009 :  05:30:13    

Dave,, Make that trip down to Stellings whether you need a setup or not , the trip would be worth It, two other members of the HO and myself went down to Geoff's shop In Sept. We got the Grand tour through the shop and saw several Stellings In various stages of completion. Goeff and Sherry were very Gracious hosts and we had a trip to remember, I think I have a few pictures on my home page, so If you are thinking of going GO, you will be glad you did..

STELLING MAN