Cumbus 12-string banjo Reviews

Cumbus 12-string banjo submitted 12/23/2004 Submitter Dude Stewart (see all reviews from this person) Where Purchased Lark In The Morning Year Purchased 2004 Price Paid $235 ($US) Sound Amazing sound! It sounds exactly like a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar, except it's an acoustic instrument you can play by the campfire. Bright sound, VERY loud if you lean on it, plenty loud if you don't. To get the 12-string Rick sound, I use a Dunlop .046 nylon pick, and I play about an inch in front of the bridge. As with any instrument, the sound can be varied by playing different places along the string. I've done some bare-fingers fingerpicking on it, and that sounds really pretty, too. I use Thomastik flatwound bronze strings, beginning with an .011. Sit down at a jam session and play the opening riff from the Byrds' version of "Tambourine Man", and I guarantee people will come up out of their chairs! Sound Rating 10 Setup Lark In The Morning always sets up instruments very well. All I had to do was tune it. It's very easy to change the action, thanks to the way the neck is attached. The scale is short, around 23", and the neck narrows considerably between the body and the headstock. The fretboard is flat. Setup Rating 10 Appearance This is a fretted version of a Cumbus, made at the Cumbus factory in Istanbul, Turkey. The Cumbus is basically a banjo version of the Turkish oud, invented in the early 1900s by Zeynel Abidin Bey. It became so popular, because of its portability and volume, that it essentially replaced the oud and the saz as the national instruments of Turkey. It looks a little odd at first, to those of us used to standard banjos. The body is made of metal, has a closed back, and is much deeper than a standard banjo. The neck is held on with a large wing-nut. The neck is very narrow by the headstock and very wide up by the body. But the sound is what you'll love it for. Appearance Rating 10 Reliability Built like a tank. Reliability Rating 10 Customer Service I don't know how easy it would be to contact the Cumbus company in Istanbul. I'm guessing it would be a good idea to learn Turkish before giving them a call. Since I bought it from Lark In The Morning, I would speak to them if I had any questions. They've always been stellar when I had a question about something. Customer Service 10 Components The pot is interesting. It looks like a 3 or 4 quart saucepan. Having a large, metal resonator makes this instrument very penetrating! This is probably the loudest acoustic instrument that I've ever played. I play it with very light flatpicks, and it still keeps up with any guitar ever made. Use heavier picks and play harder, and it really shouts. Components Rating 10 Overall Comments If you love the sound of Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker 12-string, but don't want to drag around an amp, this instrument duplicates that sound to a "T". That's why I bought it, and it's a show stopper. You could substitute it in an arrangement for an octave mandolin or bouzouki, as well. I love it! Overall Rating 10