Bean Blossom: BB-100

Submitted by carbon_elf on 7/21/2006

Where Purchased: Folk of the Wood

Year Purchased: 2006
Price Paid: 219 ($US)

Sound

I'm a relatively new banjo player, playing the scruggs 3-finger style. The BB-100 has a nice but thin sound for a cheap banjo. I'm not sure how the sound would develop over time from this banjo as I had some major problems with it and had to return it.

Sound Rating: 5

Setup

The banjo was perfectly in tune when I got it. Folk of the Wood did a good job in checking and tuning it before sending it. Though it seemed to loose tune pretty quickly (after about 2 hrs of play).

Setup Rating: 6

Appearance

Ok, its a cheap banjo (in both senses of the word). Very little inlay work, but for about $200 what would you expect. The major problems mentioned above though were the fault of the banjo and not the seller. After about 4 days of having it I began to notice a shear fracture on neck below the nut, then two days later I noticed one on the other side of the neck same location! Then the 5th string tuner cracked in half! So I sent it back and got a Gold Tone CC-100 RP (I'm extremely happy with it)!!!!

Appearance Rating: 2

Reliability

Every thing on this banjo seemed really light weight and not too good. Again the $200 banjo thing.

Reliability Rating: not rated

Customer Service

Folk of the Wood was great.
Never dealt with Morgan Monroe/Bean Blossom, and probably won't ever.

Customer Service: not rated

Components

No stand out components. Pleanty of weak components.

Components Rating: not rated

Overall Comments

Ok so I only ended up writing this review for others. When I was looking for my first banjo I looked into this one and thought ok $200 how bad could it be? Well after seeing the other review (Bean Blossom Delux) I know how bad it could be. I ended up getting a Gold Tone CC-100 RP and so far have been loving it. Also after register it I got a personal thanks email from Roger the Founder/President of Gold Tone. A really nice touch.

Overall Rating: 3