Bridges: Arnold Clayton Bridge

Submitted by justryin2play on 9/6/2011

Where Purchased: Arnold Himself

Overall Comments

Great bridge !!!
The note separation and clarity is phenomenal, not to mention the cool PW two-legged heart shape. He makes these from 100 year old salvaged maple and Holly ( I believe that's what he told me), anyway, great bridge.
Contact Arnold for these folks, gonna post a pics of them on my homepage.

Overall Rating: 10

Don Bryant

Submitted by justryin2play on 7/12/2011

Overall Comments

Don recently performed a partial re-fret of my Bowtie(1-8). Not only did he replace the frets to perfectly match those on up the neck, he gently dressed the fingerboard to make it as near perfect as possible after 47 years of being noted. It is now is a joy to play after he freshened the ole girl up.
The best compliment in any repair is, that the repair be undetectable from original. He did it again with this one !
He continues to amaze me with his drive to achieve this with every repair/build I've ever seen of his. Get in touch with Don for your next repair/build, you'll not be disappointed !

Overall Rating: 10

Picks: Geipel Thumbpicks

Submitted by justryin2play on 2/24/2011

Where Purchased: http://banjobridge.com/picks.htm

Overall Comments

This pick is a nice simple, easy playing metal thumbpick. Very lightweight with a thumb hugging fit. Extremely balanced tone between thumb and finger picks. It's slim design helps with picking accuracy, without sacrificing power. I've only had one other thumbpick that came close to offering what the Geipel does, but it cost 20 times as much as these. Go to Bart's site - http://banjobridge.com/picks.htm , and give it try. You can't go wrong for a price as low as $2.00...

Overall Rating: 10

Robin Smith

Submitted by justryin2play on 6/22/2010

Overall Comments

Robin just completed a replica 5 neck for my 30's Gibson 11. Very nice craftsmanship and attention to the matching of the new neck to the old pot. Very gifted at reproducing these pearloid jewels. Quick turnaround and professional results.

Overall Rating: 10

Don Bryant

Submitted by justryin2play on 4/15/2010

Overall Comments

Don is truly gifted at making banjo necks, period ! He just completed a 5 string for my 1933 AT to replace the tenor neck (which I still have). The neck is a tasteful, yet unique in that the maple is heavily striped (a bonus), the stain matches the resonator perfectly. The peghead and inlay are an exact match to the tenor neck. The tuners were used from the tenor neck, and the fifth string tuner (post-war) has a button that he aged to match the other 4. Workmanship and fit is flawless. Neat thing is, during construction he would tell me about little minute details he was working on, that would never occur to a casual observer. Which reminds me, during the construction he was constantly giving me build updates via phone and email. I thought that was a nice touch, as it gave me a greater insight in the amount of labor involved in producing a banjo neck. Don is a delight to work with, and once you talk to him, you'll feel like you've known him for years. There's just no way it could have been an any better decision, than to have Don build this beautiful neck for me.

Overall Rating: 10

Beyond the blue: Beyond the blue

Submitted by justryin2play on 1/26/2010

Where Purchased: Don Bryant/Banjo

Overall Comments

This is an nice mix of gospel and old favorite tunes.
Nice clean picking, angelic vocals.

Awesome CD to help escape the daily grind.

Buy it, listen, and you'll love it.

Overall Rating: 10