Chris Cioffi

Submitted by mtilghman on 8/28/2011

Overall Comments

I wanted to express my appreciation for some work Chris Cioffi did for me recently, and thought perhaps a review would be appropriate.

A few years back I picked up a brand new reissue Gold Star GF-100 pretty cheap. It was a nice looker, but I did not play it much because of some construction issues that needed addressing by someone with the appropriate tools and knowledge. I thought it might have some potential, and I had read some of the comments posted here, so I called Chris and spoke with him about it for quite a while.

I didn't expect a miracle, but I didn't have a fortune invested in the instrument and so I thought I wouldn't mind spending some money to get these problems resolved. I figured if nothing else it should play much better, but more than anything I was curious what could be done with what seemed to be some fairly decent parts whose original factory fit (in this particular case) left much to be desired. I don't live near Chris, so after a couple of more phone conversations I did my best to pack it up (per his excellent and very detailed packing instructions) and ship it to him.

A while later I got an update via email with the whole 411. Although it was not a pleasant surprise (more problems than I had realized) his analysis was extremely detailed and it was apparent that a considerable amount of time and effort had been invested in the evaluation. After several conversations via email and phone, we decided to go ahead and shoot the works. I got regular updates from Chris on the progress of the project and he continued to check with me to make sure we were headed in the direction I was intending.

So, after the major portion of the work was completed and I had responded to a few more emails asking my preferences on this and that, a bit of time to settle in, and some final tweaking, it was shipped back to me. In short, I was truly amazed with the final product - in fact it was several hours after I initially unboxed it before I could make myself put it down. I would only compare it to other banjos I have held and played, but I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference (by feel and sound) between this banjo and an '05 Lancaster I sold a couple of years ago (which I immediately regretted selling and continued to lament until I picked up my Cioffi'd Gold Star).

I guess I'm as skeptical as anyone about written descriptions of a banjo's sound qualities, but since this is a review I'll try to share just a few of the things that impressed me the most.

- The neck now plays comperable to the neck on my Staghorn, which I've always thought was the easiest playing neck I'd ever encountered.
- There is now a nice growl, subtle but growing consistently more prominent, where there was none before.
- I often mistakenly think I hear the phone ringing in the next room (although we only have cell phones now and they don't exactly "ring" - I've only ever experienced that with the Lancaster)

I've had the banjo back a few months now. I've been blessed to own some really nice banjos, of which I still have a few, and yet this is consistently the one I am picking up to play. Time will tell, but unless something changes I'm guessing that will continue to be the case.

One more exceptional point to note - during the entire process (from the time Chris began the evaluation until he returned the banjo, and then for several weeks afterwards while I continued to ask questions and report results) we were in regular communication about my expectations, his observations and suggestions, how things were progressing, and then eventually my observations on the results, Chris' advice on any tweaking I might want to do, and so forth. I think that in itself speaks volumes to the dedication that Chris has to getting it right, and making sure that the customer's expectations are met or exceeded (far exceeded in my case). Couple that with some pretty amazing results and I just don't see how you could go wrong sending your instrument to Chris Cioffi.

That was my attempt at a straight up review and I hope it proves helpful to someone.

On the lighter side, I suppose it would not suprise me to eventually discover:

- That Chris hired the magical elves away from the shoemaker
- He gained access to the alien technology in Area 51
- That one or more of the instruments he has worked on has become self-aware
- Or perhaps he swallowed the blue pill and learned how to manipulate the Matrix

Overall Rating: 10