Jeff Menzies: 10" Gourd Banjo

Submitted by bluetoothy on 4/25/2013

Where Purchased: Straight from Jeff

Year Purchased: 2013
Price Paid: 595 ($US)

Sound

It has that deep, warm gourd tone. Amazing volume for its size.

Sound Rating: 9

Setup

The action is incredible, the way he set the neck is spot on - it is a dream to play. It sits comfortably in my lap too.

Setup Rating: 9

Appearance

Jeff recommended some of his home grown Jamaican mahogany, I opted for a clear satin finish without a stain and I'm very glad I did. The wood is very striking.

The shape of the neck is very clean, you can tell that it's free drawn. It has an organic quality about it. The headstock is plain and quirky - a sort of tennis ball shape, I love it.

Appearance Rating: 9

Reliability

Hard to say at this point, I will be taking it with me everywhere this summer. A gourd is a gourd, I might end up breaking it in which case I'll get a replacement 'pot' straight from Jeff. The neck should hold up long after I'm gone.

The tuners are quality ebony violin pegs, they do what they're supposed to.

Reliability Rating: 8

Customer Service

Jeff and I exchanged about 20 emails, he answered all my questions swiftly. I gave him the specifications like scale length and nut width and he delivered.

Customer Service: 10

Components

Everything here speaks quality; from the pegs to the goat skin. The bone tailpiece is held by a piece of waxed hemp rope or something like that, should it fail I can fix that myself in about 10 minutes.

Components Rating: 9

Overall Comments

This was an impulse buy for me but man, am I glad that I did get one. The other 5 string and tenor will be collecting dust the next few months..

I'm keeping this in "double C" 7 steps down and will probably order another one for open G/Sawmill, later this year.

Cheers Jeff!

Overall Rating: 10

Antebellum Instruments

Submitted by bluetoothy on 8/9/2012

Overall Comments

Bought a Tenor Banjo from Jake at Antebellum Instruments. 1920's Bacon tenor in great condition at an absolute bargain price. He threw in free shipping where another store quoted me $450 to ship a similar banjo out to Europe..

He's lovely to deal with and responded to emails etc. promptly. His blog is a great read too!

Overall Rating: 9