beegee - Posted - 02/19/2012:  05:59:10

quote:

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Originally posted by David Hodge

Go to RH Lane Banjo. All he makes is Top Tension, bell brass or aluminium. I love my TT banjo.

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Harry informed me last week that the current banjo he is building is his last.

Of course, he's said that before...I hope he stays inspired.

David Hodge - Posted - 02/19/2012:  10:55:02

   Harry is thru when they close the lid on him. He doesn't have to make banjos, he loves making them, he comes alive when he is making a banjo. His workmanship has only gotten better over the years and he is not a company so when he is gone that's it. There will always be Gibson's, there will only be so many Lanes.  I don't know who else is making Banjos like Harry but they should be treated as works of art and photographed and put in a book. This may be the golden era of craftsmen like him and Randy Wood and pictures of their work should be keep for generations to come and shared with people today. There needs to be a contest for the best looking banjo in the world.  Happy Picken

porterfield - Posted - 03/20/2012:  08:04:50

I own a Frank Neat built RB-7 Mastertone that is absolutely PHENOMINAL. Stays in tune when most wouldn't, throw a new head on, adjust it, and it stays put. I owned Mark Pruetts original Sullivan V35, Jens Koch's Yates RS Mahogany, and a couple original gibsons(some of which I still own) and I can tell you that my neat TT gets 90% of my attention these days. I love the fact that TT's don't feel "delicate" if you will. The tone is perfect all the way down the neck with plenty of twang and growl when I need it. It is heavy, especially when compared to the Yates, but not much more than the Sully. TT's are just another very cool banjo design that works as they should.

Bill Kemp - Posted - 03/20/2012:  13:13:34

Just getting used to playing mine now. 

I love it.  (1937 Gibson TB-7 with a Robin Smith 5 string neck on it)

Best 50th. Birthday present I ever got.

I call the banjo       "Ruthy"      after a dear 90 year old friend of mine that passed away a few months ago.  She was great lady and a fun old gal that I and my family will miss dearly.

Edited by - Bill Kemp on 03/20/2012 13:20:33

TR Dockery - Posted - 03/20/2012:  15:33:36

quote:

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Originally posted by Bill Kemp

Just getting used to playing mine now. 

 

I love it.  (1937 Gibson TB-7 with a Robin Smith 5 string neck on it)

 

Best 50th. Birthday present I ever got.

 

I call the banjo       "Ruthy"      after a dear 90 year old friend of mine that passed away a few months ago.  She was great lady and a fun old gal that I and my family will miss dearly.

 

 

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 Sorry to hear about your friend, Bill.  Here is a link to the Amazon website where you can hear a sample and or buy a pretty cool song called "Ruthie" by Pete Wernick, should you have the occasion to play something commemorative.  Always liked this song.  No commercial interest on my part; just sharing. 

amazon.com/Ruthie/dp/B001GH5JT...mp;sr=8-1 

Also sorry for the momentary thread hi-jack.  A little more germaine to the topic at hand, I love top tensions and have 3, one of which is the only Alan Munde Top Tension Stelling Staghorn ever made.  Awesome instrument, but I do not know who made the tension hoop for it.

Happy trails,

Randy in Germantown, TN

Edited by - TR Dockery on 03/20/2012 15:37:28

Prewargranada - Posted - 03/20/2012:  20:52:04

I saw where a Harry Lane Top Tension popped up for sale on the Bernunzio website, but SOLD pretty quickly  Must have been a pretty good deal on these rare banjos.

Edited by - Prewargranada on 03/20/2012 20:52:34

banjoy - Posted - 06/09/2012:  14:55:13

I had stated earlier in this thread I would post photos of my top tension banjo whenever I got around to taking photos. Well, I just did that.... 3 months after the fact LOL.

The banjo could stand a good cleaning. It's not my main banjo since I got my Nechville, but this is really a sweetie. It was assembled by me, in 1978 (I was 18 years old) with the design I had in mind using parts I assembled and had made.

The tone ring and wood rim came from Bill Sullivan in 1978. The tone ring is a StewMac ring, Steve Ryan era. The top tension kit came from Bob Flesher at Liberty Banjo Company.

The original neck was made by Bill Sullivan in 1978, and finished by me. However, that neck broke in 2001 and insurance paid for the replacement neck you see here. I had Bill Sulivan re-make another neck, using the old neck -- and some computer scans I manipulated -- as patterns to go by. I scanned the headstock and its inlays and elongated the Paramount-based head shape to be a tad longer and wider, and repositioned the inlays on my computer. Bill took that and ran with it. Bill suggested adding the binding which I went for. First Quality Music (Sullivan) scanned the neck inlays from the old neck and re-did all the inlay with CNC. The original neck, which this one replaced, was hand inlayed by Brian England .... I wish I hadn't sold that neck!!  And, of course, I had to go with a radiused fingerboard. Love 'em.

The inlay was designed by Bob Flesher, but I did not know that at the time. I had gotten the pattern from Bob at the same time I bought the top tension kit from him, but I assumed it was just some old banjo inlay. Years later I bumped into Bob Flesher at a SPBGMA show in Knoxville (late 1980s I think) and that's when I learned he designed the inlay. So, I had him autograph the inside of the banjo, on the rim.

The metal parts are NOT gold plated. I had the nickel plating stripped off, and what you see is about 7 coats of clearcoat Emrond car paint. Very very durable. So you're seeing the color of the brass and bronze. To compliment the colors around the pot, I bought 24 black painted threaded bolts from a hardware supply company, which is what you see here.

The oil painting came from my wannabe hippie days, and a friend in Spartanburg, SC, J.N. Worden, did the painting on an Aria Pro II resonator banjo I had at the time. I liked it so much I just kept it with the new parts banjo I assembled. It helped that the flange was a perfect fit to the resonator... I had a clear head on the banjo for years, it was cool.

Anyway, other than a good tear down and cleaning, this banjo is a real joy to play, and it sounds great. I've had it for 34 years now.

Edited by - banjoy on 06/09/2012 15:08:19

Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978
Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978
Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Custom made Top Tension Banjo, 1978	Close-up of oil painting in my resonator
The resonator from my custom made top-tension banjo

David Hodge - Posted - 06/09/2012:  17:00:02

Very nice, is it basicly one of a kind?

5stringJim - Posted - 06/09/2012:  17:06:43

That is one GORGEOUS banjo, Frank ! Hope it sounds as good as it looks.

Edited by - 5stringJim on 06/09/2012 17:12:22

banjoy - Posted - 06/09/2012:  17:12:56

quote:

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Originally posted by David Hodge



Very nice, is it basicly one of a kind?

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Hey David--

Yeah this would be a one-up banjo. There is a sister neck that I sold on eBay in 2001 or 2002, some someone out there has a very similar neck The original neck did not have a bound peghead, was more of an orange color, and the neck itself had an ebony-maple-ebony center strip with matchbook curly maple. It was a nice neck too.

In the late 1980s I had this crazy idea of replicating the idea (clearcoat metal parts, black hardware, etc) and had a real nice long talk with Bill Sullivan by phone, who talked me back down to reality LOL.

Another thing I forgot to mention, is that I stripped the finish off the resonator, and lacquered it myself. The original Aria finish was at least 1/16" thick of some hard-as-nails resin, I'm assuming some type of epoxy finish. Chemical stripper rolled off like water. I had to chip the old finish off with a pocketknife! It took days.

Jim -- Yeah the banjo sounds great, to my ears anyway!

Edited by - banjoy on 06/09/2012 17:26:05

El Dobro - Posted - 06/10/2012:  07:17:59

Top Tensions rule!

wfawley - Posted - 06/10/2012:  07:26:24

I just talked to Steve Gill on friday and he's making me a top tension resonator to go with this neck.

I'm not going top tension, but this neck and a TT reso finished in a Loar "cremona sunburst" will be "the cat's meow"

Wyatt

El Dobro - Posted - 06/10/2012:  07:38:17

With the resonator flat inside or dished?

wfawley - Posted - 06/10/2012:  07:54:57

I was going to ask him to dish it ... but I forgot to do that. I'll be talking to himagain tomorrow. I think that lighter weight is beneficial to tone, and besides ... who needs the added weight. The really cool thing ... is that the back will be ONE PC. Normally they are 2 pc, and it takes a whale of a curly maple board to make a one pc (solid carved) resonator back.

What do you think? ... dished or flat?

Wyatt

El Dobro - Posted - 06/10/2012:  08:06:24

I have a 1939 T-T and a 2000 T-T that both came from Gibson with a dished solid wood resonator. Very rare. Not only are they a little bit lighter, they both sound great. They sound like a standard resonator+. I'd go with the dished. 

wfawley - Posted - 06/10/2012:  08:17:39

I'll see if I can get him to dish it out. We're doing a swap on some other stuff, but that one's cash money.

Wyatt

JAFO - Posted - 06/10/2012:  14:47:17

KMWaters, I think you may have missed a detail there. True, the TT's were designed and sold to satisfy a need which was pressing in the day (easier head adjustment) and is no longer required due to the head technology, however, the TT's seem to carry, for the most part, a tone which does not come from the underbelly tensioners. Bill Keith is a long time, dyed in the wool TT player and he still plays his weekly (he has several). I can tell you his rig sounds so nice and when I was shopping for my 'lifelong banjo' I searched for one with that same sound. I found one but couldn't afford the cost of entry (an R&T Bill Keith Model) but I did find one close and made by one of the same builders (Mark Taylor) that came pretty close. Still, it does not have that growl that Bill can get out of his when he calls it up. I was happy that the twang was somewhat lost on my new rig and when I play something right, it sounds similar to Bill.

 There is definitely a different sound, and I think in today's world that is where the TT's make there mark. As an engineer, the TT strikes me as a better design overall form the underbelly tensioners and that just appeals to me in so many other ways. Plus of course, they look REALLY cool.

 Just my Opinion,

Tom

Aradobanjo - Posted - 06/13/2012:  14:13:55

Hello,

I just recently am a 2005 Gibson RB-12 owner. I am enjoying the tone it brings to the music. At times I get at least three different voicings. John Hartford, Bela Fleck, and Noam Picklney played RB-18s. I liked the walnut and the less bling of the RB-18. Besides, gold weighs more to a heavier banjo.

Aradobanjo
John

DJMorgan - Posted - 06/13/2012:  16:21:48

Cliff Fitch built my Firestorm "Inferno" Top-Tension in 2009. It a AAA presentation grade maple banjo with a brazilian rosewood fingerboard, flying eagle inlay,sporting a Burlile tone ring, a Sullivan Old Floor rim, Burlile TT hardware, with triple gold plating.

uncledaveh - Posted - 06/14/2012:  11:39:47

I once had a Top Tension Stelling Staghorn that was one fine banjo (although a bit heavy).  That banjo would cut through any band.  I should have kept it.  I also owned a Gibson RB-7 reissue that I traded for my TB-11 conversion.  It was also a nice banjo.

Uncle Dave and The Rockdale Ridgerunners

Now good people, we’re going to play this next tune with more heterogenious constipolicy,

double flavor and unknown quality than usual!   Make it light on yourself. 

Edited by - uncledaveh on 06/14/2012 11:40:46