mikehalloran - Posted - 03/20/2012:  15:26:58

>I bought a Reiter CONVERSION of an old VEGA Style 5 tenor, way back in the early 1990s, because at that time it was them most reasonable way to enter the "Whyte Laydie" world where I wanted to try playing old time music. So it was a Style R Whyte Laydie pot with a Reiter neck but original dowel stick, and a Waverly tailpiece also added. Had a Gryphon peghead. I didn't have to pay a lot for it, and I enjoyed it immensely for many years. I didn't sell it until I got an older original Whyte Laydie #7 AND an original 1920s Style 3 Tu Ba Phone<

​Substitute Vegaphone Professional and a Tubaphone ring and you have my situation. I even owned an exceptionally nice all-original Style 3 - and sold it because I liked my "Reiter-Phone" better (and not just for the fancy Coles Eclipse inspired headstock). I have never known if the neck inlays were copied from any one Fairbanks or Coles banjo or if BanjoBart was inspired and those are his designs - I have seen similar inlays but not those exact ones.

spoonfed - Posted - 03/21/2012:  02:24:20

I am pretty tired of this whole absurd argument now ! next time I need an explanation of how people on the streets of the UK talk to each other I will indeed visit the website you name Bohemian, thank you very much.

cercamons - Posted - 03/21/2012:  09:30:48

I have given up bickering for Lent. So I will just add that my Bart Reiter Standard is the most beautiful thing I have ever owned. It even smells good: after three years of daily playing the wood still smells fragrant when I take it out of the case. It plays like a banjo twice its price and while I love Deering products, the simple beauty of the Standard is nicer IMHO.

pernicketylad - Posted - 03/21/2012:  13:47:33

I don't have a dog in this fight but in Spoonfed's defence the term "ripoff" is routinely used to suggest something is derivative on this side of the Atlantic.

It is certainly used more often to describe something being grossly overpriced and the word always ​carries negative connotations.

Spoonfed certainly meant the term to be interpreted as meaning derivative as he says "a total ripoff of a Vega". That is clear as day to me. 

That said the tone of the original post was a little brash but I think Spoonfed has acknowledged as much.

I owned a Bart Reiter Regent model and was very sad to part with it......kinda still regret it.....solid workmanship and a great Whyte Laydie sound.

Edited by - pernicketylad on 03/21/2012 13:58:25

charlied - Posted - 03/21/2012:  14:43:25

Having lived in a foreign English speaking country I can surely understand that we misread  Spoonfed's words. Or at least his conversation.  I don't think his remarks were meant to be inflammatory.  

I think Spoonfed was surprised, as I was when I first started looking to find out  What  is an openback banjo and who is Bart Reiter?  I was bewildered at all the styles, tonerings, hardware, classic builders, and such.  Then I came on the  Reiter Banjo web site and his banjos seem to be quite different than other builders sites to my newbie eyes.  I had no knowledge about any of the old banjos and banjo makers, nor could I understand why someone would style new banjos as such.  And I thought it might be a lack of imagination. Really I was wondering that very question.  Or wonder why make a banjo, just like a banjo made by someone else? The website is understated and not glamorous. Interesting, but not exactly Banjo Porn. A somewhat dry exposure for his understated banjos. To my newbie eyes. 

I had to go back and read about the Golden Age of banjos and see how the history developed along with modernization. And then listen to people who did play Bart's banjos like John Balch.  Then Bart's banjo made all the sense in the world. Watching his chapter on the  Builders' Series tied it all together.

Bart didn't need to "SELL" his banjo's.  They have sold themselves. Among players.  Most people already know what they will see when they surf up his website.  The consistency and craftsmanship are the hallmarks of his banjos. 

that's my take on the thing here