The Pope - Posted - 04/30/2013:  11:43:32

Banjophobic seems to be correct: Recovered lake/river wood has gone thru a different form of aging due to the coldness & airless conditions of being sunken. However, I have 3 banjos with FQM factory floor rims & they sound pretty good. YMMV... 

Banjophobic - Posted - 04/30/2013:  12:21:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Pope

 

Banjophobic seems to be correct: Recovered lake/river wood has gone thru a different form of aging due to the coldness & airless conditions of being sunken. However, I have 3 banjos with FQM factory floor rims & they sound pretty good. YMMV... 

---

Oh yeah, I'm not saying these recovered rims wont make a great sounding banjo if mating with the right parts. It just that the prewar 3 ply rims were not made from recovered sunken logs, so you can rule that out as part of the 'prewar' sound process.

bbanjoboy - Posted - 04/30/2013:  19:48:14

I know this has been touched on briefly here, but just now getting to read this thread begs me to pose the following:

!:) Ribbon microphones
2:) Tube/tape recording devices
3:) skin heads
4:) vinyl for final listening

And mostly the fact that most modern players prefer a "JD" set up with the low 'growl' .. I've got news for you guys.. that's not the way Earl used to have his banjo set up.. if you listen to Early Earl and early Ralph recordings, it's sometimes hard to tell the two apart.. Ralph admits that Earl was who he was emulating, and the early recordings of both show that.. To my ear, Earl had a very 'tight' set up.. this whole 'deep' 'canned' sound didn't really come around until the 80's or so.. folks like JD, Terry Baucum, etc kind of moved the sound of the popular players to a more 'simple' approach.. Listen to all the top bands of the 70's on the "Bean Blossom" album and you'll hear these amazing guys doing all this chromatic stuff, and they all were doing similar runs and were very 'out there' by today's standards.. then comes the more traditional guys around the 80's and that's where the 'deeper' tone came in.. heavy 4th string stuff with lots of pull offs/hammer ons in the lower register... I've noticed lots of guys trying out banjos and nowadays, inevitably, they will play 'down the road' or 'fireball mail' when trying out a banjo.. all HEAVY 4th string stuff.. but Earl was SO much more than that.. and Ralph was as well..
I guess what I'm getting at is that maybe if you want your banjo to sound 'like Earl's" you'll first have to put a skin head on it, then record it with an old vintage ribbon mic, onto TAPE, then cut a vinyl album with it, and PLAY it like Earl, and something most folks almost always overlook........ have a backup band like MONROE's wiht a Rythm guy like LESTER ...... and MAYBE you might have a banjo that sounds like Earls.... IF you get LUCKY..... just my 2 cents..

mvolcjak - Posted - 04/30/2013:  23:04:25

All this talk about the “vintage” of the pre-war wood rims has made me recall something I have heard about Stradivarius violins and why they are so unique and have never been duplicated.  What I have heard (and I am not a violin expert) is that the wood that was used came from a specific time frame and region(s) that yielded extremely dense (slow growth) woods, which combined with the methods of construction, produced a violin that was unique as to its tone, volume, etc.

This very well may (if the Strad observation holds true for pre-war rims), explain the difference about pre-war rims.  So, I still think that it is not specifically the “age” of the Gibson rim, or the Strad violin, but when and where the wood came from and how it was all put together.  I fully agree that age will make them sound all the better over time, but I believe these instruments sounded “unique” before they would ever be called “vintage”.

That is as good an explanation as any I have heard, else recently harvested old growth timber (which while not common, still does exist) would produce the same results using the same construction techniques that were used in 1934.

Just another observation – but one thing I do know, is that my ’28 Style 4, as well as other pre-wars I have heard, do sound different and this difference is something I do not recall ever hearing in a “new” banjo.

Take it Easy … MarK

steve davis - Posted - 05/01/2013:  04:17:06

Stradiveri submerged his logs in the harbor to soak for years at a time.

banjerman - Posted - 05/01/2013:  11:13:51

As an interesting aside: Rims would tend to change over a period of time. Nothing stays the same except something that has become static,then the change would slow down to a more natural aging process. Old Gibson rims are mostly static by now Id guess. The 3 ply process is very stressful on wood. A cross section of internal stresses between new and old rims would prove enlightening to say the least. The trick would be to make 3 ply rims then age them to a more static state. How does one dry and age the wood in a few operations so as to make it more like the older rims? Microwave oven? Wood Kiln? Space shuttle trip?

Wally

Pickin furry paws - Posted - 05/16/2013:  15:50:28

First of all...a 20 - 30 year old banjo is a damn old banjo! Yeah. Try locating pickers who are playing a banjo anywhere close in age to that that ISN'T a Mastertone. You'll be hard-pressed.

I think the problem with broad statements like "aged rim" is there are always exceptions. You have to understand that there is prewar and "prewar." The greatest sounding banjos of that era only number in the tens, and many "prewars" out there have parts that are inferior. What it ultimately comes down to is each individual part on each banjo measured against some kind of standard. This explains why banjos like the Mack Crow, Banger, etc., "have it" whereas others "have a piece of it" and some "don't have it at all." 

The rim is the heart of the banjo. From it comes the sound we call banjo. All the flathead tone-ring does (if it is a good ring) is complicate, brighten, and add sustain to the timbre of the rim. This is why many sub-mastertone Kel Kroydens and other banjos sound amazing without heavy flathead rings. 

The reason for the great prewar rims sounding good was not and is not their age, if by age we simply mean "accumulated years." Accumulated years could mean 50 years under the bed or 50 hard years of being played; both yield different results. However, true age (i.e., having been played hard) and construction ultimately determine the musicality of an instrument's rim.

Prewar rims were made unlike all other rims today. Air drying doesn't do it, all that does is temporarily dry the resin in the wood; bring some humidity in, and those resin pockets expand, changing the structure of the wood. Gibson employees did things differently due to the times they were in. Plus, they were generally lighter than most rims today. A light rim, even one air dried using modern techniques, under a very heavy tone-ring will yield amazing results. Today, many banjos sport rims that are over 16 ounces, many 18 - 20 or more. That is too heavy, the tone-ring has to have enough inertia to vibrate that much more wood. However, great prewars had rims that were 15, even 14 ounces with tone-rings 3.4 lbs. This ratio helped lessen the tone-ring's duties, yielding better response and allowing a lighter touch.

In the end, what the rim has to do is twofold: be light, retain its round shape. Any excess weight or distortion to its shape will result in a poor performing instrument. Hence, using this logic, there are many new rims that qualify where older ones do not. It all depends on how they were (are) made, not how old they are.

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 05/16/2013:  16:22:58

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

1.)  First of all...a 20 - 30 year old banjo is a damn old banjo! Yeah.

2.)  Try locating pickers who are playing a banjo anywhere close in age to that that ISN'T a Mastertone. You'll be hard-pressed.

---

1.)  Well, no.   Not at all.   The early Mastertones were built in the mid/late 1920s, and are now rapidly approaching 90 years of age.    In fact, all of the PWs are at least 72 years old.  

2.)  Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many Odes, Baldwins, Omes, Fenders, and plenty of other Mastertone clones are older than that.

~Pete

howseth - Posted - 05/16/2013:  16:31:52

On the other hand. (As someone who plays an open back banjo tuned down to Double A most of the time - and is a stranger in a strange land in this thread: what I have heard most from Earl came from a B&W TV set back in the 'B. Hillbillies' era). Let's say you can't afford a top-of-the-line "Pre-war" Gibson. Let's say you got at least 10-20 years, or more left to live. As an alternative. Buy the absolute best modern - brand spanking new banjo you can afford, and play the heck out of it for years - and impart it with your particular vibes. Your unique playing mojo. (Excuse me: maybe just Coastal California air getting to me)

Pickin furry paws - Posted - 05/16/2013:  16:39:33

quote:

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

1.)  First of all...a 20 - 30 year old banjo is a damn old banjo! Yeah.

2.)  Try locating pickers who are playing a banjo anywhere close in age to that that ISN'T a Mastertone. You'll be hard-pressed.

---

1.)  Well, no.   Not at all.   The early Mastertones were built in the mid/late 1920s, and are now rapidly approaching 90 years of age.    In fact, all of the PWs are at least 72 years old.  

2.)  Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many Odes, Baldwins, Omes, Fenders, and plenty of other Mastertone clones are older than that.

~Pete

---

Understand that to me, a 20 year old banjo is pretty damn old. Not saying everybody thinks that way, but I do! Not sure where the 90 years old comes in on that...I was stating my feeling on age, not on prewars but all banjos.

I personally haven't met very many folks with banjos 30 years old that weren't Mastertones. Maybe some, but not me, and I get around and pick. The vast majority of older banjos you'll find are Mastertones, conversions, and their earliest clones. I've never met a picker with an old Fender, a few Tokais, and one Baldwin.

TLG - Posted - 05/16/2013:  19:01:15

Bluegrass Ode's were made in the mid 1960's---48 years old

Baldwins were made starting 1966-67----46 years old

Gretsch Ode's till 1980----33 years old

Fenders are as old as Baldwins

Salstroms are older

NY Epiphones 1920's

Strom ---early 1970's

Edited by - TLG on 05/16/2013 19:04:06

Qarl - Posted - 05/16/2013:  19:29:48

I think a lot of people are forgetting that one of the reasons for using submerged wood is that it's "old growth wood"... not that the water or microbes have altered the wood in any way.

A significant portion of America's old growth forests were demolished during our rapid growth and expansion in the 1800s to mid 1900s...   The trees at the bottoms of the lakes and rivers are old growth wood that is larger and older than trees than younger trees from reforested land.

Banjophobic - Posted - 05/16/2013:  19:54:21

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

 

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

1.)  First of all...a 20 - 30 year old banjo is a damn old banjo! Yeah.

2.)  Try locating pickers who are playing a banjo anywhere close in age to that that ISN'T a Mastertone. You'll be hard-pressed.

---

1.)  Well, no.   Not at all.   The early Mastertones were built in the mid/late 1920s, and are now rapidly approaching 90 years of age.    In fact, all of the PWs are at least 72 years old.  

2.)  Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many Odes, Baldwins, Omes, Fenders, and plenty of other Mastertone clones are older than that.

~Pete

---

Understand that to me, a 20 year old banjo is pretty damn old. Not saying everybody thinks that way, but I do! Not sure where the 90 years old comes in on that...I was stating my feeling on age, not on prewars but all banjos.

I personally haven't met very many folks with banjos 30 years old that weren't Mastertones. Maybe some, but not me, and I get around and pick. The vast majority of older banjos you'll find are Mastertones, conversions, and their earliest clones. I've never met a picker with an old Fender, a few Tokais, and one Baldwin.

---

Well you are young, so a banjo thats as old as you seems 'old to you, obviously.  Respectufully, that second statement just reveals you need to get out more.  There are plenty of pickers out there playing Vintage Fender's, Ode's ,Ome's, Gold Stars, Alvarez,Tokai's,C.E Wards, R@T's, GTR's,Frank Neat's, Cox's, Stellings, Liberty's, and many more.

You may 'get around and pick' but either you are getting around in your regional area and players there don't own many of the fine banjo's I named, or you just haven't been afield, far enough, to know that they are everywhere. Take it from an old pro here, who's been playing nearly 40 years and repairing and setting up banjos for over 30, these banjos are out there and in force.

In this area of  N.C alone, I can load up a big trailer with ODE's.

Pickin furry paws - Posted - 05/16/2013:  20:57:55

quote:

---

Originally posted by Banjophobic

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

 

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

1.)  First of all...a 20 - 30 year old banjo is a damn old banjo! Yeah.

2.)  Try locating pickers who are playing a banjo anywhere close in age to that that ISN'T a Mastertone. You'll be hard-pressed.

---

1.)  Well, no.   Not at all.   The early Mastertones were built in the mid/late 1920s, and are now rapidly approaching 90 years of age.    In fact, all of the PWs are at least 72 years old.  

2.)  Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many Odes, Baldwins, Omes, Fenders, and plenty of other Mastertone clones are older than that.

~Pete

---

Understand that to me, a 20 year old banjo is pretty damn old. Not saying everybody thinks that way, but I do! Not sure where the 90 years old comes in on that...I was stating my feeling on age, not on prewars but all banjos.

I personally haven't met very many folks with banjos 30 years old that weren't Mastertones. Maybe some, but not me, and I get around and pick. The vast majority of older banjos you'll find are Mastertones, conversions, and their earliest clones. I've never met a picker with an old Fender, a few Tokais, and one Baldwin.

---

Well you are young, so a banjo thats as old as you seems 'old to you, obviously.  Respectufully, that second statement just reveals you need to get out more.  There are plenty of pickers out there playing Vintage Fender's, Ode's ,Ome's, Gold Stars, Alvarez,Tokai's,C.E Wards, R@T's, GTR's,Frank Neat's, Cox's, Stellings, Liberty's, and many more.

You may 'get around and pick' but either you are getting around in your regional area and players there don't own many of the fine banjo's I named, or you just haven't been afield, far enough, to know that they are everywhere. Take it from an old pro here, who's been playing nearly 40 years and repairing and setting up banjos for over 30, these banjos are out there and in force.

In this area of  N.C alone, I can load up a big trailer with ODE's.

---

Well remember, there are also parts of the country that are serious banjo areas. Mine, not so much, so everyone naturally speaks from their experience. Everyone knows NC is banjo-mecca, but that is not the standard. Hence my point. So yes, when you think about 20 or 30 long years at my age, that is one old banjo folks.

Pickin furry paws - Posted - 05/16/2013:  21:00:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by Qarl

 

I think a lot of people are forgetting that one of the reasons for using submerged wood is that it's "old growth wood"... not that the water or microbes have altered the wood in any way.

A significant portion of America's old growth forests were demolished during our rapid growth and expansion in the 1800s to mid 1900s...   The trees at the bottoms of the lakes and rivers are old growth wood that is larger and older than trees than younger trees from reforested land.

 

---

The microbes have altered the wood, quite significantly. Whether it changes the tone, well there is really no complete way to know, but the wood has been structurally and chemically altered, mainly in the deterioration of starches if my memory serves me right. The microbes eat away the starches in the maple, leaving the stronger fibers. The resulting timber is lower in moisture trapping cells, leaving "more acoustically vibrant" wood.

Edited by - Pickin furry paws on 05/16/2013 21:00:57

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 05/16/2013:  21:17:14

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Banjophobic

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

 

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

   

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

1.)  First of all...a 20 - 30 year old banjo is a damn old banjo! Yeah.

2.)  Try locating pickers who are playing a banjo anywhere close in age to that that ISN'T a Mastertone. You'll be hard-pressed.

---

1.)  Well, no.   Not at all.   The early Mastertones were built in the mid/late 1920s, and are now rapidly approaching 90 years of age.    In fact, all of the PWs are at least 72 years old.  

2.)  Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many Odes, Baldwins, Omes, Fenders, and plenty of other Mastertone clones are older than that.

~Pete

---

Understand that to me, a 20 year old banjo is pretty damn old. Not saying everybody thinks that way, but I do! Not sure where the 90 years old comes in on that...I was stating my feeling on age, not on prewars but all banjos.

I personally haven't met very many folks with banjos 30 years old that weren't Mastertones. Maybe some, but not me, and I get around and pick. The vast majority of older banjos you'll find are Mastertones, conversions, and their earliest clones. I've never met a picker with an old Fender, a few Tokais, and one Baldwin.

---

Well you are young, so a banjo thats as old as you seems 'old to you, obviously.  Respectufully, that second statement just reveals you need to get out more.  There are plenty of pickers out there playing Vintage Fender's, Ode's ,Ome's, Gold Stars, Alvarez,Tokai's,C.E Wards, R@T's, GTR's,Frank Neat's, Cox's, Stellings, Liberty's, and many more.

You may 'get around and pick' but either you are getting around in your regional area and players there don't own many of the fine banjo's I named, or you just haven't been afield, far enough, to know that they are everywhere. Take it from an old pro here, who's been playing nearly 40 years and repairing and setting up banjos for over 30, these banjos are out there and in force.

In this area of  N.C alone, I can load up a big trailer with ODE's.

---

Well remember, there are also parts of the country that are serious banjo areas. Mine, not so much, so everyone naturally speaks from their experience. Everyone knows NC is banjo-mecca, but that is not the standard. Hence my point.

---

But I've seen the very same thing out here on the west coast for over 50 years now.   Yeah, when I first started playing and working on banjos in the early '60s most Bluegrass banjos were Gibsons, but that began changing towards the end of the decade, and the change has accelerated ever since.

Now I probably see at least as many non-Gibson Bluegrass banjos as I do Gibsons, and we're talking about serious multi-thousand dollar instruments owned and played by professionals here: not beginner's bottlecap stuff.

(This doesn't mean that Gibson banjos stopped being [mostly] good instruments, BTW: it only means that a lot of other builders caught up as the demand for quality banjos increased.)

~Pete

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/16/2013:  21:18:19

Here's an interesting fact regarding moisture in wood..

So I'm grilling burgers out on the porch one day.. had the decking and rail up for YEARS.. at least 12... the deck rail needs to be replaceds it's so old.. All weathered up where you can see and feel the grooves in the wood..It was made from pressure treated lumber and been exposed to east TN weather for all these years and seasons.... You would surely think that the wood was dry by any standards.. yet, on this particular day, I moved the grill a bit to close to the rail..went inside, and when I came back out I found the wood was oozing liquid .. I could hardly believe my eyes, but the extreme heat from the grill was actually making a bubbling liquid come out of this old wood deck rail.. I immediately realized how long wood can retain moisture. Surely recent kiln dried wood etc would do the same.. Not sure how this relates to rims on banjos.....
It reminds me of how I once heard a story that concrete continues to harden until the day it begins to deteriorate.. wonder if this is similar in some strange way..

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 05/16/2013:  23:29:50

quote:

---

Originally posted by bbanjoboy

 

Here's an interesting fact regarding moisture in wood..



So I'm grilling burgers out on the porch one day.. had the decking and rail up for YEARS.. at least 12... the deck rail needs to be replaceds it's so old.. All weathered up where you can see and feel the grooves in the wood..It was made from pressure treated lumber and been exposed to east TN weather for all these years and seasons.... You would surely think that the wood was dry by any standards.. yet, on this particular day, I moved the grill a bit to close to the rail..went inside, and when I came back out I found the wood was oozing liquid .. I could hardly believe my eyes, but the extreme heat from the grill was actually making a bubbling liquid come out of this old wood deck rail.. I immediately realized how long wood can retain moisture.

---

Alas; that stuff seeping out of your deck rail was not water, and had nothing to do with the moisture that was originally part of the tree.

(Google says) "Pressure-treated lumber is wood that has been immersed in a liquid preservative and placed in a pressure chamber. The chamber forces the chemical into the wood fibers. The pressurized approach makes sure that the chemical makes it to the core of each piece of wood -- it is much more effective than simply soaking the wood in the chemical."

So, you effectively cooked some of the chemical wood preservative back out of the wood, all right, but......

(Google again) "The chemicals in treated wood are generally not good for humans. This is why you see warnings advising you to wear gloves, avoid breathing the sawdust, and refrain from burning treated wood. Keeping small children away from treated wood is also a good idea."

Personally, I wouldn't let that stuff get anywhere near my food.

~Pete

Edited by - Deaf Lester Crawdad on 05/16/2013 23:31:09

bbanjoboy - Posted - 05/17/2013:  01:57:27

lol... OK, well, I thought I had something figured out, but I guess not! That's pretty funny.. So much for being analytical! >>>

Banjophobic - Posted - 05/17/2013:  06:25:48

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

---

---

Well remember, there are also parts of the country that are serious banjo areas. Mine, not so much, so everyone naturally speaks from their experience. Everyone knows NC is banjo-mecca, but that is not the standard. Hence my point. So yes, when you think about 20 or 30 long years at my age, that is one old banjo folks.

---

Of course thats true, but I have banjos shipped to me for work from all over the US and Canada. And I have traveled pretty much all over both of them and overseas playing and I can tell you all these 'other' types of banjos are not a localized "North Carolina effect". Those other banjos are out there and widespead.

Too bad you don't get to see any them around your area. You'd be surprised  how great some of them are. Some will eat a Mastertone for breakfast.

jrmorrow - Posted - 05/17/2013:  06:30:19

Matthew, I've had Cox, fender etc around here. John Scott has Ome and Stelling

Edited by - jrmorrow on 05/17/2013 06:33:11

Old Hickory - Posted - 05/17/2013:  07:09:30

quote:

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many ... Mastertone clones are older than that.

---

My not-really-a-Mastertone built by John Janzegers in his Maryland basement will be 40 years old next month. My other currently disassembled banjo was put together by me from parts around 1978 or 79, so it's going on 35 years old.

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 05/17/2013:  11:06:57

quote:

---

Originally posted by Old Hickory

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

Companies such as Stew/Mac, Etc. have been supplying high-quality parts for well over 30 years now, so no; it's not at all difficult to find pickers who are currently playing banjos over 20 to 30 years old which aren't Mastertones.    Many ... Mastertone clones are older than that.

---

My not-really-a-Mastertone built by John Janzegers in his Maryland basement will be 40 years old next month. My other currently disassembled banjo was put together by me from parts around 1978 or 79, so it's going on 35 years old.

---

Yeah, and I forgot to mention Stelling; which has been around since the mid '70s.   (How can you forget Stelling?  DOH!)

There is no shortage of 30+-year-old high quality Bluegrass banjos that never saw the inside of the Gibson factory.

~Pete

steve davis - Posted - 05/17/2013:  15:40:09

Wow,my Stewmac kit is 27 years old.

Ebanjo - Posted - 05/17/2013:  16:43:51

bbanjoboy, You've got to keep one thing in mind about the tight banjo set ups of the 40's and 50's (and probably into the early 60's), is that the pickers were using calf skin heads. The skin heads had to be tighter because they were a lot thicker than the plastic heads all of us have used for the last 40 to 50 years. But I'll also say in my honest opinion that the fat Scruggs or Crowe tone is not a loose head and big (medium gauge) strings. A lot of it is in the player's right hand. And by loose heads I'm talking below G#.

Eric Ellis

Edited by - Ebanjo on 05/17/2013 16:44:24

1935tb-11 - Posted - 05/17/2013:  18:17:47

tone is mostly in the hands of the holder,,, but i think the reason these old gibsons from the 30s sound like they do is is 3 main reasons.

#1  old slow growth tight grain timber

#2 years and years of vibration from being played (even earls banjo don't sound now like it did in the old days)

#3  gibson got the construction right the first time

what alot of us brain washed pre war seekers hear in these old banjos is alot deeper then what sound waves transfer through our ears,, its how the sound transmit through your body when playing one, how the vibration runs up the neck and you feel it in the palm of your hand,, and how when you find that sweet spot how it sounds much bigger then it really is. that haunting sustain it has in certain spots..  its all these things that we really treasure,, and some are lucky enough to experience it.

terry m

Pickin furry paws - Posted - 05/18/2013:  06:29:46

quote:

---

Originally posted by Banjophobic

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pickin furry paws

 

---

---

Well remember, there are also parts of the country that are serious banjo areas. Mine, not so much, so everyone naturally speaks from their experience. Everyone knows NC is banjo-mecca, but that is not the standard. Hence my point. So yes, when you think about 20 or 30 long years at my age, that is one old banjo folks.

---

Of course thats true, but I have banjos shipped to me for work from all over the US and Canada. And I have traveled pretty much all over both of them and overseas playing and I can tell you all these 'other' types of banjos are not a localized "North Carolina effect". Those other banjos are out there and widespead.

Too bad you don't get to see any them around your area. You'd be surprised  how great some of them are. Some will eat a Mastertone for breakfast.

---

Yeah, unfortunately so because not all Mastertones are equal.