Banjelo - Posted - 09/29/2013:  03:03:17

The Beyer banjo was the worst banjo I ever bought.   What a pile of glue and caulk.  Live and learn.   Well it was enticing because it was under $1000.  So I tried it.  His answer to the bizzes on the lower frets was to raise the strings.   I don't know about you but I play all the way up the neck.  Who wants strings to be  a half inch above the fretboasrd  up the neck?  I got burned and then found out from others they did as well.  What can you do?  

The bottom line is, if you buy an instrument online, the guy selling you a banjo with a no-return policy is being honest with you.  It usually turns our that those offering some king of warranty or return policy will never honor it anyway.  

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 09/29/2013:  03:22:24

Maybe a good professional setup can make it playable. Those banjos have Asian necks--not the greatest in the world, but they should be straight and playable.

jacktraylor - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:06:50

I once saw a poster ad for the "Bell Star" motorcycle helmet that pictured a fractured helmet, lying on blacktop, in a pool of blood, with a printed message across the bottom, " if you have a $10 head,buy yourself a $10 helmet"
John Ruskin once wrote "“There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.”
Earlier reference to the same conditions can be found in the Latin phrase "Caveat emptor" or "Let the buyer beware"
The seller referenced in the primary post has been the subject of discussion in this forum previously.
And finally , in reference to "a professional set up", a pig in a silk dress and make up, is still a pig.
Jack

jacktraylor - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:27:51

Check out the discussions that went on regarding "Long Neck 5 Strings" on March 3-March 5. Paul, at the Folk Shop, has a lengthy entry.

Play on

BDCA - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:33:35

From what I have read about this instrument, you were snookered and I would cut my losses:

This is from his web site:

I have been playing the five string banjo since '69.  I am a graduate of Calvary Bible College (BA) and Talbot Seminary of 

Biola University ('70) M. Div..  I have 20 years experience in the pastorate  where I played the banjo and taught Bible. I 

also taught in the public school districts here in Puyallup, WA for ten years, playing the banjo frequently for the students. 

 I built my first banjo in '73 and then my first long neck banjo back in 2007. In 2012 I began building long neck banjos

 full time.  I began by building the archtop banjos but for the last year have been building the high end banjos, 

i.e. rolled brass, Mastertone, and Tubaphone banjos. On this page you will notice I have pictures commemorating 

our 50th wedding anniversary.

I am constantly improving the quality of the banjos that I build.  It is gratifying to have so many pleased with these banjos!

A thanks to all of you who have made this a profitable business venture and a labor of love!

I have been buildi (incluiding this fragment).

The above would be a major red flag for me. If the guy doesn't make the effort to keep his web site in order, and his main qualifications seem to be from Biola University...

Seems to be in violation of some basic Christian precepts.

BUT Caveat Emptor. Enjoy your new planter...

Cya!

Bob

beegee - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:35:49

quote:

---

Originally posted by jacktraylor

 

Check out the discussions that went on regarding "Long Neck 5 Strings" on March 3-March 5. Paul, at the Folk Shop, has a lengthy entry.

 

Play on

---

I could not find this. Maybe you could be so knid as to include a live link?

I went to Beyer's website. Not impressed.

hobogal - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:38:13

That's a shame. I think most banjo players are stuck in the position of having to 'buy blind'.
Regarding long necks, I would speak to Ken LeVan here on the Hangout - he may be able to help with set-up and also builds custom banjos including long necks at very reasonable prices.

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:52:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by BDCA

 

Seems to be in violation of some basic Christian precepts.

 

To say the least!

BDCA - Posted - 09/29/2013:  05:54:03

Carrie, read the original thread and the comments and pictures show an instrument that looks like it was put together with a hand drill and Bondo. I can't beleive anyone with any morality would take money for that abortion of a banjo and then not accept it back for return or repair.

banjohangout.org/topic/257610

I would go as far to say this is interstate fraud! I would contact the consumer affairs folks in WA and work on getting your money back.I would also suggest Eric take Beyer of the list of Luthiers.

Beware The slimeball has ads in the classifieds:

banjohangout.org/classified/28583

In this one seems to be speaking in tongues towards the bottom.

banjohangout.org/classified/28038

This is as bad as it gets!

Cya!

Bob

Edited by - BDCA on 09/29/2013 06:02:41

jacktraylor - Posted - 09/29/2013:  06:28:03

 Paul's entry of early March, this year, is listed below. I could not transfer the pictures that accompanied the commentary. Type "long neck banjo" into the search box, I believe it is the  third discussion topic. Paul said:

"Here's a reminder of Beyer's workmanship and 'Lifetime Guarantee'.  This banjo was DOA so no guarantee as it's life was over.   Mr. Beyer was quietly given many chances to rectify the situation but the buyer was told that the 15 day trial period was over. Again, no warranty, no offer of repair.  Perhaps he's doing better now but I owe this info to BHO readers and potential Beyer banjo buyers. 

Paul

Thanks to Helix for helping me try  to make a banjo out of the mess that was sent to a beginner banjoist.  Here are a couple of pictures of that piece of work. Get a banjo from someone who knows how to build a banjo, not just bolt parts together."

Edited by - jacktraylor on 09/29/2013 06:30:22

mikehalloran - Posted - 09/29/2013:  08:51:25

Carl,

Is there any chance that you used a credit card - or PayPal backed by a credit card - to pay for that abomination? If so, you have recourse - and a whole pool of experts on the BHO to back you up.

Thare are good long necks in the Classifieds and a few are under $1,000 including a four Vegas: two Folklores and two conversions ranging from $695 - $835.

Btw, the $695 Folklore is a refinished early '60s SS-5 with a reshaped headstock, not a Martin era or later parts banjo.

Edited by - mikehalloran on 09/29/2013 08:59:06

mikehalloran - Posted - 09/29/2013:  09:18:11

Rounding out the sub $1k long necks in the Classifieds is a '60s Gibson RB-175 for $900. 

I'm posting this info because, after you deal with this Beyer disaster, you still want a decent banjo, right?

banjo bill-e - Posted - 09/29/2013:  10:35:56

Bob, I make it a practice to avoid doing business with anyone who lists "Christian credentials" as a reason to do business with them, as my experience has been that good people don't try to impress you with how good they are and a business offering should stand on it's own merits. That would have been a big red flag for me, too. I'm so sorry that Banjelo got cheated.

Bill

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 09/29/2013:  10:38:42

quote:

---

Originally posted by BDCA

 

In this one seems to be speaking in tongues towards the bottom.

banjohangout.org/classified/28038

  

LOL

shannonhearne - Posted - 09/29/2013:  13:41:43

Sorry you got burned.

I communicated with him a couple of years ago, and did not come away with a good feeling, about him or his banjos.


Perhaps you might want to bring Eric up-to-date on this. . Beyer's selling through BHO cannot be helpful to its reputation.

-shannon

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 09/29/2013:  14:12:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by jacktraylor

 

And finally , in reference to "a professional set up", a pig in a silk dress and make up, is still a pig.

---

Shrug.

If it can be made to play properly and sound halfway decent, the price of a professional setup can make the difference between having a playable instrument or not.

Few of us play $5,000 long necks, you know.

~Pete

jacktraylor - Posted - 09/29/2013:  15:11:01

Pete,
Did you by chance see Paul @ The Folk Shop's entry:
banjohangout.org/classified/28583
It would take a troop of mystic banjo elves working with enchanted tools to bring the instrument pictured in the attachments Paul provided within acceptable standards by any measure. This banjo is not Lazarus awaiting the touch of a "professional"
Let us leave defending the indefensible to the likes of Johnnie Cochran and ‎Robert Shapiro. $5000 long neck indeed!
Jack

Banjelo - Posted - 09/30/2013:  00:16:27

Thanks all for the support and understanding. I did find the thread noted above about two days after I frankenbanjo arrived. I should have done more due diligence. Also, there are things in the photos that don't look right. I have never heard of using generous amounts of rubber cement to attach a tone ring. It had oozed out, dried and was varnished along with the rest of the pot. (I've) Never had a banjo that smelled like a newly varnished piece of furniture. Some of the holes were so far off that extra holes were drilled just to mount the brackets. Most of the brackets (21 out of 24) are not perpendicular to the head because the holes were drilled in the wrong places. As far as distance from the top or bottom of the pot, the bracket mount holes vary by as much as 3/8 of an inch. No tape measure or eyeballing this thing. A kid in his first day of shop class could've done better. As I rotate the pot around and look at the brackets I keep thinking it is trying to sell me a German car. They keep spelling out VW, VW , VW.

The neck is weird also. At the 7th fret where the neck gets wider to accommodate the 5th string, the girth subtly increases also. Its not smooth or gradual. At least your thumb always knows when it goes above the 7th fret. The fingers on the frets suddenly get farther away.

I ended up biting the bullet and getting a Deering long neck. It's like night and day. It's the equivalent of going from my first shoebox rubberband guitar to my first Les Paul.

I guess we all have to be careful. I am so thankful that 99% of the people on BHO are passionate about the music and the instrument. So many good people here. The classifieds just make me drool. So many great instruments that are legends from their own time.

Thank-you everyone!!!!

mikehalloran - Posted - 09/30/2013:  00:21:35

Sometimes it's best to just walkway; other times, something can be salvaged. That was another reason for my listing of the current sub-$1K long necks in the Classifieds.

Btw, I missed one. That Epiphone is, essentially, an RB-175 with the Epi headstock instead of the Gibson. It's also only $500. It has plugged holes where D-tuners used to be. These are more rare than the Gibson version.

Just sayin...

bnjoplr - Posted - 09/30/2013:  03:22:32

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jason Wilkerson

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by BDCA

 

In this one seems to be speaking in tongues towards the bottom.

banjohangout.org/classified/28038

  

LOL

---

Wow!

banjo bill-e - Posted - 09/30/2013:  08:30:28

There are no reviews of Beyer banjos at the hangout. Perhaps Carl could remedy that?

Banjelo - Posted - 09/30/2013:  15:04:57

Notice how the coordinator rods do not line up with each other. Next you might notice that the they are between the 2nd and 3rd stings. Should center under the middle or 3rd string. This is partially because the tail-piece was not mounted in the center of the two bottom brackets. Look closely and you'll see the uneven spacing of the bracket screws. Eyeballing down the coordinator rods you'll notice they point off to the left side of the neck. This is partially because the neck is canted off to the right. To a front-end alignment person it might be referred to camber. Also notice one of the oops holes. Definitely not quality craftsmanship.

Co-rods

Lining up?

Banjelo - Posted - 09/30/2013:  15:42:04

Essentially, for the strings to center on the neck, the tailpiece has to be positioned this way to compensate for the neck not being mounted true. The black stuff between the tone ring and the wood? Rubber cement. I peeled off as much of the excess as I could.

Edited by - Banjelo on 09/30/2013 15:43:40

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 09/30/2013:  19:09:56

Oh my. "Amateur" doesn't quite describe that. Rubber cement under the tone ring????? Selling something like that is plain thievery.

If the neck is straight, then a luthier could fill the holes and re-set the neck properly, but you're still left with the rubber cement debacle. With a ton of effort, I guess that could be cleaned off, but the bigger question is WHY did he feel the need to use rubber cement to start with? Is the rim not properly turned for that tone ring? I'll bet it sounds dead as a doornail.

Banjelo - Posted - 09/30/2013:  20:21:07

You got that right. Playing it is mainly a series of dull plunks. Maybe good for that old song, "Hot Buttered Popcorn". I went ahead and posted a review as banjo bill-e suggested.

One of the review questions is about warranty or repair. I cannot for the life of me come up with a reason why anyone who would actually ship out a monstrosity like this ever consider honoring a warranty. He knows as soon as the recipient gets it they are going to want it fixed or want their their money back. And of course the seller isn't about to cover the cost of shipping it back and if you did the seller would just string you along until the clock runs out. Then the seller can tell you that you have to pay shipping again if you want it shipped back.

Considering the lack of quality that you've already seen displayed, I can't fathom this guy ever touching any instrument of mine ever again.

The guy uses Paypal and for good reason I found out. If the person doesn't have the money in their Paypal account there is just another layer of hassles and hoops to jump through. Even though you use your credit card to make a transaction with Paypal, Paypal can always put the kabosh on it because their transaction with the seller is separate and they can fall back and say that that entity (the seller) is insolvent and therefore a refund can't be made.

In a lot of cases, the seller has no company or even an LLC. I don't know if you can even file a complaint with the BBB since the seller is not officially a business. Even if they do have a business, my experience has been that its really the Better for Business Bureau. You file a complaint, they file a rebuttal, you file a rebuttal to that and then the business gets the last word usually lying through their teeth. BBB closes the case as satisfactory and refuses to reopen any more claims between you and the business.
It's fairly well known the BBB operates like Google these days. Any business can register with varying levels of payola for higher rankings.

It's sad that Beyer has plastered his ads all over BHO and is using the integrity of BHO and its members to cover up the stench of his defecations. Hopefully, we can make sure he claims no more victims.

BDCA - Posted - 09/30/2013:  22:02:40

If it were me I would contact the police in his town and explain the situation. The problem is the guy is 77 and a lifetime warranty isn't worth the price of his cardiac meds.

Apparently the neck is an import. I would remove ALL the hardware, buy a decent rim and send it all to a luthier who can drill the rim and use the existing neck and hardware to produce a decent banjo. It's better than haveing that POS around gathering dust.

Cya!

Bob

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 10/01/2013:  06:38:53

Really sad story.

It's always unfortunate when someone is taking advantage of others, but what really rubs me is all the Christian dialogue the guy has on his website. You may not agree with the Christian faith--and that's fine--but one thing is for certain--the way this guy treats others is absolutely contradictory to the teachings of the Bible (and most every other religion as well, for that matter).

Terribly sad that someone who obviously doesn't believe what he says he believes, drags a name through the mud like that.

I agree with what Bob said above--if someone feels the need to tout their moral qualities to you--BEWARE.  

Banjelo - Posted - 10/02/2013:  02:50:37

Not worth the hassle, Bob. You can't really contact police in another city and have them do anything for anyone who is not physically in their locale. He's an old con who conned me. But that is his flaw.

As for your second item. I have seriously thought about it. There might be enough parts to make something really nice that someone would buy after playing and inspecting it. I'd sure like to find a way to turn this lemon into lemonade.

mikehalloran - Posted - 10/02/2013:  09:06:26

quote:

---

Originally posted by Banjelo

As for your second item. I have seriously thought about it. There might be enough parts to make something really nice that someone would buy after playing and inspecting it. I'd sure like to find a way to turn this lemon into lemonade.



 

---

This has my curiosity peaked. Obviously, the only cure for the rim is a swap. Usually on a long neck, a Helix or Tony Pass ThinSkirt are good recommendations. Many other luthiers on the BHO who can make a nice rim - block style like Dan Pennington or 3- ply ... Lots of choices.

The next question - how is the hardware? Should the poor fitting tone ring be saved or should the replacement rim be a woodie? Helix, Pass/Schaffer, Pennington all offer woodies that make the cemented ring superfluous. If the ring is worth saving, a new rim can be cut to fit it. 

Cost for the above isn't that great but you will want to send the banjo to whomever does the work so that the neck heel can be cut properly to fit the new rim. If the object is to save the current tone ring, you can save labor by separating it from the rim first. Gentle heat over time will loosen rubber cement - a heating blanket works. If going with a woodie, skip this step. Anyway, fitting the neck adds labor to the job and needs to be factored into the cost.

Which leaves the $64K question - Is the neck worth a decent pot?  Only you can answer this question. 

OldPappy - Posted - 10/02/2013:  10:38:10

Wow ! I never saw anything close to that bad.

It looks like that bondo, or plastic wood, or whatever kind of putty it is under the flange and brackets was mashed into place with his fingers after the thing was put together and just left to dry that way.

It looks like the work of a very intoxicated person, blind in one eye, can't see out of the other, with a drill in one hand, a bottle in the other, wearing roller skates, and a catcher's mit.

Maybe his "church" uses peyote ?

Edited by - OldPappy on 10/02/2013 10:40:31

OldPappy - Posted - 10/02/2013:  10:41:35

Friend of mine has an old Framus long neck for sale at a reasonable price.

vampick - Posted - 10/02/2013:  18:39:49

Oh boy. It's always risky to bring religion (or politics) into a discussion about banjos ... especially long-neck banjos ... but in this case Pastor Beyer makes his religion central to the marketing of his creations. The seminary he proudly cites, at Biola University, embraces as its core doctrine the statement that "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error or misstatement in their moral and spiritual teaching and record of historical facts. They are without error or defect of any kind."

So maybe Banjelo can remind Pastor Beyer of 1 Corinthians 6:10 ... "Nor thieves, nor the greedy... nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

I would also hazard a guess that he made the banjo in less than seven days.

Jason Wilkerson - Posted - 10/02/2013:  18:58:07

quote:

---

Originally posted by vampick

 

Oh boy. It's always risky to bring religion (or politics) into a discussion about banjos ... especially long-neck banjos ... but in this case Pastor Beyer makes his religion central to the marketing of his creations. The seminary he proudly cites, at Biola University, embraces as its core doctrine the statement that "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error or misstatement in their moral and spiritual teaching and record of historical facts. They are without error or defect of any kind."



So maybe Banjelo can remind Pastor Beyer of 1 Corinthians 6:10 ... "Nor thieves, nor the greedy... nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."



I would also hazard a guess that he made the banjo in less than seven days.

---

Excellent point. Of course Biola is no more to blame for Jonathan Beyer than banjos are to blame for the longneck that Banjelo received.

swamplunker - Posted - 10/02/2013:  19:56:45

Still, they make the finest aspirin...

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 10/03/2013:  00:17:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by OldPappy

 

Maybe his "church" uses peyote ?

---

More than likely he's just lying about his past.   It's not even a terribly uncommon lie.

Over the years I've had three or four self-proclaimed "preachers" who've waited until the work was done on their instruments and then gave me variations of "I'm a man of the cloth -so of course you'll offer me a 30% discount".

It never seems to cross their minds that trying to cheat someone demonstrates quite clearly that their congregation consists only of themselves.

Joe Connor - Posted - 10/03/2013:  05:51:43

Remember back in the '60s, there was an outfit that called itself something like the Universal Life Church and advertised in magazines like Rolling Stone? If you sent in a nominal fee, they would ordain you and send you ecclesiastical credentials. I had a friend who did that and would try to get ecclesiastical discounts. Sometimes, the merchants would fall for it but most times they'd throw him out of the store. Those were the days.

nograss5150 - Posted - 10/03/2013:  09:08:19

I don't want to hijack a thread so if I get off topic, please stop me.

I've watched this post from the beginning, read all the responses, read the other topics referred to, looked at this guy's website, looked at his advertisements for sale, and looked at his home page.  I've waited for someone else to suggest what I'm thinking but it hasn't occurred.  So, I'll dive into the deep end of the pool.

So far, I've seen theories of crook, con-man, thief, liar, fallen minister (or words to that effect), as the root.  To me, something doesn't ring true here with each of these suggestions.  I would suggest another theory and it's just that, a theory.  Alzheimers or other form of dementia.

He believes he's building a professional grade banjo.  He obviously doesn't recognize the lack of craftmanship: misaligned holes, off centered co-rods, bondo or wood filler, off centered fret board, rubber glue between ring and rim, etc., etc.  In his mind, it's a perfect world.  To the buyer and any other witness, it obviously is not.  Not even close.  These details, in addition to his disjointed and wordy advertisements, the disjointedness and clutter in his website, tells me this may be caused by something other than the previously mentioned theories.

Can anyone else out there see my point or am I totally FOS??  :-))  joe

OldInTheNewWay - Posted - 10/03/2013:  10:04:29

 

Maybe his "church" uses peyote ?

---

          LOL!!!

BDCA - Posted - 10/03/2013:  10:09:13

Joe, at 77 that's entirely possible he's suffering from banjomentia.

If i's not a mental issue, I doubt it's Peyote, or he'd never get finished, but possibly huffing spray paint or crack...

Cya!

Bob

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 10/03/2013:  13:36:27

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joe Connor

 

Remember back in the '60s, there was an outfit that called itself something like the Universal Life Church and advertised in magazines like Rolling Stone? If you sent in a nominal fee, they would ordain you and send you ecclesiastical credentials. I had a friend who did that and would try to get ecclesiastical discounts. Sometimes, the merchants would fall for it but most times they'd throw him out of the store. Those were the days.

---

They're still around, my son.   ulc.net/

~Pete

johncole - Posted - 10/03/2013:  14:05:12

Joe;
I think you are probably spot-on with the dimentia theory. A serious issue, really...
Several months back, I was communicating with Mr. Beyer about his banjos, I was seriously considering a purchase. As time went on, I began feeling a tone of desperation from him. Red flag.
So here's another "data point" to consider; I asked about purchasing just a neck from him, to mate with an old rim I have. He said they are often hard to get, that there's only a couple of sources in the world, etc. So he needed $280 for it. About this time, i figured out he was getting the necks from Asia, so that's what I did! $120 shipped seemed much more reasonable, and I came away with a bad feeling about longneckbanjo.com
My banjo turned out rather nice, it wasn't too difficult to do.
Banjelo, so sorry for your bad experience. I'd be pretty mad.
John

Banjelo - Posted - 10/03/2013:  22:13:24

Well, I was mad. I'm not a person who likes to go into negative territory. Life is too short. BHO is a place of fun and dreams, toys and creativity, expert advice and really great people. It's also a place of trust. I think what made me madder was seeing that almost half of all long-neck banjo ads were Beyer's. Every day I picked it up just made madder because I'd notice more flaws. I felt I'd be derelict NOT saying something after discovering I was not his first victim. A lot of people scrimp and save to get their next instrument or their first banjo. They come here for advice on what they are going to do or can get with their hard-earned cash.

I blew off my steam and hopefully prevented someone else from making the same mistake. There are more problems with the Beyer banjo than I am able to explain. I think I went easy on him honestly. And yeah the Christian bent is a turn-off. I was
hoping this one wasn't a charlatan. I've considered the dementia aspect. Pretty acute stall tactics for a dementia case. But then again, I guess most would agree that charlatans are demented in the first place.

Banjelo - Posted - 10/03/2013:  23:14:30

JohnCole, I have some questions since you got one of these necks. Did you find someone with a heel jig to do that for you? How about any of the other work? You said you got a decent banjo in the end. The reason I ask is because the heel on the Frankenbeyer was basically a square heel mounted on a round rim. The rim is a wreck of excess holes, varnish and wood putty.
Even though "these 'Asian' necks" has been brought up as an issue, (so many Fenders and Gibsons these days are made in China and that is also 'asian' ) .

I'm in the Los Angeles area and every luthier here seems to be into guitars. I've had some good suggestions from BHO members.
I am pretty much thinking of shipping it to someone who has the knowledge and the tools to actually build banjos. But I am not in a big hurry as I bought another longneck since then so my playing is satiated. The neck looks good. Beyer just gouged the hell out of the nut with a carpenter's file. Iv'e got some good parts to make a nice banjo. Its never going to be worth that much.
That said,if I can make it an instrument, it may show up here someday or on a stage.

Banjelo - Posted - 10/04/2013:  21:59:26

I am checking around on some leads of people who might be able to make this banjo right. In the meantime I took a look, A VERY CLOSE LOOK, at other instruments this Beyer guy is selling. I'm seeing the same crappy workmanship I had the misfortune of encountering. Excess glue and caulk, bracket holes not evenly spaced, tail-pieces way of center to accommodate necks not mounted true or jigged, coordinator rods not lining up with the neck, you name it. Look at every detail and see for yourself. Or don't, not worth the time.

And then there's the disclaimer that "banjo pictured may not be the one that is for sale". In other words, the one you (hopefully don't) buy may be even more messed up than you can imagine.

I've found a few other other independent banjo luthiers who actually have the required tools of the trade and actual skill/experience to do it right. And they are priced in the same range and will ship 'with a case' for $20 more than Beyer charges for shipping alone.

johncole - Posted - 10/06/2013:  15:19:39

Hi Banjelo;

I'm not a luthier, but I do read a LOT, and am a student of all things. Any success I've had making my first long neck banjo is because of the nice folks here on the hangout. Rudy, Zepp, Ken, Bill Rickard...you guys know who you are!! I study their notes and techniques, and with a little luck and perseverance, my project came out way better than expected.

The Asian neck thing; I get mine from Taiwan, they are not perfect, but an incredible bang for the buck. I don't have the tooling, space, or time to make these, but perhaps someday. They are made from hard rock maple, ebony, with rosewood veneered headstock. The adjustable truss rod functions well. I have no stake in these, it's just that they really do seem to serve a purpose if one's wallet is not deep. My first banjo was completed two months ago, and it remains perfectly in tune (as well as can be expected) and is a joy to play. To shape the neck's heel, I copied a jig shown by one of the other members, and the same jig can be reconfigured to shape the 'dowel stick' as well. I use Rudy's all thread mounting device, and it works perfectly. 

I would love to 'fix' your instrument!! I'm not a pro, but then, neither is your banjo!! I would most likely try to reuse the neck and some of the hardware, and go from there.

I'm using Zach Hoyt's rims, they are great. Hardwood tone rings are so fun to work with. I'm building 4 new instruments at this time, slated to be sold through Stanroy Music Center in Santa Rosa, CA. A real guarantee, support, and help, and NO gospel, I promise.

new long neck

Banjelo - Posted - 10/06/2013:  16:03:00

I'd probably give it a go myself but the neck heel is still square and I don't have a heel jig. A have a contact in AZ who has a lot of banjo experience and I am in that part of AZ a number of times a year so thought I might take it out there next month.

Thanks for the offer.

johncole - Posted - 10/06/2013:  16:10:43

Banjelo,
That sounds like a reasonable decision, and you seem to have a lot more grace and patience than myself! Glad you've gotten past the yucky stuff with your first banjo, and stuck with it by getting a proper instrument, and learning to play it.

John

thefolkshop - Posted - 10/06/2013:  22:11:11

Would you want Jonathan Beyer absolving you of your sins? I sure would!  Anything goes, baby.  This guy has got to be stopped before he runs out of wood putty and starts using duct tape to hold his banjos together.  I hate to do this to an old nut, but I are one, too, and he's ruining our images. Paul 

country frank - Posted - 10/07/2013:  04:42:13

i am shocked..........rubber cement under the ring.........

Edited by - country frank on 10/07/2013 04:42:29