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the-fish - Posted - 07/29/2014: 14:19:03
Bart can do whatever he wants. Very talented. I've seen a few like this.
superdave - Posted - 07/29/2014: 14:19:30
Doesn't say what type of tone ring. I assume a Whyte Layde ?
Dave
wrightedward - Posted - 07/29/2014: 17:22:49
One beautiful banjo ..if it will play anywhere near what it sounds like ,incredible..
jbalch - Posted - 07/29/2014: 19:35:23
I remember when Bart Reiter was THE premier custom builder. The banjo at Gruhn's is a great example - but maybe not the pinnacle of his work.
I ordered my "dream banjo" from Bart in 1993. A custom A-scale, hot-rod, internal resonator model. It was delivered in the spring of 1994. At the time, Bart told me he was cutting back on the custom work. He said, if you like this banjo - keep it - I probably won't make another one. I did keep it ... Good advice from Bart!
Edited by - jbalch on 07/29/2014 19:40:50
jbalch - Posted - 07/29/2014: 19:38:07
quote:
Originally posted by superdave
Doesn't say what type of tone ring. I assume a Whyte Layde ?
Dave
Would be a Whyte Laydie ring - with bracket rim. Awesome combo!
rudykizuty - Posted - 07/30/2014: 03:17:41
Beautiful banjo.
Nice to see that Gruhn's finally updated their web site. A long overdue but huge improvement.
Bill Rogers - Posted - 07/30/2014: 11:30:47
Bart makes banjos, but he's not a player. He's in it to make a living, and simplifying his banjo making means he won't spend more time on things than he can get paid for--given the market. The number of instruments he makes each year is remarkable. He'd get nothing like that production if he was still doing custom work.
jbalch - Posted - 07/30/2014: 19:01:57
Bill - you are exactly right. Bart looks at banjo making pragmatically - as a business. Some folks view this with a bit of a jaundiced eye. But not me.
He is obviously passionate about producing a great product that serves the player very well. Personally I think his present focus on producing no-frills, pro-grade, instruments serves an important segment of the market. Every banjo Bart makes can be a lifetime instrument for its owner. I'm confident they will stand the test of time for generations to come. And ... Bart offers his banjos at a price that is within reach of any serious player.
I love the fancy stuff. It is out-of-style now. but I still like it a lot. However, my absolute favorite everyday banjo is an unadorned bacopone-plus. It really speaks to me!
bohemian - Posted - 07/30/2014: 20:24:59
I orderede a similar banjo to J Balch's.. also in 93... one month after I got it.. I managed to macerate my right hand in a wood wqorking accident.
I couls npot play for two years and needed cash so sold it.
Mine was similar without the heel carving and a Gryphon on the head stock as welll as a nut width one 1/8th wider than stock.
I now have a 93 Concert with a few less frills and find it to be an outstanding banjo.. a keeper for sure.
Bart Reiter is a a talented, skilled craftman, consumate capitalist..
And the finest banjo maker I hav eencounted..
No bull, just the goods.
I have owned three and all three wer remarkable.
And unlike one of his proteges.. he does what he says he is going to do, when he says he is going to do it.. and for the price quoted.
banjobart - Posted - 07/31/2014: 17:31:39
Luthier:
An old Indian word meaning:
"Guy has wife with good job"
Just kidding but it is somewhat true. The "artist" makers generally have a way to make a living other than from banjo making and it is frequently by being married to a woman with a well paying job. I do not have the nerve to ask my wife for money so I have to make it myself, if I want to buy a new motorcycle every year and take it out on the open road for weeks at a time. If I was not paying attention to the bottom dollar there would be many fewer banjos on the market for players to enjoy. The market is wide open, it has been for 30 years, for many more banjo companies to prosper but few are interested. It is just too much work in dust and fumes for the average person. The work is repetitive and mostly boring. The companies that pay attention to the bottom dollar stay in business for decades. Those that do not go under and then what good does that do banjo players?
I have great hopes for Pisgah Banjo Co. and others to fill the gap when I retire in a few years. I help them in any way that I can.
I have always made about a dozen banjos a month. Now I do it in half the time because the banjos are basic brown "whole wheat" banjos. The average banjo I once made had a hand inlaid and engraved peghead at the minimum. Now the peghead just gets a pre-cut pearl star.
I used to play a lot of guitar and some banjo but I have not practiced in 20 years. My hands are stiff from arthritis from grasping tools. I had a part time helper for half my career but most the production is done with my own two hands...seems like an honest living to me...hardly the efforts of a capitalist. A capitalist gets rich using other people's money. Every dollar I have made the last 40 years has been made one at time with own hands.
I picked up a new Ninja 1000 today and got to ride on the curviest roads in SE Michigan. That's a good day. So now I play the handlebars.
Edited by - banjobart on 07/31/2014 17:34:50
Bill Rogers - Posted - 07/31/2014: 18:06:24
Well stated Bart. May your hands hold out as long as you care to make banjos.
jbalch - Posted - 08/01/2014: 08:30:48
The banjo at Gruhn's is SOLD - I visited the store yesterday and was very tempted. It is probably the nicest example I've seen from my favorite period in Bart's career. The engraved inlay is simply beautiful with a very vintage look. The neck profile is perfect. I love the bound peg head. And best of all the banjo sounds great!
I called this morning to buy it ... and found that it is gone. Congratulations to the new owner (sadly - not me).
Edited by - jbalch on 08/01/2014 08:38:12
superdave - Posted - 08/01/2014: 13:28:30
That's funny in a sad kind of way because I did the same thing ! He who hesitates is lost ! It was fun thinking about owning it anyway.
Dave
superdave - Posted - 08/01/2014: 14:02:28
quote:
Originally posted by superdave
I figured I could call and maybe put it on hold over the weekend to break the news to the Wife, but should had taken a friends advise and done it yesterday as they suggested 😞
Dave
Edited by - superdave on 08/01/2014 14:07:25
banjobart - Posted - 08/01/2014: 16:57:50
Ya gotta play fast, it's gettin' dark.
jbalch - Posted - 08/01/2014: 18:44:17
quote:
Originally posted by banjobart
Ya gotta play fast, it's gettin' dark.
You told me that yesterday...should have listened. But it was probably already too late by then. Oh well ... I do have a few others around here to console me.
ChuckS - Posted - 08/01/2014: 20:53:17
quote:
Originally posted by banjobart
Ya gotta play fast, it's gettin' dark.
Advice taken. I just pulled the trigger on a Round Peak from Elderly.
Always happy to support a fellow motorcyclist's stable.
bohemian - Posted - 08/02/2014: 00:08:24
A capitalist is one who enjoys the the benefit of his labors.. no implication otherwise.
I am on my third Bart Reiter banjo, the best I have owned of better than a dozen.
I have excused him for riding Harleys : ) And now he has defected to the Pac Rim !
Edited by - bohemian on 08/02/2014 00:10:36
kona - Posted - 08/02/2014: 10:18:17
I was super tempted too, what a beauty at a fine price. Fortunately for me, it was never in the reality of my budget. I wonder who ended up with the instrument. Maybe somebody here on BHO, who might be selling off other banjos to fund the purchase?
ceemonster - Posted - 08/03/2014: 06:32:15
i looked at that banjo on the Gruhn site as well, remembering to keep my head and bear in mind that my first banjo, which i still own, was a Bart Reiter Whyte Laydie No. 2, with a bb. That would have been, 1989-92-ish. I'd better review the year. There are a few scratches on the rim cap, but otherwise it's as clean as a whistle, and just lovely, inside and out. Over the years I've sort of gotten entwined with the 25.5" scale.....but lately I've been thinking how nice it might be to have a Walnut Galax. Or a Walnut Regent. Not sure how one parses the nuances there....i also think the mahogany Galax has a wonderful sound...
Edited by - ceemonster on 08/03/2014 06:40:06
superdave - Posted - 08/03/2014: 07:15:12
I have a mahogany neck Tubaphone that Bart built a couple years back out of a batch of Bill Rickard rings that Bart used that does Everything I need and want so I had a hard time reining myself in on that banjo as well, but still not enough to stop me from attempting to purchase it. I am some what glad some one beat me to it . If nothing else for saving my marriage !
Dave
Edited by - superdave on 08/03/2014 07:16:43
