DanielT - Posted - 11/30/2014:  17:02:29

Nechville owners (or those acquainted with them), I'm wondering how the ceramic tone spheres compare to the metal and delrin tone spheres in the cyclotronic rims.  I've searched the site and Nechville's site and I couldn't find any real information about them – anyone have any experience with them they could share?

nograss5150 - Posted - 11/30/2014:  18:30:45

That's probably a good question you could ask Al Price, the W coast rep for Nechville.  Look him up under members or go to the Nechville thread under shopping advice (I think) and scroll thru there to find his name, then send him a PM.  Some of the Nechvilles I've seen have a delrin every 5th or 6th space and I think it may tone it down a bit and also less weight--but I could be wrong. :-)

nograss5150 - Posted - 11/30/2014:  18:37:07

Nechville thread is on page three of Shopping Advice.

alprice - Posted - 12/01/2014:  06:51:00

Daniel, to my ear the ceramic tone spheres have a brilliant, bright tone.  They are spendy at $3 each, but someone seeking that sound would be pleased with them.  

DanielT - Posted - 12/01/2014:  08:36:31

Thanks, Al!  How do they compare in sound (and weight, I suppose) to the stainless and the Delrin?

alprice - Posted - 12/03/2014:  06:13:00

Daniel, this is what I hear, YMMV: The steel have a full sound, Delrin thin, ceramic bright/sparkly.   I choose to use all steel as they sound best to my ear.    Weight is insignficant.  Even if using all steel, its a total of 12 oz.  If you want to reduce weight, you go to the Timbr-Tronic tone ring.

DanielT - Posted - 12/03/2014:  19:03:47

Al, thanks so much for the answer – this is the first place I've seen the three different types of sphere explained.

Jim Pankey - Posted - 12/04/2014:  18:50:24

Ceramic Tone Spheres.... Ceramic... what knucklehead ever thought that'd be a good idea.  Oh.. yeah, I kinda remember now.  :)

Helix - Posted - 12/07/2014:  08:26:58

I like the idea, I like the ability to select what you want.

However, mrbook, here on the hangout, has an excellent Cherry banjo with a Ceramic tone ring, I've never seen another.

I'm totally curious, cone 10?

jbanjoist - Posted - 12/22/2014:  20:31:20

I took the metal sphere out of my Vintage and never looked back. To me it sounded much better without them.

But that's me. Made it harder to tighten the head but a little dab of lube in the right places helps.

DanielT - Posted - 12/24/2014:  11:13:40

quote:

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Originally posted by jbanjoist

I took the metal sphere out of my Vintage and never looked back. To me it sounded much better without them.

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Your Vintage has a metal tone ring, yes?  Does anyone out there have the ceramic tone spheres with one of their wooden tone rings?

rmcdow - Posted - 06/07/2015:  11:48:11

I have a Nechville Moonshine with the old style frame that I converted to an openback (cut the rim off). I put birch wooden balls in the banjo instead of the steel bearings, losing 11 ounces in weight. The sound is great, but I don't have enough experience in the Nechville or banjos in general to comment with the detail that Al did. I sent a set to Tom to try, he said they sounded amazing, but later thought possibly they decreased the volume a bit at distances from the banjo. The Nechville I have has a wooden tone ring.

mrbook - Posted - 06/10/2015:  15:33:29

The ceramic tone ring on my banjo (pictured to the left of this message and in photos on my home page) does indeed have what I would call a bright and sparkly sound. The clear head (which shows the painting inside the resonator) may contribute to that, but I think it is largely due to the ceramic ring. It is a good sound, but different from the conventional bluegrass sound. I would play it more, but the tunneled 5th string sometimes gets hung up while tuning, often resulting in a broken string on stage. It is a sound that gets many compliments when I play it.

El Dobro - Posted - 06/11/2015:  09:30:31

I guess Liberty Banjo was ahead of everyone with their tone balls.

Nick Danger - Posted - 06/13/2015:  21:00:38

quote:

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Originally posted by El Dobro

 

I guess Liberty Banjo was ahead of everyone with their tone balls.

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Hey, I remember those!  I was scratchin' my head for more than a couple of years wondering how those things would be incorporated into a banjo, that is, until someone told me it was intentionally put in the old Liberty Banjo catalog for a laugh.  P.T. Barnum was right:  there's one born every minute.