Posted by johnboyrox on Tuesday, September 1, 2009
I have been fighting with my banjo for about 10 days now. I have a Yates Rattlesnake, and I got this new Yates Venom v33 ring, and by all accounts, this is supposed to be an awesome ring. I get it centered on the rim pretty good. I get the banjo put back together right about where I had everything before and slip my picks on... I'm so disappointed. I can tell that the ring has some great sound in it, and even though I can tell the ping is great, the "pong" that comes after the ping is infuriating. I have a horrible echo and everything sounds off because the echo isn't on tune.
So I work for days making minor adjustments in head tension, coordinator rod tightness, Change string gauge a couple of times, search the hangout 100 times... Then I'm playing with it last night and I tap on the tailpiece and I notice that when I tap on it, it makes the annoying off-key "pong" that I keep hearing. So, long story short, I adjusted the tailpiece up quite a bit and re-tuned. I fired off a song and almost cried. Finally, it sounds fantastic.
I can't believe how good it sounds. Believe me, there is no "hype" to this. It is a new banjo that sounds like an old banjo. It is loud, with great tone. The fourth string growls, every string has it's own sound. When I bend a string, it is a whole different world. Now I know why some of you guys with high-end banjos get all caught up in these blues licks...because they are really fun when your banjo responds to them. It has very good volume. I have always been a little disappointed with how quiet my banjo is, now I am very happy with its volume. It's not the loudest banjo ever, but It is more than loud enough. I am sure I will tinker with it some more later, but for now, I've got it setup and I like it.
1 comment on “Devil is in the (setup) details”
PruchaLegend Says:
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 @8:40:13 PM
Congratulations on finding the "fix." It's sure nice when a plan comes together. Kind of makes up for the frustration...a little.
It's great that you are so happy with the sound.
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