 | Steve Miller says:
8/21/2011 4:22:26 AM
Hello ball bearing owner. My name is Steve Miller. Look me up on here and listen to my music. I play an origional (except 5 string neck) 1926 TB-3 Gibson Ball Bearing Mastertone. Listen to my song " The Farmer and the Lord." the Ball Bearing was used on all my radio programs.
Please be assured; you will "not" get the 1950's Earl Scruggs sound picking a banjo with a plastic head. You "must" use a calf skin head, and you must record in a 2 inch ribbon mic (like the one in your bio picture)
You will get lots of hype on this subject but the proof is and always will be in the puddin.
Picking a banjo with a calf skin head is like taking a blow-up doll to the prom. Sure; you got a date, but there is more to life than having stuff that is easy to care for...!
My wife doesn;t have to understand "banjo" and my Banjo doesn't have to hold up well in the shower. I still love the both...!
|
 | dgill says:
8/21/2011 4:25:55 AM
It will be a pleasure filled experiance at that. I have a Remo Weather King head on mine, because that is what was on it when I bought it. It sounds simply beautiful. A friend here on the Hangout recently gave me a calf skin head that I think will fit. I intend to try it this winter, but plan to take it to Arthur Hatfield to make the switch. Mine is also still an arch top but many change theirs to flat heads. I prefer not. Good luck and please let us hear a bit of it when it is complete. Those of us that love ball bearing banjos, really love ball bearing banjos.
|
| Steve Miller says:
8/22/2011 6:10:15 PM
Please disreguard my post above. It must have been too early in the morning for me. What I ment to say was: Hello ball bearing owner. My name is Steve Miller. Look me up on here and listen to my music. I play an origional (except 5 string neck) 1926 TB-3 Gibson Ball Bearing Mastertone. Listen to my song " The Farmer and the Lord." the Ball Bearing was used on all my radio programs.
Please be assured; you will "not" get the 1950's Earl Scruggs sound picking a banjo with a plastic head. You "must" use a very young, thin calf skin head, and you must record in a 2 inch ribbon mic (like the one in your bio picture) "Even a cheap Nady plain 2" ribbon mic will sound just fine.
You will get lots of hype on this subject but the proof is; and always will be in the puddin.
Picking a banjo with a "plastic" head is like taking a blow-up doll to the prom. Sure; you got a date, but there is more to life than having stuff that’s easy to care for...!
My wife doesn’t have to understand "banjo" and my Banjo doesn't have to hold up well in the shower. I still love them both...!
I bought and sold at least a dozen really good Gibson banjos over a period of 30 years; searching for that "early Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Rudy Lyle, very early Bobby Osborbe, very early Ralph Stanley sound.
I found it...! But the sound wasn't coming from the banjo alone. Make no mistake about it! The banjo has a lot to do with what you hear, but a young, thin calf skin head tightened nice and tight will make any, and I mean "any" banjo sound like those of the late 40's - to late 50's. Somebody told me that plastic banjo heads came out in 1958. Listen to the old bluegrass music and see if you can tell when the professional pickers switched over to plastic heads? By the early 60's Don Reno was one of the few bluegrass musicians who could still make it happen in front of a mic, and that was because of two things. He used a calf-skin banjo head, and he always demanded a 2" ribbon mic to record in. I read something to that very effect on the net just recently.
I have a 70's arch-top Gold Star banjo that was one of the best I had hear but it lacked that specical something that the old banjos had. I put a calf skin head on it and now with your back turned you would be sure that it was a ball bearing.
Right now I have 4 busted calf skin banjo heads hanging on the wall in my studio. I learned two things early on. Take your time tightening the head up little by little "3 days at least", and never, never let the humidity get below %35 in your banjo case. "All" nicely tightened calf skin banjo heads will pop right around %30 humidity. DON'T bE AFRAID. I can still remember the first busted calf skin head and it was an awsome feeling to say the least. You just won't be the same after that...!
Repent of your sins and pick hard
God would want it that way,
Steve Miller
Vinton Va
|
