Bill-in-NC says:
3/2/2011 6:12:10 AM

I feel that the rim and tone ring play equal roles in the tone quality of the banjo. Hubers recent studies have shown that on the best pre-war banjos these two components work synergistically to provide that mystical sound. It's hard to assinge a percentage of contribution to the individual components but I assign 40% to the tone ring 40% to the rim, leaving 20% to everything else, i.e. resonator, neckwood, bridge and set-up.

There is a great article in the March Bluegrass Unlimited about the experimenting that Steve Huber has done. Great work on his part to quantify what we all call the "pre-war" sound. It confirms what many of us have thought for years and explains why some combinations are just special and others aren't...Bill

Barnet in AVL says:
3/2/2011 3:43:23 PM

I agree with Bill that the ring-rim combo is the main thing. My experience is that when playing banjos with different neck woods next to one another, it's often possible to hear a difference in tone, going from mahogany to walnut to curly maple to straight grain maple on a continuum towards a brighter sound. OTOH, I can't tell what kind of neck wood any particular banjo has just by hearing it alone or without others for comparison. I understand that most resonators are poplar wood with various veneers. I'd leave out variables that are adjustable, like type of head, head tension, string gauge, action... the setup issues, I guess. So my ranking would be:

1. ring - rim
2. neck wood
3. resonator

FWIW, YMMV, etc etc

Barnet in SoCal

Bohonkie says:
3/3/2011 8:31:52 AM

I agree with Barnet, re: "heirarchy of tonal significance" and, as Bill said, the tone ring and rim are in inegral set. Not only is their composition important but also their manufacturing method and how they fit together (tolerances) and where they sit in the banjo (distance from the resonator, etc.). Tailpieces are still somewhat of a mystery to me as I have seen some banjos that like thin, light, tailpieces and some that like heavy, long tailpieces. The string angle also has an effect on sound. I evaluated a Recording King I bought (see elsewhere on this site) where I changed a lot of hardware during set up. But, as others have said, tailpieces, strings, bridge, nut, etc. are all part of set up after you have the basic tonal package you're after - and you can get that package with Bill's evaluation and Barnet's #1,2 & 3. Thx - m.

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