I know most player/owners like to share how they came about owning their banjo/s. Therefore, is there a story behind how you came to get your Huber? Not nothing off the wall; just what led you down the path to the Huber? Heard one somewhere, played it against others, read positive reviews? We got 10 members so should have 10 stories. I will hold off and let someone else go first. 1.....2......3......Go
18 Comments |
 | Chris Cooper says:
1/30/2011 4:20:25 AM
I did quite a bit of research and figured I wanted to try a Huber banjo. The UK dealer for Huber Banjo's happens to be a good friend of my family and me, he has known me since I was 2 weeks old(my first festival). His shop is in Liverpool which is about 200 miles from my house so I drove up to try some Huber's and see my buddy for the day.
He had the Lancaster(which I bought) and a Berkshire in stock. I spent all day picking the two banjos and couldnt decide between them! eventually my buddy pulled two cases from the back of his shop took the banjo's from me put them in the cases without saying a word and sent me home with both banjo's to try them out at rehearsal and at home for a few days.
My band helped me decide between the two and I took the Berkshire and the dealers money(for the Lancaster) back to Liverpool.
Two weeks later I picked a Ron Block model which was for sale and I wanted that too!
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 | BobbyE says:
1/30/2011 5:31:11 AM
Thanks Chris - Doesn't get much better than having two to pick from I don't imagine. Care to share what it was about the Lancaster that 'spoke' to you?
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 | spinley says:
1/30/2011 6:26:03 AM
Got mine from Jim at Huber. I had heard good things about this banjo and Jim sold it to me. It was his banjo.
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| Chris Cooper says:
1/30/2011 7:06:30 AM
The Lancaster just had the growl and suited my hard driving style better than the Berkshire the decay on the notes is faster (I think thats because of the mahogany construction). I guess it just had more 'grunt'.
The Berkshire had a sweeter tone somehow, I wanted both but couldnt afford it.
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 | Banjov1 says:
1/30/2011 8:04:48 AM
I was monitoring the BHO classifieds for any Huber that came along with the HR 30 ring and making offers hoping to spark a bargaining process. I guess most of the offers I was making were too low, because some folks would just give me a brief NO and a lot of folks didnt even get back to me.
Finally I made an offer on a custom Lancaster down in Roanoke (I was also trying to make offers to folks within 8 hour driving distance) and instead of the usual terse reply, this guy actually got back to me and said, Didnt I sell you a Huber a couple years ago? I thought about it and then realized that my cousin had bought a used Lancaster from a guy in Roanoke. It turned out to be the same guy. We emailed back and forth, and found out were both Virginia Tech alumni and exchanged the usual Hokie greetings and that finally led us to the bargaining process I was looking for. We agreed upon a price, I made a trip down to Roanoke on New Years Eve to check it out and voila I bought the banjo.
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| BobbyE says:
1/30/2011 8:37:49 AM
About a year ago my wife agreed that I should have a new banjo to celebrate my coming retirement and return to the USA. (What a wife!) I had been taking my Robin Smith Timeless Timber apart and packing it in suitcases to get it back and forth between the states and Africa and the last time through Washington the TSA folks basically unwrapped it to check it out and put it back the suitcase that unwrapped. I did not want to chance that again ( loss or possible damage ) so decided a new banjo was in order and I would send my present banjo in a container with our other things. Thus started the dream and search. I strongly considered a Stelling but have always been pretty traditional in my taste in sound and looks. The Hubers were so highly recommended by so many and I also have CDs where they are being played by the band's banjo player that I started leaning toward one. Kept checking the used ones on the HO everyday and everytime one sold I would think, 'that could have been mine.' Like Tony, I was looking for one that had already been upgraded with the HR-30 ring though the old ones always sounded good too. When I made an offer on the one I finally got the seller offered it for a lower price than I initially made. It had a KK pre-war rim in it but the original rim was included and I just decided I would use that and he could keep the prewar rim. I offered him a certian amount and he countered by offering it to me for less than that because he had only paid the price he offered to me a few months before and 'would not feel right if he charged me more for it.' Well to make a long story short I reconsidered on the KK rim and the rest as they say is history. I have received pictures of the banjo from every possible angle and it looks to be a beaut. Randy Wood cut the rim (before I had anything to do with it) for the tone ring fit and put it all back together. Can't wait to get my hands on it next September. Great stories all.
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| Banjov1 says:
1/30/2011 10:35:11 AM
I love it when you counter offer and they respond by countering at a lower price ;)
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 | blackshirtbacker says:
1/31/2011 4:39:34 PM
Hey folks! I'm just a beginner picker and decided to buy a cheap starter banjo to see if I enjoyed playing. I found out pretty quick I did, I wore my starter out in about two years. Major fret wear Buzzes all over the place and I just couldn't get it sounding good again. When I decided I liked playing I started doing research and looking at better banjo's and it didn't take long for me to decide a Huber is the banjo of my dreams although I wouldn't be able to afford one for some time. The saving process began and I wasn't quite up to 1500 in the banjo fund and I received an E-mail from Eric Schlange saying I had won the Huber HR-30 ring in the drawing. Not having enough money to buy a new Huber, I had a choice, Take the ring and build a Frankenstien around it, or keep saving. I talked with Jim at Huber and he informed me that If I wanted to build a Huber they would be able to build one for the cost minus the store cost of my ring. I hmmmed and hawwwed for a few days and called Jim back with my order. A Berkshire with a speed neck wider and radius fingerboard built around my HR-30 ring. I still can't play the thing very well but it sure is purdy!!!!
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| Banjov1 says:
1/31/2011 6:30:45 PM
I love that story Matt. My life's goal is to some day win a banjohangout drawing! I have a feeling that if it ever really happens I'll probably win some sort of grab bag with a bunch of sample string cleaners. Did you get the new "Engineered Rim" on your Berkshire
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| blackshirtbacker says:
2/1/2011 3:42:43 AM
No I didn't.... I wanted to but it was still in the design phase when I ordered. Jim said they could put a prototype in it but it wouldn't be the real deal because every rim they were making at that time got better and better. He recommended that I go with the stock rim for now and when they finalized everything with the engineered rim I could order one then. The rim hit there website about a month after I received my Berkshire. I've got plenty enough banjo for me and not sure how much good it would do me to install the new rim.... Maybe one day I will but, this is one banjo that won't hit the BHO classifieds in my lifetime!
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 | Barnet in AVL says:
2/1/2011 9:18:00 AM
I'd stop playing banjo altogether back in 1997... long story for another time. I then did one of the dumbest things ever: I sold my 1929 OPF TB-4 conversion archtop, which was a killer hoss of a banjo. At the time it made sense. Fast forward to about year ago, and I decided I really wanted to play and be in a local band again. I'd been lurking on BHO and finally joined. I had a perfectly nice '89 Gibson Grich era RB-3, but after doing my research I decided that a new Huber was the way to go.
I spoke to Jim and Steve, used some airline miles, and met Steve at the shop exactly one year ago tomorrow, on Saturday Feb 2 2010. He was so gracious with me... we spent about three hours picking about five or six different banjos, including his original flathead 75. He also had a KK parts banjo as well as several Hubers. I brought my Gibson along and so that one was in the mix as well.
I'd always found the Gibson to be somewhat muddy or blurry in its sound, and that was confirmed with all the other banjos. Steve's 75 is one of the handful of the best banjos I've ever heard, and it was easily the best of the group. For the first hour the KK parts banjo was doing pretty nice.
But there was a Kalamazoo that had just been assembled two days before. It had a prototype HR-30 and a prototype engineered rim. And after two hours this banjo just came alive. Steve and I kept trading all these instruments off with each other, listening and commenting. We both ended up feeling the Kalamazoo was the keeper, and I took it home. I left the Gibson there to get an HR-30 ring.
Suffice it to say the Kalamazoo is the best new banjo I've ever heard or played.
Even so, I just sent it back this week to upgrade to the final versions of the HR-30 and engineered rim; since I'm keeping this one forever, it needs the whole package.
Over the past year the Gibson has really become a great banjo. At first I could hear an improvement, but it was subtle. But over the year it has developed a fantastic tone, and it's now a great banjo that would make anyone happy.
And to give the story the happiest of endings, after all these years I just joined a band again. Playing bluegrass music with other people in a band setting, working on arrangements, having that fantastic feeling when things come together and sharing it with other people is one of the greatest things ever. I love it!
I'll post some sound files (including the Gibson) several months down the road when the band starts gelling (we've had only three rehearsals together so far, so it's definitely a work in progress). Maybe I'll try and post a few of solo banjo when I get the Kalamazoo back...
Barnet in SoCal
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| Barnet in AVL says:
2/1/2011 9:19:43 AM
Ooops, it was Saturday January 2 2010 that I went to Hendersonville to get the Huber... not that it really makes much difference!
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| Banjov1 says:
2/1/2011 9:43:35 AM
Okay Barnet, you'll have to let us know if you hear a difference when you get the final HR 30 and new engineered components in to replace the prototypes. And we'll want to see some pix of that banjo ;)
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| Barnet in AVL says:
2/1/2011 2:15:45 PM
I sure will. Pix? ... it's just a regular ole Kalamazoo, looks like the one on Steve's website. But if you want some pix after hearing the sound files, well then I'll post some! :)
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 | JackieM says:
4/4/2011 4:58:42 AM
Briefly: after deciding to pick banjo again and about to head to Thailand to spend a month with my wifes family, I thought I needed some inspiration. I knew I would have plenty of practice time on my hands so I purchased the Ron Block instructional video. All I could accomplish learning in the Land of Smiles in that time, was the first half of Man of Constant Sorrow and the first half of Cluck Old Hen but I really was taken back by the sound of his Huber. Anyway I checked out the sound files on the Huber site, heard Jim Mills playing one, and I just knew that this was what I wanted and needed. It was a great decision!
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| Banjov1 says:
4/5/2011 2:51:30 PM
Ron Block 'll get you every time. Sounds like you're really enjoying your banjo Jackie. That's great
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 | Flathead75 says:
5/26/2011 12:38:19 PM
I met Steve in 2001 when I went by to check out a conversion banjo, he was at the time just getting started building complete banjos. I bought an old TB-2 conversion and started playing again after 10 years off. I went to Acutab's "Roanoke Blue Grass Weekend" for about 5 years and Steve usually would have to deliver a few banjos at the event and I played quite a few. They were amazing and I decided I needed one so I didn't have to worry about the old Gibson when I played in heat or bad weather. I ordered a Lancaster in "03 for my 40th B'day and Steve talked me into a maple neck and I had him build a mahogany RB-75 neck in case I didn't like it. So, I ended up getting another pot for the 75 neck and have a VRB 75 that was started on "03 and completed in "05 and I picked it up on my 42nd B'day... it is a monster!
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 | orioletb1 says:
9/22/2011 10:00:49 AM
I got my '02 Lancaster used in '03. Stacy Phillips, who was playing bass with Continental Divide had it for sale at the Claremore Bluegrass and Chili Festival in Oklahoma. It was one of the first 180 Hubers made and is in the same batch as Dean Hoffmeyer's Lancaster that was previously owned by Jason Davis.
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