can a banjo open up with use

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Long Neck Banjo

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... for those of us who prefer the tuning and singing differences the LN provides. All questions & help welcome!

273 Members, Created 1/30/2011 -

Administrators: TonyS (owner) , Gary Blanchard , pastorharry , vega long neck

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From john bange on 8/13/2017 8:00:14 AM

if February of this year, I bought my 71 Vega PS-5 built by Martin. I have been thrilled with it and only get happier each day. While it has been a big upgrade in volume, tone and projection from the start over my Deering Vega Little Wonder long neck, it really was not "that much louder". This banjo was built in 71 and was put in storage. It does look like it was built last week. I have been playing it every day. We rehearse weekly and are averaging 2 gigs a week right now.

Can all the playing cause it to open up like a guitar will? I swear, it's getting louder, with a crisper, bell-like tone that it did not have when I got it. My wife(not a morning banjo fan) has noticed it as well as my band mates. I have not changed my right hand playing style...still without picks but with long, hard fingernails.

It's a pleasant, subtle change.

8 Comments
	Lew H says: 8/13/2017 8:30:14 AM I've heard some people say that it's not the age, but the playing of an instrument that makes its sound improve. There is something on the market that causes guitars, etc. to vibrate with notes to create this effect without all that terrible effort of playing a lot of music on it. LOL
Keith55 says: 8/13/2017 9:01:00 AM Please pardon a question from a beginner: can the change in tone be due to a change in head tension? As you are using the banjo (and changing the strings periodically), there must be some effect on the tension of the head. Also, stresses on the bridge may affect its shape and contact with the head. My Wildwood long neck slept it its case for almost all of the thirty years I have owned it. I have seriously began to play it since the beginning of June and its tone has changed since I started. I also had to tighten the head for the first time since I got it and that has caused a great improvement it its tone. Maybe your playing has changed the mechanics of the head and/or bridge. Just a thought from someone not good enough to even contemplate playing a gig on the banjo.
	john bange says: 8/13/2017 9:20:36 AM You're right about head tension but it hasn't changed
	wesrichards says: 8/13/2017 9:26:00 AM The wood parts can open. Pot, neck, peg head. Even the bridge. The change usually is subtle. But in a small room it seems more pronounced.
	Joe Connor says: 8/13/2017 4:34:35 PM I really believe that we subconsciously alter our attack and playing style to get the best sound out of an instrument. While you may not think you're doing so, I would not be surprised at all if you are doing so subtly and unintentionally.
	John Gribble says: 8/13/2017 4:36:00 PM This is one of those great mysteries of music instruments. They all seem to "wake up" as a result of being played. I have never heard a completely satisfying explanation as to why it happens. And they will "go to sleep," too. Put it away for a few months and it will "stiffen up," become less responsive. But if it had already been "played in," the tone and responsiveness will return pretty quickly. Weird.
	calypsojimmy says: 11/13/2017 9:25:23 AM My own theory starts with: "Acoustic guitars and mandolins are living things, Banjos are machines." Given that, I don't expect my banjos to really open up over time. &i totally agree w John Connor (above) that the player consciously or unconsciously acclimating to an instrument is a real possibility. And this. for me is an ongoing thing: I change, my playing stroke changes, my taste changes, the banjo gets a new head or different strings, different tension, tailpiece, what I stuff into the back of the banjo. Its all fun.
	calypsojimmy says: 11/13/2017 9:28:39 AM PS I would expect a long-dormant instrument to go thru a noticeable initial wakeup period.... I just did that myself, getting back into a gym after a few years off. All the joints get re-used to working and working together.
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