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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 reese158 on 7/15/2023 8:20:14 AM

Hello All,

I know there are lots of forum posts about pickups on the Hangout, but I wanted to reach out to the long neckers because you are my tribe and might better understand what I am trying to figure out.

I have played for 30 years (mostly as rhythm accompaniment for singing folk songs). I haven't played out much in a long time, but I have a few little gigs coming up. I have always been baffled by amplification and electronics and working with sound people to get the banjo audible has often been a disaster.

So I am thinking about installing a pickup, but I am confused about all the options.

I almost always play solo, play out infrequently, and play on the soft/quiet side. All I want is to be heard and to get a decent tone through the amplification. I've heard good things about Schatten pickups, but there seems to be a range of prices and options. How far do I need to go?

Any advice is welcome--thanks!

3 Comments
	petersj12 says: 7/15/2023 8:40:25 AM I use a Schatten BJ-02-STD Banjo Pickup with Rosewood Jack. It is tie wrapped to the coordinator rods and the actual pickup is epoxied just under the bridge. This pickup sounds great and can be fed into a Fishman preamp if needed for stronger signal or to tweak the tone of the banjo. It is pricey but it is the best pickup I found for my liking. Enjoy!
	TonyNyc says: 7/19/2023 7:14:23 AM I don't know if you should waste time and money on cheap clip-on thingies. They tend to be tin sounding. Which type amp would you go through? Could tone be adjusted there? See Steve Earl and Del McCoury use the bluegrass one mic technique! Sorry, not an electronics expert. DiMarzio makes good stuff...
	Old Bill says: 8/22/2023 9:06:50 PM I have Schattens in two banjos including a Vega long neck. They are not cheap clip-on thingies. I think they sound great when such amplification is necessary. That's the question. If you don't play out much and work solo, how about a good instrument mic? Is there a reason you want to go plugged in? Even with a good pickup, banjo amping is tricky so you'll need to control the whole sound chain.
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