So excited to find this group!!

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Wildwood Banjos

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For owners and enthusiasts of Wildwood banjos - great sounding & beautiful banjos that were made in CA & OR by Mark Platin.

91 Members, Created 7/27/2012 -

Administrators: Wrags (owner)

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From dgrayman on 7/4/2017 8:23:32 PM

Wow a group about Wildwood banjos!! Here's my story. In 1976, I met Mark Platin at the NAMM show in Atlanta. He was a young maker and had this exquisite vine inlay bluegrass banjo sample model that I bought and put in my store stock. After awhile, it became my personal banjo!! I fell in love with that great sound!!. Wildwood #2 joined my stable in 2010. I had gotten the folk bug again after 40 years and had to have a longneck. Mark made a lovely Troubador model which blows away and Seeger I've ever played. #3 I found on "Banjo Buyer" and it is a dream Presentation Banjo.....Gold plated, engraved, Gibson Florentine inlays in lovely abalone, rosewood rim with a Huber tonering...WOW!. I'll post some pictures if I learn how! I now have #4,an Heirloom custom gold-plated longneck. Plated it at a recent concert in GAwith the Cumberland Trio.

4 Comments
	Wrags says: 12/6/2016 7:23:09 PM Welcome Dennis! I just recently picked up my second Wildwood banjo - a 20 year old archtop Soloist model. I'm really liking it. I hope you can get some pictures of your #3 Wildwood posted - I would like to see that.
	tucsonsean says: 12/6/2016 7:57:11 PM Welcome, Dennis. Back in South Caroline when I was performing regularly, my stage banjo was a '70s Wildwood I had swapped a Cedar Mountain for. It's got a dark finish, fancy inlay, and, unlike the later banjos, has a round brass tone ring. Curious about it, I emailed Mark Platin. He confirmed it was, indeed, his, an early one built when he was still in California. I quizzed him about how to access the adjustable neck tensioner (there is no access port in the headstock), and he told me it wasn't adjustable--there was square stock permanently embedded in the neck. He assured me it would never be a problem, and it hasn't been. (Since then, I've seen only one other Wildwood like mine, finished natural.) They're wonderful banjos, built like a tank (and almost as heavy), and Mark is a great guy to deal with. There's pix of mine somewhere on my homepage.
	dgrayman says: 1/3/2017 2:39:45 PM Wrags...I have posted a couple of pix on my home page. I'd be happy to email you some as well!
	Wrags says: 1/3/2017 7:32:21 PM Wow! What a nice collection of Wildwoods!
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	Wildwood Troubadour Linked by tonygo 7 months ago
Classified: Banjo newsletter collection Linked by stevepicker 2 years ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by Wrags 7 years ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by Wrags 8 years ago
	WILDWOOD BALLADEER Linked by Wrags 9 years ago: Here is a real beauty available directly from Mark at Wildwood Banjos. My wife has a Balladeer - these are awesome banjos!
Blog Entry: Clawhammer Core Repertoire Series, Episode 16: Angelina Baker Linked by Keith55 9 years ago
	Wildwood Troubador new price Linked by Tgroh 11 years ago
Event: (untitled) Linked by Capos Music Store 12 years ago
	The Unclouded Day Linked by rdbabnick 13 years ago: Live performance of The Unclouded Day using a Wildwood Paragon banjo.
	Great Speckled Bird Linked by rdbabnick 13 years ago: The Great Speckled Bird as played on my Wildwood Paragon banjo.