Like a lot of folks I like to mute my Banjos so as not to disturb my family. I've tried a lot of different mutes and methods, some good, some bad. Several folks on the forums were recommending Mike's Banjo Mute, so I thought I'd give it a try. I picked up one for 5-string and one for 4-string. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. They dampened the sound without hurting tonal quality. They also don't have the annoying "buzz" like some of the other mutes I've tried.

They were also very easy to put on with clear instructions on the site. Honestly, they're so simple you could figure it out from just looking at a picture, and I appreciate the simplicity. I only had one issue and it isn't about the mute design. I have an older (1930's) tenor and had to swap out the bridge with a modern one I had lying around. Just a heads up that if you have an older bridge with only two posts (one on each end) you may have fit issues. If you're comfortable changing bridges it's a trivial fix.

The only downside I've experienced so far is that I tend to rest my palm below the bridge when I use a plectrum on my tenors. The screw heads do stick up above the bridge far enough to be in the way. I've been adjusting to it, and I suppose it's probably a bad habit to rest my palm that way to begin with.

So, why 9 stars and not 10? My all time favorite mute is still the Richelieu Master Mute. I picked up a Richelieu tenor a few years back that came with one. While I love the design and sound, they aren't made anymore and are hard to find. They also like to stay on one 'jo and aren't designed to take on and off. (They slide over the bridge when you want to mute, then slide off out of the way)

Mike's is my new go to for mutes that can both stay on a single 'jo, and easily switch to another.

So I ordered  my  Bolster for my my Reiter Whyte Laydie,  

The sound of the Whyte  Laydie with the Bolster not touching the head  took away the overtones I did not like, and left all the good stuff.

I could describe other placements, but I am becoming long of wind.  Bottom line, I like the sound of my Whyte Laydie a lot better with the Bolster tucked in place along the rim, but not touching the head. 

As a side note, I decided to take the Bolster out of my open back banjo and place it in my Stelling resonator banjo whose tone ring is as big as the great outdoors.  I had tried for years to damp all the high frequencies it puts out,without sacrificing the ring and the wonderful sustain. That Bolster- with total head contact- has done what no textile has  done before.

If you are in doubt, get a Bolster and mess around with it. It beats towels, wash rags, and underwear as a damper, because it takes out the junk and leaves the  twang.

The numbers, and my ears, say I'm glad I did.  

I tend to be a sucker for every new banjo device I hear about, most of which don’t turn out to be nearly as good or useful as I thought they would be, and I find myself unable to use them and simply abandon them. But my experience with trying out the Banjo Bolster was pretty much the exact opposite of that scenario.

When I first heard about the Banjo Bolster, I have to admit that I was a complete skeptic. I couldn’t really see much point to it. Having been a banjo player for over a half century now, I was secure in the idea that the various different-sized blocks of foam rubber that I’d been using practically since I started playing were perfect for me - and were all I would ever want to use. After all, I had done plenty of my own experimenting with them when I was younger to perfect them to my taste. There was a learning curve back then, of course, but eventually I learned exactly how, when, and where to use them to get my banjos to sound just the way I wanted them to.

Thus, being an old guy who thinks he knows everything by now, I was almost certain that if I tried a Banjo Bolster, I was quite unlikely to be impressed. But at least I was open-minded enough to give it a chance to see if I might possibly be wrong, though I was not expecting to be surprised. Yet, surprised I was, indeed!

When it came time to test-drive one, I realized that I had to specify one banjo to use it with and provide certain measurements to have it custom fitted. So, I chose my 1927 Whyte Laydie (conversion from a tenor by the late Mike Ramsay) because it seemed to have a problem with pronounced unwanted overtones from the time I got it, and it had taken considerable experimentation on my part at that time to fashion and position just the right size and shape of foam block to tame them and get a sound I really like. Also, I have several other 11” pot banjos with nearly identical dimensions, so I figured it would fit those as well.

I do have other banjos that have 10”, 12” and 13” pots, but only one of each size, so I figured those would just “lay by the wayside. during this checking it out process. But, as chance would have it, I was playing my 13” Goat-skinned headed Romero at the very moment the Banjo Bolster arrived in my mailbox. This particular banjo seemed to have developed some unwanted overtones during a long stretch of being not played at all during the pandemic. and it had taken considerable experimentation by me to figure out how to diminish those overtones with a small block of strategically placed foam.

So, having the Banjo Bolster in my hands for the first time, and being curious, I extracted that block of foam from the Romero, and plunked the Banjo Bolster into it, though expecting that it probably wouldn’t work, not being the right size for a proper fit. But, in fact it did work - really quite well!

Then I tried the Banjo Bolster out in various positions inside that huge head and found that each different place I put it seemed to tame the overtones, while producing banjo sound with different tonalities, depending on where I positioned it. I was starting already to be impressed by just how easy the device was to use, and what variety of tonal characteristics it was opening up for me, that were quickly, almost effortlessly, achievable.

After a while, when I finally got out the Whyte Laydie to try the device inside its pot, the experience repeated itself exactly - except, this time, being custom fitted for the size of pot, it was even easier to position, and would stay more securely and perfectly in whatever places I put it.

This time I also experimented with positioning that varied between having the Banjo Bolster not touching the head at all, to applying very light pressure on the head, and finally, to making full contact with the head. In every case, it tamed the unwanted overtones, and varied from no muting of volume, through slight muting, to a similar level of full muting that I would get with a block of foam firmly wedged between the head and the dowel stick running the full length of the head.

Each of these sounds has its own application and use, and I was much impressed at the absolute simplicity there was in changing between them - a big plus when performing for an audience!

But the real clincher for me was that over the next several days, I was working intensively on writing and arranging a song, spending hours every day trying out different ideas, playing the banjo a lot. At a certain point I realized that I had forgotten completely for days that the Banjo Bolster was in there all that time without me realizing it.

It just sounded really good. There were no extraneous unwanted sounds to distract me from what I was doing, or even make me think about the sound. Yet, I had been definitely listening closely all that time because I was critically examining and constantly reworking and refining what I was playing.

That realization that banjo with the banjo Bolster inside it just sounded so really good and natural, while being such an intuitively easy device to use, has me sold. 

I think this is one of the best innovations in banjo related technology to come along in a long time. Like the scoop at the high end of the neck that makes it easier to play directly over the neck and take advantage of the unique tonal qualities there, or Nylgut strings that allow you to get the tone and warmth of the banjo’s original gut strings without the hassles of actual gut, the Banjo Bolster makes it easier to get your banjo to sound its best, with the added versatility of easy re-positioning to find just the right sound for you.

I'll soon be posting a couple of videos about the Banjo Bolster, so you can see it in action. (ps both Tom Collins and Hilarie Burhans have posted excellent videos already - check 'em out!)

Cheers to all!

The Banjo Bolster performs as described: The overtones are controlled giving really nice clear note separation and the volume is not at all muted. It's super easy to put in, it stays put and your dog doesn't think you've stolen their toy.

Another cool thing is that if you vary very slightly how you place it, you can change the tone you get. 

I'm happy. My dogs are happy.

I love the way I can use the Banjo Bolster to control my banjos’ natural reverb, which on some of my instruments, overwhelms the fundamental tone, making it sound muddy and out of tune. The Banjo Bolster lets me easily control the reverberations, while maintaining the instrument's rich and resonant qualities. The improvement in tone is quite dramatic!

Some of my banjos have inconsistencies in volume from string to string. I've tried all kinds of stuffing, but it didn't help. The Banjo Bolster completely balances my string-to-string volume, much like a compressor used in audio recording, allowing me to dial-in the exact sound I want.

You ought to hear how this kitten can make your banjo purr, while preserving its full volume and tonal range. For such a reasonable price, Ric and Deb Hollander’s Banjo Bolster is a no-brainer!

I love where the Banjo Bolster is taking my music. It's become easier for me to get lost in my music, inspiring my playing to take on deeper levels of tonal nuance.

Ric Hollander's claim is really quite extraordinary: "The Banjo Bolster... enhances a banjo’s tone by transparently removing undesirable overtones, while preserving the full power and frequency response of the banjo."  What has been surprisingly impressive to me is that Ric's claim is actually true; it's not an exaggeration. The Banjo Bolster is revolutionary in the ways it significantly enhances the tone of all my banjos. For sixty years I had been on what seemed like an endless search to beautify the sound of my banjos. The Banjo Bolster finally answered my search - taking me home to the sounds I had heard in my head, but could never quite pull out of my banjos.

Thanks, Ric and Deb. It's been worth the wait!

The rotating dial let's me position it so it's easy to read. Display is bright and clear. Recharges quickly and a full charge lasts well. I haven't run out of charge while using it.

I have used other mutes that look like a hair pin.  They are hard to install and seem to move the bridge a bit.  Mike’s mute goes on smoothly with no disturbance of the bridge. 

I just purchased my second Mike’s mute.  This time the radius version for my Nechville 5-string banjo.  These mutes will last me for the rest of my life. (hope my life lasts a long while)

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