DVD-quality lessons (including tabs/sheet music) available for immediate viewing on any device.
Take your playing to the next level with the help of a local or online banjo teacher.
Weekly newsletter includes free lessons, favorite member content, banjo news and more.
Premier Sponsors
The banjo reviews database is here to help educate people before they purchase an instrument. Of course, this is not meant to be a substitute for playing the instrument yourself!
7206 reviews in the archive.
Where Purchased: Direct from previous owner
Year Purchased: 2023
Price Paid: Don't Remember (bought USED)
historic exchange rates / currency converter
Prairieville #211 (built in 2005). The YouTube 12” Chuck Lee Custom Prairieville video played by Lukas Pool (the Music Emporium) is incredibly accurate. A beautiful balance between the warm sustain from the brass tone ring and the very specific note separation – wherever and however you play on the neck, and whatever the volume.
Sound Rating: 10
I am the third person since 2005 to share the company of the Prairieville, and it arrived a little misunderstood, so…..took off the neck, adjusted the truss rod, reset the neck height, and introduced a Kat Eyz pegged bridge, all of which was simple and easy to do.
Setup Rating: 10
Deceptive. A walnut neck, maple pot, a curly maple rim cap, macassar ebony fingerboard and centre veneers of purpleheart. But, the closer and more carefully you look, the more the exceptional detailing and craftmanship becomes obvious.
Appearance Rating: 10
Prairieville #211 is 18 years old, plays perfectly and I am more than comfortable to trust it (trust being the root word of the word reliability) as my next go to for gigging.
Reliability Rating: 10
I emailed Chuck Lee to ask whether he could help with any information about Prairieville #211. Chuck emailed giving me the information from the original invoice and to ask if I could send pictures as a hard drive crash had resulting in him losing some of his. This I did and I then got a full description back. My impression was of a kind and humble man with enormous humanity, who was passionate about what he did. I feel a real privilege to be part of what he creates.
Customer Service: 10
Everything about the banjo except the normal aging on the renaissance head is still immaculate and works exactly as it should.
Components Rating: 10
In nearly 45 years since my first paid gig (and I am late to the banjo), discussion about instruments (whether stringed, fretted, brass, woodwind, keyboard or percussion) always comes down to two elements 1) the unique quality of the sound, and 2) whether when you push an instrument hard you have to adjust your playing, just to try to maintain the same sound….on that basis, Prairieville #211 has the unique quality and consistency of sound of a truly exceptional instrument.
Overall Rating: 10
