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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!
7227 reviews in the archive.
I was given an old (1920s) May-Bell tenor banjo that was in pretty rough shape. Still had I believe the original skin head. I took it to John to convert it to a 5-string. He really did a nice job on this. He made a beautiful curled maple neck and fingerboard, matches the original pot. He also had the May-Bell graphics copied and placed on the peghead. And as I understand it after it was finished and ready for shipping back to me, the original dowel broke under pressure. Apparently was rotted inside and couldn't been detected. So he then made a new dowel, did a great set-up and now this May-Bell looks, plays and sounds mighty fine. Like John says, "it plays like butter". He shipped it back to me, I pulled it out of the box and with a little tuning I was pickin' and grinnin'. Sweet..I love this banjer. Thanks John Boulding!
Overall Rating: 10