I would venture that Resonator banjo players want those notes and also don't feel the need to scoop necks.

That’s pretty much it. Bluegrass players actually use the high frets (as do a number of cllawhammer stylists). So since most (not all) clawhammer folks play openbacks, no builder is going to make a scooped resonator banjo on spec—and a clawhammer player is highly nlikely to commission one. 

There was/is(?) a big fashion for copying the tone Kyle Creed obtained by playing over the high fret section of the neck. His famous quote was that every festival he went he "...heard himself" all around him. Ironically he got his sound on the banjos he made, without need for a scoop. A higher bridge has the same effect.

The scoop gives the thumb more space under the 5th string in this area of the neck. The loss of the high frets was incidental because as Creed himself is on record as saying, he seldom went higher than the 7th fret, even preferring to use the 5th string on the front beat melody notes rather than use the 1st string 5th fret. He was a master of developing his own tone and economy of motion. Find yourself a copy of the superb 'Liberty' recordings to hear this tone and drive in all its original glory...by the originator.

This fashion and 'hollow' tone is irrelevant to a Bluegrass banjo builder where the high frets aren't just optional decoration.

The sound that routed ten thousand scoops.
Kyle Creed playing Ducks On The Millpond over the neck without a scoop. High action, clawhammer with brass finger pick.

While fishing in my files for this recording I rediscovered a recording of Kyle Creed playing South, 3-finger style. Interesting comparison. But basically shared for sheer gratuitous enjoyment. Hopefully wherever you are, this will make you smile over your morning coffee…

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Originally posted by EEB

The sound that routed ten thousand scoops.
Kyle Creed playing Ducks On The Millpond over the neck without a scoop. High action, clawhammer with brass finger pick.

While fishing in my files for this recording I rediscovered a recording of Kyle Creed playing South, 3-finger style. Interesting comparison. But basically shared for sheer gratuitous enjoyment. Hopefully wherever you are, this will make you smile over your morning coffee…

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That cut of South is not Kyle Creed. It sounds like Bobby Patterson, the late banjo picker and recording studio owner in Galax who recorded Kyle and Tommy Jarrell and many others back in the day. Bobby was quite a guy. I even got to play on a session in his studio with Jerry Correll and Wayne Henderson one time.  My friend, Tom Mylet, tells me that Bobby once played him cuts of a fiddler's convention where he backed Kyle in the banjo contest with his banjo and visa versa. They both won. Kyle did play some two finger banjo on tunes like Honeysuckle. 

What's this got to do with frailing scoops on a resonator banjo, I am not sure. Ray Alden is usually cited as the originator of that. And it was so you could lower the action to play over the neck. I found many years ago that an archtop banjo plays very nicely in the clawhammer style.

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Originally posted by Bob Buckingham

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Originally posted by EEB

The sound that routed ten thousand scoops.
Kyle Creed playing Ducks On The Millpond over the neck without a scoop. High action, clawhammer with brass finger pick.

While fishing in my files for this recording I rediscovered a recording of Kyle Creed playing South, 3-finger style. Interesting comparison. But basically shared for sheer gratuitous enjoyment. Hopefully wherever you are, this will make you smile over your morning coffee…

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That cut of South is not Kyle Creed. It sounds like Bobby Patterson, the late banjo picker and recording studio owner in Galax who recorded Kyle and Tommy Jarrell and many others back in the day. Bobby was quite a guy. I even got to play on a session in his studio with Jerry Correll and Wayne Henderson one time.  My friend, Tom Mylet, tells me that Bobby once played him cuts of a fiddler's convention where he backed Kyle in the banjo contest with his banjo and visa versa. They both won. Kyle did play some two finger banjo on tunes like Honeysuckle. 

What's this got to do with frailing scoops on a resonator banjo, I am not sure. Ray Alden is usually cited as the originator of that. And it was so you could lower the action to play over the neck. I found many years ago that an archtop banjo plays very nicely in the clawhammer style.

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Thanks for your correct attribution Bob. Credit now changed. I guess at some point this connection with Kyle Creed was mis construed as him playing. I have a feeling this recording is from one of the Far in the Mountains(?) tapes released back in the 1970's. I wouldn't knowingly have altered the details from that track credit. Might be worth digging the tape out and checking.

The (ironically non-) link to scoops is the recording of Ducks On The  Millpond. The sound players sought but which didn't originate from a scooped banjo.

Bobby Patterson's South remains gratuitous shared enjoyment though...

nb - do you have a recording of Kyle Creed's 2-finger Honeysuckle you'd be willing to post somewhere?

Like Bob said, I’ve found that an arch top resonator banjo works great for clawhammer: excellent note separation and there’s plenty of room for the thumb if you choose to play up close to the to neck/rim joint for a rounder tone.

I bought a Nechville Moonshine that already had an ugly DIY scoop on it, my luthier cleaned it up and I added a resonator. Its an extremely versatile instrument for me for 3 finger or clawhammer. If you really want a scoop, you can just take the plunge and have one added.

I have trouble double thumbing over an unscooped neck.  But this instrument is easy to play over the neck and sounds great.

Definitely have to change some of the classic 3 finger arrangements like Blackberry Blossom that live up the neck without those upper frets, though.

I've mentioned it before, but a feature makers could offer is a removable bit of the fingerboard. It could be held in place with a couple of hex socket bolts.

Unscrew the bolts and expose the scoop. Best of both worlds.

I suppose some kind of hardware could be adapted or developed to allow for sliding the section of fingerboard off. The low hanging idea would be magnets, but I do not think that is the best solution.

You can certainly have one custom made like that. I reckon you don’t see any stock because gold tone isn’t going to mass produce something that only a handful of players want. Much easier those handful of people to just have the neck scooped after. I also get comparable volume from my open back with a dobson tone ring versus a cheap Japanese resonator banjo for what its worth.

This partial resonator banjo from Stone might be something you would be interested in. 

I once saw someone "undo" a scoop regretted by the buyer by adding raised frets, like 1/8" raised, that aligned with the height of the frets down the neck. Really weird looking, but I bet it worked fine. I suppose those frets could be removable, slide in and out of the neck.

EEB I thoroughly enjoyed both pieces. Their music harkens back to when the musics were one and the same.

Onto a tangent I suppose ... re. playing on the last few up-the-neck frets .... does because you can mean you should? 

IMNSHumbleO, some of the stuff that far up sounds "okay" [in v-e-r-y limited amounts] but I wonder whether something played those few frets down the neck could/would sound "just as good"?

[Askin' for a friend ....... or putting my ignorance on full display ... take your pick.  ]

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Originally posted by Owen

Onto a tangent I suppose ... re. playing on the last few up-the-neck frets .... does because you can mean you should? 

IMNSHumbleO, some of the stuff that far up sounds "okay" [in v-e-r-y limited amounts] but I wonder whether something played those few frets down the neck could/would sound "just as good"?

[Askin' for a friend ....... or putting my ignorance on full display ... take your pick.  ]

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I can only comment in regard to vintage 18 or 22 fret necks which are shorter anyway. The inclusion of a high frets phrase, sometimes a repeat of a phrase played on the lower frets, can add contrast/tension/sparkle. However we describe it, in moderation that can be very effective. But I agree with you; as with other effects it can grate if overused.

Another slight tangent, but it occurs to me that that the preference for the mellower, rounder sound of Kyle Creed has parallels in other styles - the 3 finger community is noting it also in this discussion here for instance 

Is the banjo generally moving away from the brighter, brasher sound of previous decades?

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Originally posted by NWBanjo

Like Bob said, I’ve found that an arch top resonator banjo works great for clawhammer: excellent note separation and there’s plenty of room for the thumb if you choose to play up close to the to neck/rim joint for a rounder tone.

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I rue the day I sold my early 60's RB100... the size of the brass tone hoop effectively resulted in an archtop head and paired with a medium gotaskin head, the sound was pure OT. I held onto the '74 Ome X fitted with a flathead tonering (which I prefer more for fingerstyle), but that old Gibson was something. The old Kay is long gone too.

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Originally posted by RG

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Originally posted by NWBanjo

Like Bob said, I’ve found that an arch top resonator banjo works great for clawhammer: excellent note separation and there’s plenty of room for the thumb if you choose to play up close to the to neck/rim joint for a rounder tone.

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I rue the day I sold my early 60's RB100... the size of the brass tone hoop effectively resulted in an archtop head and paired with a medium gotaskin head, the sound was pure OT. I held onto the '74 Ome X fitted with a flathead tonering (which I prefer more for fingerstyle), but that old Gibson was something. The old Kay is long gone too.

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RG-  I always appreciate hearing about your approach to the music, and of your experiences-  they are always in keeping with the tradition.

Truth to tell; I've run a 3/4" bridge on my banjoes since way back when and have never needed a scoop. 

Of course I spent a lot of years playing in the days before scoops were a thing and so learned to play without one.  Even so, in the old days- can I say that since I have the big "seven-oh" staring me in the face?- I never saw anyone play over the fingerboard until the RP style bcame widespread.  My tendency now is to play at the neck/rim joint, or just a bit north of that.

That said, my made to suit banjoes all have scoops, but it's more about looks than necessity- I like the  looks of the "S" scoop on my Brooks.