Extension of Mike's discussion.
At the ABF rallies, banjos in use are really all over the place. We see noname jobbers up to original Bacon Silverbell NPU #6. Even "modern" banjos.
Open back? Yes.
Resonator? Yes.
At the last few rallies, Stewart banjos have been represented well. As with things, there is a slant towards the higher end models, #3s to Presentation grade.
Me. I slant to unadorned banjos. Perhaps this is an added appeal for me with Weaver banjos. I think they are visually fantastic. But I also bounce around, which is why I have a "library" of banjos (I swear I am not a "collector").
Currently I am playing a teens CE Wood Hoop Special with a CE resonator fitted and a Birdseye neck Weaver that is engraved 1910.
I also very much enjoy my Van Eps banjos as well as my Gariepy version of the FVE "flush fret". About two weeks ago I was playing a Weaver "Bohee Champion" that was "modernized" by Weaver with a new fretted fingerboard (it was likely all metal) and champion pegs. This is something Weaver was known to do, upgrade banjos. R. Tarrant Bailey even wrote about having it done.
With the fingerstyle players I know, any well crafted banjo is fair game.
To reply honestly I suppose we need to be sure that we’re using understood criteria. Very often preferred or ‘favourite’ is unconsciously associated with level of technical development; a pyramid concept with certain instruments ‘at the top’.
To me music is first and foremost an emotional heart-led activity. While I might find a more complex and demanding finger-style piece more accessible using a later raised fret banjo, that practicality criteria has nothing whatsoever to do with what makes my heart sing when I hold and play it.
Fingerstyle’s long history actually gifts us the opportunity and choice to turn our fixed gaze away from the pyramid and listen instead to our heart.
Edited by - EEB on 08/01/2026 01:49:44
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