Submitted by Grum (see all reviews from this person) on 1/22/2012

Where Purchased: FingerStyle Productions

Year Purchased: 2011
Price Paid: 3,200 (AUS) (bought USED) historic exchange rates / currency converter

Sound

For Bluegrass playing Scruggs/Melodic at jams and festivals. A full, round and "woody" sound! It is almost as loud as a tone ring banjo but the Tony Pass rim ensures a quality sound. It was the sound that grabbed me the moment I began playing it. Quite different to my Stelling MasterFlower (but in a good way)

Sound Rating: 9

Setup

Wendy from FingerStyle Productions had it all nicely set up and ready to play. Very, very playable neck.

Setup Rating: 10

Appearance

A very attractive banjo without too much glitz. Beautiful Walnut burl on the resonator. Faultless inlay, tastefully understated. Tiny indentations from belt buckle on resonator.

Appearance Rating: 10

Reliability

Paul Hopkins sent me a free replacement 5th string tuner peg so it matched the others, even though I was not the original purchaser. This is a relatively early model (2007) Woodie so has 5 Star tuners. Later models come with Waverly 2 band tuners. Plating is Chrome rather than Nickel. Fingerboard is ebony. Flange is 2 piece (tube and plate) so it can be removed for conversion to Clawhammer banjo.

Reliability Rating: 9

Customer Service

This banjo was 3rd hand (one owner never played it!). FingerStyle Productions are excellent to work with. It was sold on commission so any bargaining was done through Wendy Holman. I was able to play it repeatedly while making up my mind.

Customer Service: 10

Components

This is a Hopkins 'Woodie' - no tone ring but a special Tony Pass rim, therefore it's noticeably lighter than my Stelling. Resonator is really beautiful Walnut burl. Neck is very comfortable in the hand. It seems much more responsive to variations in technique, X vs Y position etc. It seems to have more charm and character that the Stelling. As mentioned above this early model has 5 Star tuners. Irrelevant since I'm about to put Keith D Tuners on it.

Components Rating: 9

Overall Comments

A tastefully understated, lightweight, characterful banjo. A full, warm, deep tone with much more volume that you'd expect from a Woodie. It's become the preferred banjo to play at home (competing with a Tranjo 6.0 and Stelling MasterFlower)

Overall Rating: 10