To be sure, Chris had good materials to work with.  My banjo is a 1981 Gold Star JD Crowe model #810080 – the last one built.  I ordered it new after playing the demo banjo at the Gold Star booth at the ’81 NAMM Convention – that banjo really impressed me (and may very well be the same banjo Russ Carson plays today).  In those days I made my living with the banjo – taught around 70 students per week, played with pickup bands in bars at night, with my regular band at festivals on weekends, and anywhere else I could make a few bucks playing. 

But when the banjo I ordered arrived, I was disappointed.  It sounded ok but not very lively – somewhat muddy - and certainly didn’t compare to the banjo I’d played at the NAMM show.  I tinkered with it for years but was never really satisfied.  Eventually I moved onto a different career and pretty much lost interest – until I came across Russ Carson’s youtube channel and by extension, Chris Cioffi.

From what I can tell, Chris’ service is unique.  He doesn’t just “setup” your banjo, he effectively remanufactures it – the way it should have been manufactured in the first place.  He fits every component together with a fanatical precision that yields incredible results.  If you think about it, music is sound, sound is vibration, and if every single component of your instrument is not vibrating in unison, if the tone ring and flange are not perfectly fit to the rim, if the neck isn’t seated precisely against the pot assembly over exactly the required surfaces with exactly the right tension, if you’ve warped your rim with coordinator rod tension in order to get the action right, if the heel of your neck is too tight to the resonator notch, if there’s any delamination going on in your rim (common in many old banjos), if your frets aren’t seated optimally, and on and on and on and on, your banjo cannot perform to it’s potential.  Instead of a fine instrument you have a collection of fine parts bolted together and trying to work independently of one another.

We banjo players tend to obsess over those parts – this tone ring or that flange material or maple vs. mahogany, and so forth.  We endlessly swap parts in search of that elusive sound.  But that approach is doomed to failure without the precision build Chris brings to the equation.

When I dropped my banjo off at Chris’ shop, I got to play a different model and year Gold Star he had just finished up for another client.  That banjo was also superlative.  When I asked Chris what makes a great instrument he told me, “the number one ingredient is not prewar bell bronze or Brazilian rosewood or hide glue.  It's the mindset of the builder.”  Deep.  If true, that explains why Chris gets such astonishing results:  he not only has the skills, knowledge, and patience to get it right, he truly cares.

If you are a serious banjo player with a decent instrument and are not overjoyed with the sound you’re getting, do yourself a favor and contact Chris.  Make no mistake – it will take longer and cost more than a few hours with a “setup guru” but you will absolutely get the best results possible and be certain your banjo will be as good as it can be.