Fender: FB-55

Submitted by BanjoSam2 on 8/5/2008

Where Purchased: Elderly Instruments

Year Purchased: 2008
Price Paid: 449.99 ($US)

Sound

This banjo suits me perfectly for my bluegrass, scruggs style.
For this price range, it would be hard to find a banjo with this kind of
warm, roundness, depth and crisp. It really rings and doesn't sound tinny at all the way many cheap banjos do. Its quality is consistent all the way up the neck. I like this banjo better than my Deering Deluxe,
which is more than 4 times the price. The Deering is, of course, hand made and perfect in construction, uses finer, expensive wood and materials, but has somewhat of a brash, harsh, two dimentional sound with no sweetness that we look for in good banjos. I will mention that the Fender 56 frets are not perfect the way a 1000 + instrument would be, but intonation is descent. I'll hear the string rattle a bit against a fret once in a while when I slide. But for the price, I expected some minor imperfections. If you have 450 bucks to spend on a banjo,is is a great choice!! One might consider the FB-58 for about 150 more. Its sllightly more solid with a heavier tone ring and brighter sound. I have heard that set-up is a huge factor, and want to suggest that those folks who don't like this banjo very much might not have had a good set up.

Sound Rating: not rated

Setup

Elderly Instruments is famous for banjo set-up, and in this case, they met the standard!!

Setup Rating: 10

Appearance

The FB-55 is a pretty banjo. It appears similar to the Mastertones from a few steps away, and the rosewood fingerboard and well fitting inlay, while not mother of pearl, nevertheless are lovely and colored an off-white as not to look chinsey. Again, for the price, imeccable job in appearance.

Appearance Rating: not rated

Reliability

Mine is new, but it sees solid and has no hardware problems.

Reliability Rating: not rated

Customer Service

Customer Service: not rated

Components

Components Rating: not rated

Overall Comments

This banjo is a fine instrument for 450. If you can afford something much more expensive, its great to have a Gibson or a Huber. Otherwise, this banjo competes with some higher end stuff. Any level banjo player,spoiled or not, will recognize certain attrctive qualities in this number.

Overall Rating: 9