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The banjo reviews database is here to help educate people before they purchase an instrument. Of course, this is not meant to be a substitute for playing the instrument yourself!
7235 reviews in the archive.
Where Purchased: Elderly
Year Purchased: 2017
Price Paid: 1500 ($US)
NB this banjo has a few bonuses, hence the slightly heftier price tag: a John Balch head, and copper rim with brass hardware. This model is walnut.
I got this banjo in the mail from Elderly recently and I have to join the chorus singing Pisgah's praises! This instrument sounds simply amazing--it makes my prior banjos sound like toys. I can't enthuse enough about it. I won't do it justice describing the sound, but it's very warm, rich, full and woody -- a lot of sustain, great deep low end, and crisp (but not overly sharp/bright) ringing high end. As some describe Dobson tone rings, the sound feels really "subtle." At the same time, there's a great punchiness or pop to it (maybe partly due to the spunover rim?), but not in an overwhelming way. The sound is also very focused, a quality I associate more with 11" rims. It's also the quietest banjo I've owned, which for me is the only possible mark against the sound as I often play in loud settings (eg bars) and with other noisy instruments.
Sound Rating: 10
Setup was excellent out of the box! The action is perfect (for me), pretty low without fret buzz. Head tension also perfect. Elderly installed railroad spikes for free (that's so cool! I've always had to pay for them when ordering banjos from other stores).
I intend to add an armrest, as it didn't come with one, and will probably experiment with bridges for fun, but I have no plans for significant setup changes -- this is also unusual for me and a testament to the banjo quality (as I typically mess with everything after getting a new instrument)
Setup Rating: 10
This banjo is gorgeous, very minimalist (no inlays), understated, excellent craftsmanship. The color scheme with the copper rim, brass hardware, and walnut neck is A+
I have one slightly nitpicky problem, which is appearance-related but actually more substantial than that: I wish the dot markers on the side of the fingerboard were a bit larger/more prominent. Since there are no fret markers on the actual fretboard (which does look cool), those little dots are the only things to help you visually track your hand position, and as someone who plays in dark bars, I think they're just too tiny. Also: I wish there were two dots to distinguish the octave fret -- this only has single dots.
Appearance Rating: 10
Again, the craftsmanship across the board seems really phenomenal, the tuners and the rest of the hardware look top notch (truthfully, more expensive-looking than banjos I've spent more $ on)--I don't anticipate any problems with it. I expect the main reliability variable is just the fact that the head is skin (obvs not a manufacturer problem). That combined with the quiet volume and not-very-prominently marked fretboard means that this will probably not be a main gigging, workhorse, or travel banjo for me... even if I enjoy playing and listening to it the most.
Reliability Rating: 10
I dealt with Elderly, which relayed info back and forth to Patrick -- Elderly was great, and I assume Patrick was very responsive too based on how quickly communications went. Elderly and Pisgah worked together to get exactly the specs I wanted (walnut neck, short scale, 12" rim, copper spunover, brass hardware, Balch head, etc).
It took a while to get the banjo from Pisgah! About 6 mos, and about twice as long as they originally estimated. But I have zero qualms about the wait considering the caliber instrument I ended up with, and given that I was essentially getting a custom banjo.
Customer Service: 10
I paid an extra $100 for the rim and hardware, an extra $50 for the head, and I'm really glad I did! Again, not planning to mess with the components much. I'm also fond of the no knot-style tailpiece they use.
Components Rating: 10
I wish there was a "playability" section in this review -- if there were, I'd give it a 10. The banjo feels amazing to play, really a pleasure. The string spacing is wider than my previous banjos (but not unusually wide for an old time banjo), and I love it, the larger margin of error has cleaned up my playing a lot. And the neck feels great (some makers use finish that makes the wood feel sticky/tacky, I hate it). I do wish the neck were a bit slimmer, as my hands are very small but that's a personal preference situation (it's not an unusually clubby neck, not as fat as Rickard or Chuck Lee's I've played, eg).
Overall comments: getting this banjo was practically a religious experience -- again, I really can't enthuse enough about it. I'm especially amazed at how Pisgah can keep the price tag so low -- I've played much more expensive banjos that this one easily holds up to. And I've owned banjos similarly priced or slightly more expensive (including some really decent ones by comparable small manufacturers), and IMO this banjo blows them away in sound, playability, and overall workmanship. This is hands down the best bang-for-buck banjo I've played. And that Pisgah also works to be an ethical/sustainable company is even better. As sometimes happens with great instruments, I can notice it having a subtlely transformative effect on some of my playing techniques (for the better!), and it has kind of a understated elegance that's inciting me to think about banjo music altogether a little differently.
Overall Rating: 10
Where Purchased: Mandolin Brothers, Staten Island
Year Purchased: 2012
Price Paid: 1500 ($US)
I bought this as my first full-fledged "grown up" banjo (I'd only previously owned a crummy little $200 Rover), and it sounds just amazing. I play bluegrass, old time fingerpicking, and clawhammer, but my budget could only accommodate one banjo, so I was looking for something warmer-sounding than a straight up bluegrass resonator banjo so I could use it for everything. This fits the bill extremely well. I'm guessing the darker sound is at least in part due to the lack of full tone ring. With the action set a bit on the high side, it's very serviceable for both bluegrass and clawhammer playing. It has great sustain, including all the way up the neck. It is not the loudest banjo I have ever encountered, but still plenty loud.
Sound Rating: 10
The action was super low when I bought it--I expected to have to raise the action a bit if I wanted to play clawhammer, but initially it was buzzing all over the place just from fingerpicking. Otherwise I think the setup was very good. After I owned it for a few weeks and it settled a bit I started having buzzing problems coming from the tailpiece as well -- I don't even totally understand what the problem was but I eventually put a little piece of felt between the tailpiece and strings and this resolved like 99% of the buzzing problem.
Setup Rating: 8
This is a very attractive, classy looking banjo with a sort of minimalist appeal. The workmanship is excellent, by all appearances, and it generally *looks* like a much more expensive banjo than most the other makes I considered in this price range (Gold Tone, Recording King, etc).
Appearance Rating: 10
I gig on this banjo regularly, don't own a backup, and so far it has never failed me.
Reliability Rating: 10
Haven't had any customer service experiences but I chose this banjo in part because I wanted to patronize a smaller, US-based company, and the superior customer service associated with that kind of a manufacturer.
Customer Service: not rated
The only real issue I've had with this banjo is the aforementioned tailpiece buzzing problem, and will eventually replace it when I get around to it. I had a luthier friend take a look at it and he said in his opinion the tailpiece was too widely flanged and that might cause the problem. Cosmetically, the tailpiece also had a little cover that flips over to cover the bottom of the strings when playing, but it wouldn't stay closed so I eventually pulled the whole cover off (at very minor aesthetic cost to the banjo). I echo the other reviewer who said the tuners seemed a tad cheap but its really nothing major. One thing I love about the Patriot is the neck, which is noticeably thinner than the other banjos I tried (I have quite small hands so this was good for me). Also, I discovered after purchasing this that I have a nickel allergy, so I replaced the armrest with a cobalt one because it was making my arm itch like crazy, but that's no failure on Bishline's part. Overall the instrument is incredibly playable and the components are great, especially for this price range.
Components Rating: 9
I looked at a *lot* of banjos in the $1000-$1500 range and this one blew them all out of the water. As noted, a big clincher for me was its versatility -- the only close contenders I tried were Deering's Sierra and Boston models, but they were both too bright and tinny-sounding for my needs. I love this instrument, play it every day, and would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for something in this price range.
Overall Rating: 10
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