Backyard Music: Fireside (Kit)

Submitted by nathans on 1/30/2013

Where Purchased: backyardmusic.com

Year Purchased: 2013
Price Paid: 109 ($US)

Sound

The backyard music banjo sounds like a banjo - It does not sound like a toy. It has a bright banjo sound, more tone fullness than you would expect from a wooden resonator. It does not magically sound like a prewar banjo, it is more like a mountain banjo in design, but it has a good sound and tone that is uniquely recognizable as banjo.

Sound Rating: 9

Setup

You do your own setup, but it is automatic because of the design of the instrument. The nut is actually a zero nut - there is a string guide that passes the strings over the zero nut fret and the strings go all the way to the tail piece of the banjo which works just like the zero nut. It is simple genius. The action is low and fantastic and I prefer it to my "beginner banjo" I would say the action compares very favorably to my instructor's Deering Goodtime.

Setup Rating: 10

Appearance

I had some fun with mine, I dyed the resonator disk purple with dye and the neck a red wine-color. The wood is nicely prepared and since this is a kit requires some finishing and sanding. I was a little impatient to play and did not sand as much as I should have. Something to improve on for the next one. The parts fit together very well and the wood seemed of excellent quality. I made my fret markers with a silver Sharpie marker.

Because it is a kit you can spend the time you like on it to make it look as nice as you want to.

Appearance Rating: 9

Reliability

I believe this banjo would last a very long time if protected from the elements. The "cardboard" tube used for the pot is actually impregnated with some kind of resin - it may be phenolic tubing which adds to the strength and lengthens the life. I doubt it will wear out over the rest of my lifetime.

Reliability Rating: 9

Customer Service

Quick to ship, verified my shipping preference. There were adequate and correct parts in my kit along with a few welcome spare screws and nails.

Customer Service: 9

Components

This is a $100+ banjo kit. It is what it is. Use quality glue and use a recognized finish practice - either paint or stain to preserve the wood parts and call it done. The guitar-style tuners are a reasonable compromise and they work fine. The frets are a little sharp along the edge of the fretboard. I wish I had spent a little longer cleaning them up. My banjo instructor indicated he had seen worse fret ends on commercial guitars.

Components Rating: 10

Overall Comments

Clearly, being new to banjo, I have not sampled the number of banjos many players have, I may never have played a master tone but in my 40+ years I have enough experience to know good design when I see it and these banjos are brilliant. If you wanted to get more kids started in banjo today, this design would be the way to do it.

I wasn't sure if it was the satisfaction of making the banjo or the amazing tone that made this banjo so fun to play until I showed my banjo instructor and he thought it was great fun and sounded good too.

I got mine so I would annoy my kids less while practicing the same riffs over and over again. They still complain that this banjo is too loud. that might say more about my kids than it does about this banjo.

I am a new banjoist and I bought what I thought was an inexpensive banjo on Amazon to see if I liked banjo enough to really learn it. I wish I had bought a Backyard Music banjo instead.

The Backyard Music fireside banjo kit was fun to build and is fun to play and practice with. I'm sure I will build at least one more. I won't be afraid to take this banjo anywhere.

Overall Rating: 10