The Worst Banjo I've Ever Played
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- Banjos don't get worse than this. They really don't. Let's see what we can do with it. Just a bit of fun this week, folks. Hope you enjoy!
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Wow, Tom. You're really coming into your own on this channel's voice and tone. Like any really good "youtuber" or vlog, you manage to come up with neat engaging topics I wouldn't have thought I wanted to see until I start watching them and I'm riveted.
Ryan! Thank you sooo much! Coming from you, that is a compliment I'll take to the bank.
Before the mid nineteenth century, most banjos were homemade, fretless, often made from a gourd, and used friction tuners. The humblest low end banjo today is a dream machine.
beautifully said.
I saw a quote in the front of a banjo book once about whether your own banjo sounds good or not. The author said " all banjos sound good. A banjo sound is one of the greatest sounds on earth, and every banjo makes a banjo sound".
Hi Tom,
I'm a beginner banjo player and am using Banjo Blitz (ep 3-5) to practice drop-thumb. Here is a true story about making music on an inexpensive instrument.
Years ago, I was a classical recorder player. I was preparing a piece for soprano recorder and found I sounded best on a clear plastic lime green $7 student recorder. The piece seemed to work best for me on this instrument instead of my $200 rosewood instrument. I played the piece at a recital and this is how I did it.
I kept the recorder in my bag until the moment I stood up to play and whipped it out. Without delay, I put it to my lips and played the piece, then took my bows and put it away. After the recital, folks came up to me and asked what kind of instrument I used. I amazed them by showing them the student instrument. One lady complained that she had just bought a hand-made expensive instrument and that the plastic instrument (which, by the way, was not a poor instrument at all, just inexpensive and mass produced) sounded better than hers. Of course, that was because I had practiced extensively with my recorder and knew how to make it sound good on this particular piece.
Which all goes back to something that my recorder teacher told me: 90% of a musicians sound comes from him, and only 10% comes from the instrument. This is true for anyone. Charlie Parker played concerts on a plastic alto saxophone when he had to pawn his own instrument for cash. I've played gigs on broken down pianos and managed to sound fine. It's a matter of working with what you have to make yourself sound as good as possible.
In my opinion, a good instrument will make it easier for a good musician to sound good but a poor musician will sound poor on the best instrument. There is no need for banjo shame, just the need for lots of practice!
Thanks for your great videos. You are a wonderful musician and teacher.
What a lovely post. Thanks so much, dog3579!!
One thing I like about banjos is that you do anything to them and it will always sound like a banjo
The most important element in music is fun.
Stick a sponge in the back - that's my first recommendation for a student arriving with one of those. But i once saw an all-ireland champion irish tenor banjo player who only had one of those. She was great, but oh that banjo.
Yeah, a preponderance of overtones with these instruments. A way to dampen them is helpful...although they have a .... "charm" all their own. I think in the old time space, you can make these odd instrument voices work to your advantage, but the odd sock or foam block can certainly help tame these creatures!
Thank you SO much for doing this video! I've been playing for 7 months and I LOVE my 'nice to me banjo' (Morgan Monroe). Learning banjo is a challenge. Trying to save a lot of money before learning the banjo is impossible. It's refreshing to see someone celebrate the instrument itself, and not just the brand. Subscribed.
I love this comment, Chris! So glad to have you as a subscriber. Cheers to you and your beautiful Morgan Monroe!
Whew, I didn't know where you were going with that. Sounded pretty good! I started on a "Conqueror" Banjo, that my parents bought me for my 17th bday, in 1978. (And I still have it!!) I've been fortunate to have been able to upgrade over the years to a couple of Gibson's along with a 1870-80 Gatcomb Standard. I still like to play my old banjo from 1978, when I get a bit sentimental. It's real rough, but it makes me smile so much! It was my first!!
is your Conquerer the dancefloor marquetry? i LOVE that one , and have one in pieces i will finish fixing one day
"If you make a bad bargain, hug it all the tighter." Abraham Lincoln
Hahahah! I love this! Thanks for commenting, oldcremona!
Wow. The timing of this post couldn't have been better or more coincidental for me!
Let me tell you my story: I've wanted to play banjo for at least half of my life. I tried once, long ago, but gave up. Now, as a long-time guitarist/mandolin player nearing my mid-40s, I decided to try again - very much inspired by your (and others') videos. So, after months of searching, pining, and scrimping, I finally found an instrument I could afford from a guy @ BHO - a "Frankenbanjo" that he had put together with that same Fender pot (broken in two and then glued back together and reinforced with an additional maple rim - and painted black), an RK neck (nameplate removed, headstock painted black, and a silver doo-dad glued on for decoration; heel joint more-or-less fitted to the pot with some roughed out carving and a shim; and upgraded bone nut), a hand-carved bridge, and some very cheap "gritty" feeling planetary tuners. All that for only $150.
Arrived this past Wednesday. Played that evening and some the next. Then, in the predawn of Friday morning, reaching in the dark for my robe - to go start the coffee and sit a spell with my son - I knocked the banjo straight over, face-first, onto our wood floors. [BTW: I keep all my gear in cases (little kids, you know), but this bargain banjo came without one, so it was simply propped up "out of the way".] The headstock had split from the neck. My "new" used banjo, dead. I was, needless to say, disappointed.
But I decided, very deliberately, not to freak out (as I was of course tempted to do) but to take this as a "bonding" experience [pun intended, thank you very much] between me and my new banjo. I would calmly glue it back together and get back to learning. Besides, I had wanted to improve the action and, if possible, "tighten up" the tone. Now I had an excuse to experiment.
So, long story short, I just finished a few hours ago: I took nearly everything apart, learned how all of the parts fit together, and set it back up from scratch; I repainted the headstock and put a Chinese 5-cent piece on the headstock in place of the doo-dad that was on there [I used to live in China]; I tightened the head according to your BB instructions, got the action just right (kind of by accident, but still), and of course put on new strings.
Now it's MINE. And it sounds a LOT better than when it arrived (those few long days ago). I "built" a banjo! And I couldn't be happier with it. I "wouldn't trade it for the world," as the saying goes. [Well, OK... If I had $900 I would buy the used Pisgah Rambler sitting forlorn at my local music store, but you get the picture.] This was the best bad experience I could ever hope to have with an instrument.
Now, I begin (again) on BB#1.
Thanks Tom.
Wow man, I love this story. Thank you so much for posting it!
hi, bought an old tyme vega banjo for 1500 pounds (im in the uk) ,had it for a few months ,loved it, then it fell on a concrete floor ,the head split right off. I think for the next 48 hours i was in shock auto pilot mode. i calmly you tubed how to mend a broken head piece ,found some expanding gorilla glue and clamped it together.then i lacquered it.one year later the banjos going full steam ahead and unless you look very closely you carnt see a thing. stays in tune perfectly. i love it even more now because i mended it.
As an addition to the other comment I left, I have a truly bad banjo too. My first one was a Morelli banjo I got at a pawn shop for $70.00. It doesn't have an arm rest, the resonator is attached with wood screws, the bridge was crowned with a piece of fret wire, the 5th string tuner was not geared, the neck is very thick and a couple of strings buzz from a cheap nut where the grooves are too wide, but it still plays, and even though I have upgraded, I plan to keep it forever. After all I didn't really buy a banjo that day, I bought a dream.
I have a bottom-the-range Ozark that I first started playing on. When I went to Andy Perkins' workshop here in the UK to buy a new banjo, I took it along for a minor repair. Andy was disgusted by it - said it had never been set up right and it wasn't worth doing now. He encouraged me to sell it to him for parts, but I resisted and took it home along with my new Gold Tone. I'm working on an album-length project now, and that crappy Ozark is the very first thing you hear :)
Hhahaha! Yeah, I really love recording these terrible banjos. You can get some really interesting and funky tones from them.
Tom. My starter banjo was a banjo I picked up in a Goodwill store in Walla Walla for $20 while working my way through college in Tennessee. 50+ years later I still have it. It was, and is,
awful, but I developed a love for the sound of the instrument with it and cannot part with it. Don, new Hope pa
Thanks again for the plug. Great message in this video. My crappy first banjo was a Recording King "Songster," a low level resonator banjo. Certainly not the worst of the worst, but it sure made me want to trade up ASAP.
Tom, thank you much for this wonderful wonderful video! I love your enthusiasm how much you love old time music, your claw hammer banjo, and your students! You are very encouraging, and you make a difference in this world. Merry Christmas!
Dorinda, thank you for such a lovely comment. I really appreciate it! Merry Christmas to you too!!
Only just saw this. My first banjo was a Silvertone I picked up used for $40. Lost it (stolen), then was given a crappy Kingston as a present, later bought another Silvertone. Then finally bought my "good" banjo, a Gold Tone CC-Carlin 12. Love it, gave away my other two banjos (one to son, other to nephew). Recently bought a cheap (not crappy) banger banjo, a Recording King Dirty 30's, love that one too. Have played Fenders in music shops, yes, they are crappy. I have an American Fender Stratocaster, they definitely can make some non-crappy instruments, don't know what their problem with banjos is 🙂
I am fortunate as a beginner not to have to settle for a crappy banjo. My boss for over 25 years had an old Vega with a small resonator that I'd been coveting for years. When he passed away, his son (my new boss) gave it to me! From the serial numbers, I've determined that it began its life as a tenor. The pot is a mid 1920's 11" Tubaphone with I think the original goat skin head. The neck is maple and from a late teens Vega Regent. The resonator is after market, but still made by Vega, probably in the 30's. It does need some work. It looks like whoever put it together grabbed a handful of tuning machines out of a drawer of spare parts. I don't think any of them match. The tailpiece is the original tenor and was drilled to accommodate the 5th string. I have tuners and a new tailpiece ordered for it, and I am going to attempt to do the work myself. I love this banjo and will hopefully never part with it. It has a nice crisp sound and the action is outstanding. If I hadn't acquired it, I probably never would have played banjo. I've been at it for about 6 months now and can't seem to put it down!
It’s my circa 1890’s 18 fret Lyon & Healy, spun over 3/8” rim, goat headed banjo that I bought for $200.00 and rebuilt in 1973.
Five Star Planet tuners and Nylgut minstrel strings.
Scale is 24 5/8”.
No matter what I do, it sounds like it was made from the top of a 55 gallon barrel.
I keep it in Standard G.
Hahahaha....55 gallon barrel. I know that tubby sound well! I like to think of it as "character". Thanks for the comment!
Haha! This was my first banjo. The resonator fell off after about a year, like the one you're playing. So I took off the flange and kept playing it like it was a mutant open back. I eventually replaced the Fender with a nice Deering Classic Goodtime Special resonator banjo which has a beautiful tone and is so much easier to play. The terrible lacquer finish on the Fender used to make it hard for me to slide my fretting hand up the neck. It went out of tune as soon as I looked at it. It was ok when I was first learning but after I got better it was definitely time to upgrade. Although I still get it out now and again and just frail away on it like a drunk hillbilly when my wife isn't around to complain about the racket. Thanks so much for your videos, Tom. Great instruction and a great attitude to playing. Inspiring. You are a gifted musician and teacher.
Run whatcha brung....works in racing and in music. Thanks for putting this positive message out there! 😊👍👍
Love that!
I bought a nearly identical banjo around 2008. I only recently traded it away. I learned much of what I know practicing on it. I had it set up by Geoff Lutrell in San Francisco which cleared up many of the problems.
Thanks for this uplifting, encouraging video. I (used to) play a crappy banjo. The strings lay so high off the frets that the neck could double as a cheese slicer. The instrument came with a wooden "resonator" that made a better bird bath after I unscrewed it and chucked it into the garden. Despite its flaws, I was sorry to give it up because of the magnificent "inlay" (decal, actually) on the peghead that said Ashville - since I live in North Carolina and people would naturally marvel at that, Asheville (note the extra e) being a little town in the mountains where a lot of great oldtime music is played. I have a better instrument now - still mass produced in China, but actually playable.
I'm crying with LAUGHTER reading all these hilarious comments. I too live near Asheville, considering my FIRST banjo, (Deering Midnight Special), but I sure as hell don't wanna pay a thousand bucks for a BIRDBATH or a CHEESESLICER! I don't have a clue how to play. There's always RUclips! Thanks for the laughs everyone! I'm dying here!!
After watching your best banjo video I went back to watch this again and I noticed the thumbnail, and other thumbnails, and I must compliment you on your creativity! Hilarious.
Thanks for noticing, Isaac! Creating the thumbnails every week is a lot of fun.
My epiphone mb-100 is like a rescue pet that never let's me down and can sing duets with me on point. Simplicity at its finest.
I know this video is over 5 years old, but just showed up today in my suggested videos. Awesome click bait !!! Loved the video and message ! My inexpensive by necessity banjo is being held high. I am learning to make beautiful music as well. While someday I hope I will be able to upgrade, If that day never comes I will not be disappointed. I don't think a better banjo could make me enjoy learning any better. You made that fender sound cool. Liked and Subscribed !!!
Glad you found the video, even if it's on the old side. Thanks for the great comment, and welcome to the channel!
I got one of those. Makes me want to play better so I can justify buying a better one.
mine was a Washburn B8 cast aluminum "bottle cap" drum. Once I started to play semiregularly, I began tinkering with it... took off the resonator and tried to find a tone I wanted. Could do it and decided I needed to upgrade to the next inexpensive banjo, ( a Gold Tone and a Deering Goodtime) in the $600 range, where I began experimenting with sound. I converted over to Nylgut strings and then a goat skin head. I have learned from each banjo I got, all for different reasons and realize that they all are "place holders" for a more professional level banjo (on an inexpensive level) but now know better what I'm looking for in a banjo.
Amazing what just removing a resonator will do for sound! Cheers, Tom
The Tradesman is a wonderful banjo but I recommend adding a brass Dobson tone ring from Balsam ($79) or Rickard ($95). I removed a bit from the top of the rim (glued sandpaper to a board and pushed the rim around on it - it takes a while). The tone ring slips over the rim and fills in the gap between the 11" tension hoop and the undersized drum shell rim. The final touch is a goatskin head form Sterns Tanning. I have great banjos from Baugus, Romero, Cole and Fairbanks but when I'm learning a new tune I always grab the Tradesman Dobson.
I have a very old banjo my mom gave to me, it belonged to her dad or one of her brothers, it was just a wooden hoop, with rusty hooks and a solid one piece neck with a screw through the hoop on the bottom into the neck. The metal band around the wooden hoop was badly corroded as was all the metal parts. I took it to a luthier and I told him I thought I might just as well make a new neck for it because this one was so cheaply made it had NO fingerboard, just frets in the neck. He said " I wouldn't do that, it is kind of rare, it is a seed banjo" I said, what is a seed banjo? And he said " Do you remember in comic books the ads for selling seeds and you could get a BB gun, or a wagon for selling seeds, this is a seed banjo." So I refinished the neck and wooden hoop, cut some aluminum roof flashing and replaced the corroded band around the wooden hoop, I bought new tuning keys and put a head on it with new hooks. It only has eight hooks and the frets are practically square on top, hurting your fingers when you slide up or down the neck. The action is pretty high and the tone isn't very good and the tailpiece is badly pitted and quite flimsy but it is a family heirloom that I will keep and just be glad I have a better homemade banjo and a great Gibson Earl Scruggs model that I paid way too much for but enjoy. I pick it up and play it occasionally and shake my head and put it away, but I wouldn't take a farm in Georgia for it.
I love your attitude :) proud owner of a crappy banjo here. It's an old funky POS with friction tuners and I love it.
Hey Becca, Thanks for the comment! Yeah, there's something freeing about playing a POS. Whew...crappy friction tuners can be so brutal. Enjoy your crappy banjo!
I definitely have banjo envy. I started playing two months ago (thank you Banjo Blitz!) on a Deering Goodtime. It has a fine tone, low action - totally sufficient as a starter instrument. My buddy likes to show off his 20’s Vega Whyte Laydie. (I think that’s the model.) it’s a beauty. I have my eye on a custom banjo by Lukas Poole (Ozark Banjo Co) as a reward if I stay with banjo for a full year and get sufficiently good. But I need Banjo Quest to progress ;)
Hey Lindsay! Those Goodtimes are great starter banjos. I've never played one of Lukas' instruments, but he is a very fine banjo player. I'd imagine anything he touches is built for serious playing. Banjo Quest is coming soooooon!
Tom Collins I’ve not seen good videos anywhere about how to produce the cluck sound some players use throughout songs. Is this something you might do for Banjo Quest?
Hey Lindsay, Yes, the cluck will make an appearance eventually...even though it's not a technique I use regularly.
Your Deering Goodtime is a humble, worthy instrument, no question! That said, I'm sure your Lukas Poole model will play like silk. Enjoy the journey!
Lindsay,
I too own a Deering Good-time Special and love it. It makes for a great first time and beyond banjo.
I have a bunch of crappy banjos including most of the types mentioned. Even a crappy upright bass banjo or two. I play 'em all. Good video.
There's nothing like the beautiful sound of a crappy banjo! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Caught me in the second act there. When I heard the banjo I surely thought you were going to express how even though an instrument is bad, you can still make it sound good. But then you started trashing the instrument, and I was like "Hey, wait a minute. You literally just now proved that we're able to work with what we have!" Ya got me.
And I completely agree. My niece got a First Act guitar from Wal-Mart and was depressed when it didn't sound like my guitar. But then I played it for her to show that it doesn't matter. Let that hunk of wood sing!
We have a bottle-cap rim, horrible tuners, one cheap coordinator rod, Kay banjo with a resonator and a pretty 'eagle' on the back of it. It's from 1970 and after a lot of setup work it holds it's own around the campfire, looks and sounds pretty good if I can keep it in tune, and doesn't react much to weather conditions because of it's aluminum rim. Nearly indestructible and I'm very happy we have 3 other much better banjos.
I wish I could blame my banjo but its me. I have started learning from scratch all over again. Thanks Banjo Blitz. I am starting at square 1 and looking forward to a new start. I play a Frankenstein banjo built fron a 1927 Vega strut, a Gretsch body ( 1930's) and a long neck I think from Gretsch origin.
Just found this channel. So funny, that banjo has the exact same construction as my first (no name) banjo I got when I was 17 in 1978. Even has the same mystery screw on the heel. I think it has something to do with neck adjustment?...I learned to play cripple creek and a few other tunes on it. still have it but It's been stored away for 40 yrs until I recently got re-interested in banjo. It actually plays ok, after giving it some tweaking. I play bluegass/scruggs style but have a growing interest in clawhammer.
What's the difference between a tenor and a 5-string banjo? A 5-string takes slightly longer to burn.
This was my actual first banjo. A terrible made-in-China Fender. My next one was my first Romero! Major step up and never looked back!
I just bought a cheap gold tone ac1. Only been playing a week. But I am a musician so it's coming fast.
I showed someone and said check out my plastic cheap banjo. He almost sounded offended like how dare you buy a cheep banjo. I made it sound good for him and he played it. Also loved it. My favorite instrument I own.
My first banjo was a cheap Chinese instrument that slowly went out of shape and tone. But it got me hooked on banjo playing and my skills slowly improved. I eventually bought a very nice Gold Tone WL (White Lady) 250 and am still playing nine years later and still improving. Like you say every banjo is unique and deserve some respect and that crappy banjo might introduce somebody else to banjo playing.
That has some really good sound, actually. Kinda like it.
When I was visiting my grandmas house I found my uncles old 4 string banjo in the very back of a closet. My uncle is 63 and he got it when he was in his early teens... it sounds worst than the one you played in the video. The funny part is that I still played it for hours regardless.
Banjo shame....I dont have banjo shame, I have a Bart Reiter....I have player shame.Got to get better.
I have a Blue ridge banjo that is my first 5 string banjo. I have a 100 year old S.S.Steward Wonder tone plectrum banjo that was my Grandfather's banjo that he played in the Woodland string band back in the late 1920s. Anyway, my wife got me the Blueridge it's different color then your fender but it is built the same way. When I play it I can actually feel the neck move, but it stays in tune. It had a resonator but I didn't like the sound so I took the resonator off I also took the brackets off and I think it sounds much better now. I'm trying to learn clawhammer and 2 fingerstyle playing, clawhammer is not going too well but 2 fingerstyle playing is coming along nicely. I'm not too good yet but getting better. When I learn to play well I will upgrade to a Deering Goodtime banjo, but as the Blueridge is my first five string and my wife bought it for me I will never get rid of it.
I love the little run of funky snapped notes in the tune. Do you talk about how you do that anywhere?
Hey Russ, that's a little something I call "slap banjo". I'm planning on doing a video for it in the future. Thanks for watching!
Sounds good! I started with an “Encore” that I thought sucked...until I set it up. It was great for old time and it did me right. A lot of modern makers make banjos that look amazing and play easy, but don’t sound much better than that Fender.
Brilliant, and the same applies to ALL forms of creativity, it's the person behind it.
Kind of like saying to a chef " Wow really good stew, What kind of pot did you use"
Hahahaha, love this!
I bought a cheapo for $220 and fixed it up. Now it is a nice custom banjo with an antique slightly ragged look. My truss rod cover is a scrap of denim fabric tied over the hole below the strings. The banjo plays really well since I reshaped the pot and upgraded the hardware. I will keep this banjo forever because of the work I have put into it. Take a crappy, make it good, and you’ll have something unique.
Love the idea of a denim truss rod cover, Tyler! That's inspired!!
@@FretlessFury Thanks. Im designing it to fit me. It will get a home made stain after the black walnuts fall this year too. I want it to look similar to old weathered barn-wood. Right now it is close as I sooted up the wood and allowed it to stain into the grain, but it isn’t quite right just yet. It is close though so Ill be able to finish it up how I want.
I've got a cheap one too ,thinking of adding some timber yo the inside to give deeper sound ,have you any ideas to make it sound better?
My glarry 5 string has arrived today... probably the cheapest banjo... well the cheapest I found lol.... packaging was kinda crap but everything seems to be in good working order now just gotta learn how to play it lol
Thank you Tom. I'm not a Banjo owner or player, I just can't get to that point to buy one. love the sound of the banjo. Excellent encouragement from you, a sign of a great teacher. I've watched a few of your videos and subscribed. Constructive criticism is healthy and it's the only way to learn.
Thank you, Charles. You know what I'm gonna say: get yourself a banjo! It's time to learn it, Charles. It's time! Best, Tom
@@FretlessFury Hi Tom. You know what ! I finally ordered a Deering Artisan GoodTime 2 with Resonator, but it's going to take a few weeks before Deering ships it. Thanks for your encouragement.
I have a red sparkle Gretch.... its truely awfull in so many ways even with the bridge at 45 degrees
Red sparkle?? Oh man, you HAVE to post pics!
Good on You Mr. Collins it Doesn't matter the Music is Within & I thought I Had a crappy Banjo Bought a nice one but I Still Play My Old one I Call Her Gladdis & We got this thing Goin on I Fell in Love She Holds Her Tune She Might Be Cheap to some eyes but she gives me joy & Sings To the Touch She Cant Be Bad if She Can Sooth an old critter like me Thank You
beautifully put!
I felt so much shame about my banjo right up until the point where you switched gears. Good lesson, but now I need a drink.
yes your qute right I bought a realy cheap banjo for a friends son,awful but I replaced the tuning pegs to rear facing carved a decent nut decen bridge and showed it some love,the chid learnt well on it I use Deering
That really sounds quite good. It isn't the sound that is the problem.
I just spent $150.00 on a $200.00 Amazon cheapie . Now it sounds better than my Deering Good Time 2 banjo !
I love my crappy banjo!! It is a made in China “Austin” banjo and I love it.
Crappy banjos rule!
Great video love to hear and see you play. Big plus for enjoy what you have. Maybe just me but I am sick and tired of "banjo shame(ing), knife shame(ing), this that and the other shame(ing). GROW UP! Okay you don't have the Stratovarius of banjos, I've got a secret for you, you don't deserve it either. Life's short, stop pining over moon beams, and enjoy what you got. For the record I'm a senior citizen, just learning to play anything with and old cast off open back Harmony, with fingers that resemble big toes, and stiff to boot. Enjoying every minute of it and wish for nothing else.
Well, thanks! It makes me feel a whole lot better about my cheap $50 1970s import banjo. It plays, but not great. But then again, neither do I. I just want the 5th string tuner to stop cutting my thumb!
Ha! I know...some of these banjos should come with a warning that you should get your tetanus shot updated before you play them...
I have a Recording King dirty 30s open back banjo, I got off of amazon, and I not doing that again. When we ordered it, it was an OK banjo, fast forward about 2 weeks, we took a long trip and while we were on the trip, I noticed it, a crack on two spots of the pot, so we return it to get a new one, it comes in and the ebony fingerboard has a crack where the fingerboard touches the tension hoop. it didn't seem to be effecting anything, but the tone on this banjo is horrible, the fiberskin head does not tension easily, making the bridge sag a lot, and I have to tune it every time I play it, so I have been planning to repair it and make look and sound more like a old Dobson or S.S Stewart, by adding a metal hoop over the wood hoop, friction tuners, Calf skin head, gut strings, and a two footed bridge.
Yeah, set up can be huge in getting a banjo to speak. Then again, dumping a whole lot of time, love and money into an instrument can really backfire too. I tend to "buy once, cry once", and get the best I can afford. It's served me well, but has delayed purchases as I've scrimped and saved to make them. I'm sure you can get that Recording King to cooporate, but I do wonder if there is another banjo in your future that will speak like you want it to with minimal fuss. Good luck in that quest, Brice!
This is the most positive bad review I've ever heard
The player matters more than the instrument.
Dear Tom,
You must be a pretty damn good banjo player because you make that banjo sound good. I've heard much worse!
Black Jake of Norwich, England.
I have tried for 50 years to frail a banjo. I played guitar for good money for many years and played pedal steel for even better bucks for a long time as well. I cannot whistle and I cannot frail and I have tried so many times. I have an excellent banjo rotting in its case in the upstairs bedroom. How the heck you do that is totally beyond me...
I played on something like this for several years. Mine is called a Silver tone. I think Sears sold them in the sixties and into the seventies. I did set mine up for better playing though. Most of these cheap banjo r not set up right.
And that’s a resonator with it took off
Funny what people call crappy yet that banjo looks so much more high end than my 1809 buckbee i found in an attic of an old recording studio 25 years ago. and yet i love its sound and crude raggedy look and feel and i don't even ever want to play a new one. And to think the banjo started out as an African instrument made from a gourd with a piece of wood stuck in it so it kinda can be many things to many people.
Haha. You zigged when I thought you was gonna zag. Great points made.
The crappiest banjo I have played coincidentally was the exact same instrument...
Hahahah!
🤔🤔🤔😊🪕👍, great advice😎👍‼️
Ever heard of a Davidson banjo? Neither had I but I traded a chineese guitar for one a few years ago. I took the back off and away I go. It looks a LOT like this Fender. Probably made in the same factory.
I got a cheap crappy banjo ,,But I learned how to make it very playable and I love to play it ,So I even play it in church now , This is what old time banjo music is all about just play with what You got and have fun with it !
I would still recommend to any beginner banjo player to spend a little bit more and buy a nicer instrument. As I got better at the banjo I just couldn’t stand having bad tone.I would really recommend spending around $600 on your first banjo.
I tend to agree! Though many simply cannot afford that much. It's good to know that these junkers have a vibe all their own!
Well then Tom, in your opinion, what's the nicest Banjo you ever played ?
It's almost like you can see into the future.........
Worst banjo ever... comes in a case 100 times nicer than mine! 😢 The worst banjo I ever played was a Kay at a local shop they (lovingly) said that thing was sold and traded in a dozen times as students got the banjo bug and upgraded!
Yeah, that was an awfully nice case for a banjo so bad.
Jiiimmmm!!! Ok...the case. Yes, it's nice. But because of the gawdawful super-wide headstock, and the sticky-outtie tuners, it doesn't fit in the case very well. It's honestly a miracle that the case hasn't broken this banjo over the years.
Tom Collins ha! I've been following your channel the whole time! ... That poor case has earned it's keep!
THAT SCREW - it's rather interesting. It holds the neck on. Really. I'm not kidding. The end of the thick threaded rod inside the neck heel is drilled and secured inside the heel with a wood screw. Yes, a bloody wood screw in shear against all that tension. Over time the threads are squashed and the screw itself bends, loosening the neck. The remedy is to replace it with a smooth rod as thick as the hole in the threaded rod permits, in a slightly enlarged hole.
The pot metal hardware can be made to work, although with modifications. As you can see, the tension hoop is smaller than the bead of the head, making the hooks touch the bead. Putting washers under the brackets gives them a wider stance, clearing the bead, and stops the upper edges of the brackets from digging into the wood. Washers inside the pot (stock ones tend to be too small and thin) and Allen bolts will allow you to quite a lot of preload tension on them, stopping them from tilting up with tension on the hooks.
They do get worse - mine (not a Fender but apparently from the same manufacturer) has a straight neck but the neck heel was cut too short, making the fretboard bear against the tension hoop, pronging the life of THE SCREW by doubling the moment arm but making head adjustment impossible. I had to reshape the stupid neck heel, shim it, etc. The thin tension hoop makes the tailpiece dig into the head, necessitationg more shims and more everything. In the end it plays very comfortably, sounds rather nice, looks pretty different from a stock one, and serves as a warning to anyone wanting to buy one like it.
Haahaha! This post is incredible, Jiri! Thanks for the info on THAT SCREW. It's so ugly...but this banjo has so much charm in its own ugly way. I love it!
You made it sound good.
Hey Tom...I learned on a Rogue, literally the cheapest banjo on the internet. I still like to play it. Nothing like a pop metal tome ring. Ok... what is your opinion of pisgah. I'm just about to make the plunge.
I totally have a worse banjo than that. It's technically my wife's but I still count it. It's a Rover RB-20. It's about 15 years old and has a plastic pot. I have no idea what the neck is made out of but it feels like plastic, too. It sounds awful. Brittle, thin, very bad intonation . .the works. The fingerboard feels terrible, the action is extremely low and only my wife can play it. It's the banjo she learned on and she can still make it sound good. Nobody else, I think, would invest the time learning the intricacies of making this thing play.
Oh yeah, those Rover's with the plastic pots might actually be worse than this one. Whew!
I agree, I've played one.
I didn't know that there were banjos with plastic pots, that doesn't sounds like it would have a good tone.
Worst banjo I ever played was my first. Didn't have a brand name that I could find, would immediately go out of tune, just generally an awful instrument. BUT! I traded it in towards my current Deering Goodtime 12" pot so it was definitely not totally worthless.
My sister in laws sister got one of those Fender banjos ..... it was horrible. The case was worth more than the banjo. Like the one you showed it would go out of tune just touching it.
I did see a old Kay banjo one time that was made of some kinda plastic, had the worst tone of any banjo I have ever heard. I think the only thing that would have helped it was a lighter fluid and a match.
YOU DO SPEAKEST THE TRUTH
i wish that was the worst banjo i'd ever played
I have absolutely the same banjo, although mine says Ibanez and there's the same out there saying Harley Benton and it seems it's the same crap banjo.
But what to say? I'm as bad in playing as my banjo is according to this vid ... so what? :D
Hahahahaa! Now that's an interesting problem to have! I hope to one day be as good at playing as my Ome is at being a banjo. Keep at it. There's only one direction to go, and that's onward!
You're a hell of a salesman. Where can I get one?
Craigslist!
I have a china made banjo by the name a Baja and it is awful. The neck isn't even straight, but it was my first and I still love it lol. Oh and get this. I have a morgan monroe hard case to put it in XD. I have a couple vids of me playing it on my channel.
Oohhh, those Bajas are baaaad.
I love my garbage bakelite banjo!
Damn, if that sux dude I'd love to hear your tearing it up on a Deering John Hartford 5-String. Sou ded passable to me. 🙏
This is awesome!! Love yer vid!!
Love yer beard! Thank you, Phil!!!!
Have you removed the resonator? I see the plates are still on it.
Yup, we took that thing right off. It did sound better without it.
I took it off mine, also [see my reply elsewhere for the excruciating full-length tale] because A) too heavy, and B) want to look like a "real" old-time banjo player.
That is a Stradivarius compared to the worst banjo I've ever played. Maybe in America you don't get the kind of junk banjos which are all too common in Britain.
Thank you. I have a Bean Blossom. And I am making one in a Cigar Box Guitar DIY fashion... a 6 inch bongo drum for tone ring head and pot. Walnut neck, fretless red cedar fingerboard.
Love those DIY instruments. Good luck on the build!
Personally I really like the sound. It makes me think of an old hillbilly playing a banjo that's as old and weathered as the Appalachian mountains.
Have you played a 70’s Chicago? It is a Harmony Res-o-tone clone. One inch at the nut which is plastic, very high action, that will not adjust, cheap guitar tuners that barely stay in tune an hour. It was my fathers banjo that he bought to try and learn another string besides the guitar which he played very well. He never got good on that banjo and after deciding to try I see why. I will be upgrading very soon.
I can't say I've played a Chicago before. Sounds like a monster! Yeah, it can be discouraging to play a crappy banjo. But the sounds are in there if you work hard enough, and when you do upgrade you will really appreciate your new banjo!
The worst banjo in the world is still better then no banjo.
Beautifully said!
I READ all these comments and almost had a stroke I'm laughing so hard! I'm just thinking of buying my first banjo, (Deering Midnight Special), don't even know how to play but every time I get discouraged I may watch this again so I can laugh some more! Thanks everybody!!
Hahaha! Yeah! Crappy banjos make for great stories! Thanks for your comment!
This made me laugh, cos that banjo is like my cheap banjo that I have knocking around the house, I have a decent banjo too, but I wanted one to play around with, my wife payed £60 for an antoria banjo, I stripped the resonator off it, adjusted the head, changed the strings, repositioned the bridge, fitted a capo spike etc, I must admit, even though it's harder to play than my decent banjo, I really enjoy playing it, my latest video on my RUclips channel Reubens train features that crappy antoria banjo, cheers.
sometimes those crappy banjos are just the ticket!
It's a joy to behold decent music coming from a piece of junk. I'm inviting everyone to look for Johnny Butten Squared Eel on RUclips. He's playing a banjo I made from wood from a discarded futon, and clear mailing tape. And he makes it sound good.
I'll have to check that out, Mike. Thanks for your comment!