Suggest a brand of banjo for beginner ?
Musicman59
clue.
Would appreciate some guidance re info on brands that won't make me
smash the thing after a few attempts.
thx - Craig
rfd...@optonline.net
wrote:
Can't go wrong with a Deering Goodtime IMHO.
Steve Harder-Kucera
>
> Can't go wrong with a Deering Goodtime IMHO.
I second that. It's a mighty playable instrument for the price.
Pope Pie (Sy Lehrman)
Always buy the best instrument you can manage to pay for. If you do
something right on a cheap instrument it sounds OK and if you do it
right on a good one it sounds really good. Which is the good one?
Nothing under about three hundred and made in japan is worth buying.
Beyond that, you get what you pay for.
John Albert
"Would appreciate some guidance re info on brands that won't
make me
smash the thing after a few attempts."
Check out the Recording King line.
They're from China, but a cut above nearly every other banjo
produced there.
I believe you can see them at recordingking.com
Also, check in at the banjohangout.org
- John
Pete
the year I was born. After hitting the half-century mark this year, I'm
learning to play the banjo. My father had a 4-stringer that I played as
a kid and I loved it. Always wanted to learn, so no time like the present.
I didn't have a clue what to look for, either. I did my research over
the past couple months and ordered a Deering Goodtime this week. You
should be able to find one new in the $300-400 USD price range. Good
luck with your decision and purchase.
Twibil
"Brands" don't normally cause one to want to smash their banjo. Lack
of a setup -no matter the brand- frequently does.
Be aware that all banjos -even brand-new-out-of-the-box expensive
banjos- usually need to be set up. I.E. both the height of the strings
(the "action") and the head tension (the "head tension") need to be
adjusted: both for playability and tonality. Other factors, such as
properly locating the bridge, may come into play as well.
So once you've achieved banjo ownerhood, the next step is to find
someone who can perform this relatively simple yet vital service for
you, or, better yet, find a good banjo player who can tell you what
your banjo needs in terms of a setup and who can point you towards the
guy who does *his* work for him!
Ta, ~Deaf Lester Crawdad
Musicman59
yep, the '59 is the year I was born. Just finished a 6 week
beginning guitar class atan adult school - so finally the total
confusion I face with string instruments is a bit lessened. Playing
the sax is soooooooo much easier. Plan on getting one of each of the
basic instruments to stash around the place, and hopefully play them
all before I go to the great gig in the sky....
Craig
d.
>On Jul 29, 6:13=A0am, Pete <dpete2...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Musicman59 wrote:
>> > I know what saxophone and guitar brands to look for. =A0Banjos, not a
>> > clue.
>>
>> > Would appreciate some guidance re info on brands that won't make me
>> > smash the thing after a few attempts.
>>
>> > thx - Craig
>>
>> I don't know the significance of the '59' in your tag, but for me it is
>> the year I was born. After hitting the half-century mark this year, I'm
>> learning to play the banjo. My father had a 4-stringer that I played as
>> a kid and I loved it. Always wanted to learn, so no time like the present=
>.
>>
>> I didn't have a clue what to look for, either. I did my research over
>> the past couple months and ordered a Deering Goodtime this week. You
>> should be able to find one new in the $300-400 USD price range. Good
>> luck with your decision and purchase.
>
>yep, the '59 is the year I was born. Just finished a 6 week
>beginning guitar class atan adult school - so finally the total
>confusion I face with string instruments is a bit lessened. Playing
>the sax is soooooooo much easier. Plan on getting one of each of the
>basic instruments to stash around the place, and hopefully play them
>all before I go to the great gig in the sky....
>
>Craig
Strangely maybe, there were some entry level suggestions for banjos,
reso guitars, and mandolins in the Sept. Acoustic Guitar magazine.
Two of the banjos have already been mention in this thread. Deering
Goodtime and Recording King.
Pope Pie (Sy Lehrman)
I don't think I have ever seen a banjo set up properly in any store,
except for one in Birmingham Michigan a few years ago. The heads are
always slack and you can't tell what they sound like. I once saw a
Gibson bicentennial model in a shop in Adelaide, South Australia with a
price tag of seven thousand dollars or some such. The head was slack.
I assume it sounded like a mastertone, but who could tell?
Pete
> yep, the '59 is the year I was born. Just finished a 6 week
> beginning guitar class atan adult school - so finally the total
> confusion I face with string instruments is a bit lessened. Playing
> the sax is soooooooo much easier. Plan on getting one of each of the
> basic instruments to stash around the place, and hopefully play them
> all before I go to the great gig in the sky....
>
> Craig
Got the banjo yesterday! My boys have already worked up some songs on it
and tried some alternate tunings. The Goodtime is a well made instrument
for the price.
I know what you mean about changing instruments. I started on the
trumpet in 5th grade and still find it easier to play than other
instruments I've picked up along the way. Of course I have no feeling in
my lips after a couple songs, but oh well, the fingering is still there.
Been playing bass for the past 10 years so hopefully that will help in
my quest to play the banjo. Now I just need some woodshed time...and a
good teacher.
rfd...@optonline.net
Congtrats on the Goodtime. Enjoy it and play it in good health! And I feel your
pain re: the trumpet. That was the first instrument they tried forcing on me
when I was a kid, probably about the same age. I lasted maybe a year or two then
gave up. So they moved me on to piano, which I wish I had stuck with. My Dad was
a musician and my Grand-dad had a big orchestra so, I HAD to learn something. I
ended up playing the guitar and banjo because I got hooked on folk music (it was
the craze back in the late fifties and early sixties) especially the Kingston
Trio, who I still love! Of course, I became the musical "black sheep" of the
family with my unorthodox choice of instruments. But I still play and enjoy
them, unlike the trumpet and piano.
d.
>
>I've played banjo for many many years but have never set one up. My
>brother had done it, but he passed in January and that's among the
>countless things I miss about him. Can you all enlighten me on what it
>is I need to do to keep mine properly set up? Or what to do if I buy a
>new one?
>
>Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
>
>Donna A.
I bought my first banjo last year when my wife of many years passed
away. I looked back through many old posts to this group last year
and there is a lot of great and specific information on setup.
Unfortunately for some reason I can't find references to those posts
on google group search and I don't like to copy other folks posts.
But here is a pretty good website:
d.
Twibil
>
> Here is a copy/paste from a message posted by P.Roehling in 2006. It
> had such good information, I archived it and still refer to it.
Gee, it's *nice* to feel appreciated! <G>
~Pete
Mike
almost 10 years, and it's a great starter. There's a reason you don't
see many used ones for sale.
Musicman59
Fender seems to be in the banjo game. Does the stature of this brand
name continue in the banjo?
Craig
Steve Harder-Kucera
I had a mid-level Fender for a few years and I was not unhappy with it,
but I can't rave about it either.
What I like about the Deering Goodtime is that they are playable and
true right up the the last fret. That's a pretty good test in my opinion
and the area where most low end banjos fail.
I've never owned a Deering but I play a Goodtime every time I see one in
a music store just to test the consistency of the product, which is why
I recommend them to someone needing a good economical banjo.
I had a chance to tour the Deering factory a year and a half ago and
the staff was very friendly. I was stunned at the volume of banjos
coming out of that place.
jimmy
banjo's, in my opinion you wont go wrong with deering
"d." <d...@noospam.com> wrote in message
news:4a730edb....@216.168.3.70...