Jeff R Posted August 28, 2013 Posted August 28, 2013 Background: I love the sound of all stringed instruments and I love having all at my fingertips. Electric guitars, acoustic guitars, basses, violins, tampons ... if it's stringed, I like it, so don't start with the "he's jumped the shark" banjo comments (aka, Kiz and The Muse content stopped dead in tracks). That being said ... Vonnie and I want to add an affordable and well-constructed and sounding six-string, guitar-tuned (because I'm too busy and lazy to learn a new instrument's tuning) banjo to our arsenal of toys for us to sing along to on our couch. I went to Deering's site and there is no way I'm going to spend 2K-plus on a damn banjo. I have done minimal research on this, I'd prefer to hear from any of the HFC gang who have ran this route.I repeat - I'm not trying to be Roy Clark on this endeavor. We don't want to be Dixie Chicks or Lady Antebellum (?) or the like. Quite honestly, we want a nice bang-for-buck banjo to play around with old Fleetwood Mac songs and shit like that. Vonnie sounds like Stevie Nicks so I should have a little Buckingham variety in my strung stable.Anyone have any advice on the Hamer of decently priced 6-string recreational banjos on the new or used market? Speaking of which, if you have one collecting dust, we may be in the market!
tomteriffic Posted August 28, 2013 Posted August 28, 2013 While the Deering is pretty much the bee's pajamas (or cat's knees) in the banjo world and pretty well out of the question, it offers a good rule of thumb when buying a banjo in general. That is, you buy banjos by the pound. The heavier it is, the better-sounding it will be. I don't quite understand the physics of this, but I've generally found it to be true. So go to GC and heft a few. Also, much like a guitar needs to be set up, a banjo will need to be "regulated", which involves tuning the head, tensioning the regulator bars (the one or two bars inside the banjo that run parallel to the neck) etc. It can make a big difference. So go to GC and your local music stores, heft a couple and see what you think. I'm holding out for a Deering, but it'll probably never happen.
Steve Haynie Posted August 28, 2013 Posted August 28, 2013 All the information you want is probably covered in the forums here: http://www.banjohangout.org/forum/The weight that tomteriffic talks about is probably from the tone rings. You can upgrade a banjo greatly by just putting in a new tone ring. All the newer Asian import six string banjos ought to be good.
Brooks Posted August 29, 2013 Posted August 29, 2013 FUCK mustard snakes banjos!!!AND VIOLINS, SOPRANO SAXES, YAMAHA DX7'S, ACCORDIANS, VIRTUOSO R&B SINGERS...
crunchee Posted September 13, 2013 Posted September 13, 2013 Still looking? Saw this today (no affiliation):http://davesguitar.com/products/gold-tone/banjitar-recent/
MCChris Posted September 13, 2013 Posted September 13, 2013 http://www.deanguitars.com/bw6ebc.php Simply put, a ridiculous asshole:
BTMN Posted September 14, 2013 Posted September 14, 2013 /\ What does MAB have to do with my suggestion of a Dean Banjuitar? Batio has always been good people to me.
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