Banjo Buying?

Music4life

Hello Fellow Boardies!

I'm looking to buy a fairly low Budget banjo and would love a bit of advice. I'm an advanced guitar going switch it up a bit. I've been looking on Thomann.de My budgets under €300. I know I'm not going to get anything amazing but a bit a advice might make a difference.


I reckon I'd be better off with an open back. Just for the reasons of it's lighter to travel around with and also maybe easier to practice on?

Got a few links my some interests.

http://www.thomann.de/ie/fender_fb54.htm
http://www.thomann.de/ie/epiphone_mb100.htm
http://www.thomann.de/ie/gretsch_g9450_dixie_5_banjo.htm
http://www.thomann.de/ie/fender_rustler_open_back_banjo.htm

Looking to learn a few different techniques e.g. "The Clawhammer"
Just want to learn some Trad and Some Bluegrass styles.
I presume one of the Fenders is better quality. I've been completely hooked on getting one since I saw Finbar Fury rock a tune out on "The Saturday night live show"

Any advice would will help.

Cheers
Stephen

martinedwards

get onto ebay.

used banjos are 50c a dozen

tenor and 5 string

studiorat

That Fender's a nightmare to keep in tune. Irish trad is on a tenor banjo, Finbar kinda does his own thiing on a 5 - string much like Luke Kelly did or Patsy Watchorn does these days.

For claw hammer (American old time style) an open back is better IMO. For bluegrass you'd need a resonator backed job like the fender. Also for claw hammer often players strum nearer to the centre of the strings, it's a fuller tone than playing at the bridge. Therefore a lot of decent open back banjos will have a frailing scoop where the bottom frets are removed to make playing like this easier.

https://www.goldtone.com/products/details/w/instrument/343/MM-150LN-Long-Neck


I've a Goldtone long neck banjo, I swapped it for a Dobro so I'm not sure how much it cost. Probably around €350 or so. Waltons have a couple I think.
Deering is a really good banjo make, you could also look at McBrides for decent economy jobs.

Then you need to figure out what tuning you'll want to use. I generally use G and G Sawmill tuning but I'm crap. But there's also D (Graveyard) tuning.

D - Tuning.

Anyway here's my internet banjo teacher a gentleman and all round legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5BqNSh_Lno

Once you get the clawhammer thing down you just get that 1,000 yard stare that banjo players get and off you go! See 1'03" on the video!!!

Music4life

Thank you studiorat!

Lucky enough one of my friends is leaving me borrow his four string tenor banjo. So I'll have to figure out a few Trad Pieces to learn for it.

That guy giving the Clawhammer video lesson is unreal. Definitely going to try picking up on some of his stuff. Frailing and the Clawhammer Seem Tricky enough. I'll probably have to wait until I get a 5 String. It doesn't seem like I could learn that on a 4 string could I?


Cheers

Stephen

sarkozy

If you're going to frail or clawhammer, you need a 5-string.

Music4life

Definitely going to buy a 5 String. I don't think Walton's stocks Goldtones anymore according to there Website. http://www.waltons.ie/Product/Search.aspx?search=banjo&mid=&searchMid=&cid=&searchCid=&min=&max=&sort=price&dir=asc&page=5

xMusic might have a better Collection, I'm heading to Dublin to see what I can find.

parttime

Music4life wrote: »

Definitely going to buy a 5 String. I don't think Walton's stocks Goldtones anymore according to there Website. http://www.waltons.ie/Product/Search.aspx?search=banjo&mid=&searchMid=&cid=&searchCid=&min=&max=&sort=price&dir=asc&page=5

xMusic might have a better Collection, I'm heading to Dublin to see what I can find.

Ya I know its an old thread , but if you haven't bought anything you should try andybanjo. He is in kent but postage is very reasonable. I got a grafton gem , and its just lovely 195 sterling. Lots of sound clips on youtube. I have no affiliation with these guys, just helpin out. Keep on pickin'! Also Mr Furey surely did rock on that tune, Brendan Oconnor didn't know what was happening.

Music4life

Was just thinking about this funny enough. Your on about these guys I presume. http://andybanjo.com/ Ya I still havent got a 5 string. Parents just dont see the difference between a four and a 5 string. Yes I'd love to get Mr. Fureys song up on youtube. Mental stuff altogether. Thanks for the reply parttime. I'll check it out now.

Music4life

This site looks great. I think I would go for an open back banjo just because its lighter and maybe easier to play. http://www.andybanjo.com/trolleyed/4/39/index.htm The one for £150 is out of stock. Any recommendations? THese goldtones look nice too http://www.andybanjo.com/trolleyed/4/36/index.htm A bit more money but i'd consider it if there worth it.

parttime

Music4life wrote: »

This site looks great. I think I would go for an open back banjo just because its lighter and maybe easier to play. http://www.andybanjo.com/trolleyed/4/39/index.htm The one for £150 is out of stock. Any recommendations? THese goldtones look nice too http://www.andybanjo.com/trolleyed/4/36/index.htm A bit more money but i'd consider it if there worth it.

Got the grafton gem, with a frailing scoop, set up for clawhammer. Its really a lovely instrument . Just had to set up the bridge and ready to go. 38 years old and its my first musical adventure. Currently considering buiyng a fiddle. Can also highly recommend the banjo hangout as a fantastic free resource. Lots of good free tutorials around on youtube as well. And rocketsciencebanjo another great rescource. Keep on pickin!

Music4life

Cheers thank you