To be honest I'm no expert on banjo's but if I was buying an instrument i would never do it on line. There is nothing better than actually viewing the piece first. Even if you dont know exactly what your looking for
On the plus side however, it seems like a good price and the sellers rating is pretty solid too. could be worth the gamble.
As I said above I'm no expert on banjo's so is there a reason why you cant buy a standard banjo and restring it like a left handed guitarist would. Im sure the hand rest could be moved to suit.
While the price is probably fair for this banjo, the quality will leave a lot to be desired. I have owned several aluminum rimmed banjos and they were uniformily tinny in sound and could not be tweaked. I prefer a wood rimmed instrument.
Go to Andy Perkins's site (http://www.andybanjo.com) and choose one of the wood rimmed Chinese banjos. Andy will set it up for you to play left handed (all that needs to be done is to work on the nut (not the one behind the banjo, but the one on the headstock) and change the armrest. Andy will also answer all of your questions which the ebay operator will not do, I suspect.
Im a leftie too. I went through the whole rigmarole of getting a decent banjo. For that type, i would not pay more (and probably not even) €100. it'll help you get on the road and see if u like the banjo and can play it. But, if you have any inkling of continuing, get rid and buy a decent one.... and don't settle for a simple string swap. Make sure it's a proper conversion - the nut and all - because otherwise it will be rubbish, wuite simply.
100 euros for a banjo will only get you on the road to frustration. Allways allways buy the best instrument you can afford. There are so many poor instruments of all kinds floating around that will only serve to frustarate you.If you invest in a good qulity instrument you are sure to be able to sell it on for a good price if you dont like it especially if you bought it second hand. And yes andy has some good stock but some of it is also quite basic.nice bloke though.
I realize that that is a matter of taste and that there are no sound standards the way there is in bluegrass, but I have not been able to change the sound on an aluminum one piece rim banjo very much.
There are a lot of things you can go do a banjo to get a sound that you want, change head, bridge, tailpiece, strings, picks; you can alter the tension of the head; you can clean up the varnish on the rim and get a wood to tone ring contact; you can take a little wood off the rim to make sure that the rim just barely stays on, etc. But it is hard to change the tinny sound of aluminium <G>
Also, you usually get what you pay for in terms of sound and playability.
It shouldn't be difficult to convert just about any banjo to left-handed.
The steps would be:
• Move the armrest (if it has one). Most armrests are attached to the brackets somehow, and can be removed and re-attached on the other side. (There are exceptions to that, some armrests are mounted to the rim or the tension ring, and those wouldn't be as easily moved)
• Flip the nut. (The place where the strings rest up by the tuners). Many nuts are only held into place with string tension, and if you remove the strings, you can work the nut out and flip it over. There might be situations where the nut is glued in, or angled in a way that wouldn't work flipped. But any luthier would be able to help you replace the nut.
• Flip the bridge - the easiest part of all!
Or you could just pull a Jimmy Hendrix and play it upside down
banjo question
banjo question
i may be in the wrong area, apologies if i am but i'm new to this. i am a beginner and wish to purchase a left handed tenor banjo. i found this one on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.ie/4-String-Left-Handed-Tenor-Banjo_W0QQitemZ130035332132QQihZ003QQcategoryZ10177QQcmdZViewItem) and wondered what any knowledgeable people would think about the price and quality of it. any other advice would be welcome.
thanks
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by Zimmy
Re: banjo question
Fáilte go dtí an session Zimmy.
To be honest I'm no expert on banjo's but if I was buying an instrument i would never do it on line. There is nothing better than actually viewing the piece first. Even if you dont know exactly what your looking for
On the plus side however, it seems like a good price and the sellers rating is pretty solid too. could be worth the gamble.
As I said above I'm no expert on banjo's so is there a reason why you cant buy a standard banjo and restring it like a left handed guitarist would. Im sure the hand rest could be moved to suit.
John B
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by session savage
Re: banjo question
Zimmy,
While the price is probably fair for this banjo, the quality will leave a lot to be desired. I have owned several aluminum rimmed banjos and they were uniformily tinny in sound and could not be tweaked. I prefer a wood rimmed instrument.
Go to Andy Perkins's site (http://www.andybanjo.com) and choose one of the wood rimmed Chinese banjos. Andy will set it up for you to play left handed (all that needs to be done is to work on the nut (not the one behind the banjo, but the one on the headstock) and change the armrest. Andy will also answer all of your questions which the ebay operator will not do, I suspect.
Mike Keyes
http://www.banjosessions.com
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by mikeyes
Re: banjo question
Im a leftie too. I went through the whole rigmarole of getting a decent banjo. For that type, i would not pay more (and probably not even) €100. it'll help you get on the road and see if u like the banjo and can play it. But, if you have any inkling of continuing, get rid and buy a decent one.... and don't settle for a simple string swap. Make sure it's a proper conversion - the nut and all - because otherwise it will be rubbish, wuite simply.
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by copo24
Re: banjo question
that's 'quite'
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by copo24
Re: banjo question
100 euros for a banjo will only get you on the road to frustration. Allways allways buy the best instrument you can afford. There are so many poor instruments of all kinds floating around that will only serve to frustarate you.If you invest in a good qulity instrument you are sure to be able to sell it on for a good price if you dont like it especially if you bought it second hand. And yes andy has some good stock but some of it is also quite basic.nice bloke though.
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by Newty
Re: banjo question
That banjo on EBay is pure rubbish, don't waste your money on a rubbish banjo , save and buy a good one
# Posted on October 20th 2006 by Red Robin
Re: banjo question
A question for Mike
what is it about the tin-pot banjos that can't be tweaked?
# Posted on October 21st 2006 by millionyears_bc
Re: banjo question
Mostly the tone.
I realize that that is a matter of taste and that there are no sound standards the way there is in bluegrass, but I have not been able to change the sound on an aluminum one piece rim banjo very much.
There are a lot of things you can go do a banjo to get a sound that you want, change head, bridge, tailpiece, strings, picks; you can alter the tension of the head; you can clean up the varnish on the rim and get a wood to tone ring contact; you can take a little wood off the rim to make sure that the rim just barely stays on, etc. But it is hard to change the tinny sound of aluminium <G>
Also, you usually get what you pay for in terms of sound and playability.
Mike Keyes
http://www.banjosessions.com
# Posted on October 22nd 2006 by mikeyes
Re: banjo question
The Ode Muse aluminium rim tenor is a lovely banjo
# Posted on October 22nd 2006 by Red Robin
Re: banjo question
I started with a aluminium rimmed banjo. It was not too long until I bought a banjo with a wooden rim.
http://www.eaglemusicshop.com
# Posted on October 22nd 2006 by Torsten
Re: banjo question
It shouldn't be difficult to convert just about any banjo to left-handed.
The steps would be:
• Move the armrest (if it has one). Most armrests are attached to the brackets somehow, and can be removed and re-attached on the other side. (There are exceptions to that, some armrests are mounted to the rim or the tension ring, and those wouldn't be as easily moved)
• Flip the nut. (The place where the strings rest up by the tuners). Many nuts are only held into place with string tension, and if you remove the strings, you can work the nut out and flip it over. There might be situations where the nut is glued in, or angled in a way that wouldn't work flipped. But any luthier would be able to help you replace the nut.
• Flip the bridge - the easiest part of all!
Or you could just pull a Jimmy Hendrix and play it upside down
Pete
# Posted on October 22nd 2006 by Reverend
Re: banjo question
Thanks a lot everybody, food for thought. i have a lot to learn.
Cheers
# Posted on October 22nd 2006 by Zimmy