Just happened to come across emerald banjos online (http://www.emeraldbanjos.co.uk/home). Was wondering if anyone knew anything about them( the banjo maker etc...) and how they sound in comparsion to the boyle/clareen banjo.
I don't have any direct knowledge of these banjos. At first glance, they look very much like they were built using either the Gold Tone kits, and maybe standard 5-star parts, from StewMac, or similar dealers.
My guess is that they build these using standard bits and pieces, and put a bit of finish on them. That's not to say that they can't be good quality instruments, but to me, they don't appear to be the same kind of hand made quality that you would find in either Tom or Dave's banjos.
My apologies to the maker if I have inappropriately jumped to conclusions here
"Emerald" is pretty new business and I think it only appropriate that some examples of the banjo themselves should be assessed before any conclusions are arrived at.
Without wishing to cast any aspersions at all, I've got one of the very earliest Clareen banjos and I'm sure that Tom would agree that his skills have improved since then. You wouldn't want to have judged him for all time based on the earliest stuff.
Everyone takes a while to get into their stride and figure out (the hard way) what works and what doesn't.
Tony Sullivan had many fine banjos made (a lot of them still in daily use) based on the StewMac rim assemblies with ready-made StewMac resonators and hand-made necks.
At the time, they were good bits of kit, reasonable value for money and about the only alternative to the Far Eastern "Masterclones" of the period - some of which were much, much worse than the current offerings.
My view would be to let Graham & his sons have a fair crack at this and see if they can come up with a decent range of instruments.
Apologies due, I think, Reverend - though not to me, be it said - in this case I am a truly unbiased observer. It's hardly in my commercial interests to promote yet another banjo seller!
I have an emerald banjo - photos here on Irish tenor banjo site http://theirishtenorbanjo.ning.com/photo/grover-3-foot-bridge/prev?context=latest
The bajo is great to play, has a fabby sound and best of all (for me at least) has a much wider neck than a Cussen (I'm a guitarist originally) tho' I suspet that won't be to everyones advantage. It gets loads of compliments about its sound - unusual for a banjo I think you'll agree.
I really HATE, HATE HATE the almost bluegrass scrolly kneck at the back. Fortunately I'm the only one who generally gets to see it so it doesn't offend too many others. I bought it just over a year ago and the ones I have seen since (on www) have not had the horrid neck. I do suspect that I bought one of their first banjos. When it arrived it wasvirtually unplayable. Took it to local shop (a banjo player himself) who sorted it out with different tailpiece and bridge etc..
If I had the money, would I buy another? Yes. Most definitely.
Sean Cannon regularly sings at a session I go to and he really likes playing my Emerald - not that he's a noted banjo player but he has got a good pair of ears!
Hope that helps. contact me for any other "punter" info.
Oh yes, its a really heavy banjo. The tone ring must be something amazing because the sustain is tremendous.
Note that in these fotos I have replaced the metal arm rest with a fantastic ebony arm rest. My vintage open backed Slingerland (for sale btw) has such a wooden armrest and that convinced me to change the Emerald's armrest. It took loads of research to eventually get it made for me in the States by a banjo fanatical furniture maker(!) Little did I realise how much the import duty etc would come to. One born every minute DOH. Before you ask. I have emailed him for others and have had no reply so he might have ceased trading.
I'm not sure that the ebony armrest adds to the looks as much as the metal one did (subjective) but is lovely to play when I'm wearing T-shirt or have sleeves rolled up.
With the greatest respect to Reverend I have played various Dave Boyle, and Clareen banjos. Both Dave and latterly Tom manufacture their own tone rings. The sound off one of these is actually no better than the tone rings used by us. There's a hundred years of technological improvement and experience which has been undertaken in America with tone rings. We use that experience. The advantage to our customers is that we're able to give them very serious choice of tone, snap, solidity, woodiness, loudness, and have serious discussions with them as to the nature of the sound they want from their banjo. We then spend lots of time tailoring that sound. I don't think that either Dave or Tom have ever made a solid ebony banjo such as the one we're currently making for a client https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=3529f6b1b7d50361&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&id=3529F6B1B7D50361%21224&sff=1#cid=3529F6B1B7D50361&id=3529F6B1B7D50361%21225
So Reverend, if you can just give us a bit more goodwill we'd appreciate it - for instance our headstock shape happens to be the simple distinctive shape we have designed to complement the look of our instruments. We made the fundamental decision to make our instruments as simple and distinctive to look at as is possible, relying on the sound and quality of our design, manufacture and customer service and recommendation from customers to sell our instruments. However hard you look you will not find a single dissatisfied EMERALD BANJOS customer. Each one has a top quality very distinctive banjo with a wonderful sound at a very reasonable price. Hope this helps a little !!
emerald banjos
emerald banjos
How Ye buckos,
Just happened to come across emerald banjos online (http://www.emeraldbanjos.co.uk/home). Was wondering if anyone knew anything about them( the banjo maker etc...) and how they sound in comparsion to the boyle/clareen banjo.
Thanks
# Posted on September 6th 2011 by Pio Ryan
Re: emerald banjos
I don't have any direct knowledge of these banjos. At first glance, they look very much like they were built using either the Gold Tone kits, and maybe standard 5-star parts, from StewMac, or similar dealers.
The headstock shapes look very much like the Gold Tone kits: http://www.goldtone.com/products/details/w/instrument/88/MC-150R-Kit-Maple-Classic
The first model has a standard Mastertone tone ring, and the arch top models look like the 5-star arch top tone ring, I think. And the flanges look like the standard Gibson copy, probably a 5-star. Like this one: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_parts/Banjo:_Pot_assemblies/Five-Star_Bluegrass_Banjo_Pot.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=663
My guess is that they build these using standard bits and pieces, and put a bit of finish on them. That's not to say that they can't be good quality instruments, but to me, they don't appear to be the same kind of hand made quality that you would find in either Tom or Dave's banjos.
My apologies to the maker if I have inappropriately jumped to conclusions here
# Posted on September 6th 2011 by Reverend
Re: emerald banjos
"Emerald" is pretty new business and I think it only appropriate that some examples of the banjo themselves should be assessed before any conclusions are arrived at.
Without wishing to cast any aspersions at all, I've got one of the very earliest Clareen banjos and I'm sure that Tom would agree that his skills have improved since then. You wouldn't want to have judged him for all time based on the earliest stuff.
Everyone takes a while to get into their stride and figure out (the hard way) what works and what doesn't.
Tony Sullivan had many fine banjos made (a lot of them still in daily use) based on the StewMac rim assemblies with ready-made StewMac resonators and hand-made necks.
At the time, they were good bits of kit, reasonable value for money and about the only alternative to the Far Eastern "Masterclones" of the period - some of which were much, much worse than the current offerings.
My view would be to let Graham & his sons have a fair crack at this and see if they can come up with a decent range of instruments.
Apologies due, I think, Reverend - though not to me, be it said - in this case I am a truly unbiased observer. It's hardly in my commercial interests to promote yet another banjo seller!
# Posted on September 7th 2011 by teetotaller
Re: emerald banjos
The more the merrier IMO
# Posted on September 8th 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: emerald banjos
I have an emerald banjo - photos here on Irish tenor banjo site
http://theirishtenorbanjo.ning.com/photo/grover-3-foot-bridge/prev?context=latest
The bajo is great to play, has a fabby sound and best of all (for me at least) has a much wider neck than a Cussen (I'm a guitarist originally) tho' I suspet that won't be to everyones advantage. It gets loads of compliments about its sound - unusual for a banjo I think you'll agree.
I really HATE, HATE HATE the almost bluegrass scrolly kneck at the back. Fortunately I'm the only one who generally gets to see it so it doesn't offend too many others. I bought it just over a year ago and the ones I have seen since (on www) have not had the horrid neck. I do suspect that I bought one of their first banjos. When it arrived it wasvirtually unplayable. Took it to local shop (a banjo player himself) who sorted it out with different tailpiece and bridge etc..
If I had the money, would I buy another? Yes. Most definitely.
Sean Cannon regularly sings at a session I go to and he really likes playing my Emerald - not that he's a noted banjo player but he has got a good pair of ears!
Hope that helps. contact me for any other "punter" info.
# Posted on September 16th 2011 by onscuba
Re: emerald banjos
and a few other fotos here
http://theirishtenorbanjo.ning.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=2olh1g6ozlt1j
Oh yes, its a really heavy banjo. The tone ring must be something amazing because the sustain is tremendous.
Note that in these fotos I have replaced the metal arm rest with a fantastic ebony arm rest. My vintage open backed Slingerland (for sale btw) has such a wooden armrest and that convinced me to change the Emerald's armrest. It took loads of research to eventually get it made for me in the States by a banjo fanatical furniture maker(!) Little did I realise how much the import duty etc would come to. One born every minute DOH. Before you ask. I have emailed him for others and have had no reply so he might have ceased trading.
I'm not sure that the ebony armrest adds to the looks as much as the metal one did (subjective) but is lovely to play when I'm wearing T-shirt or have sleeves rolled up.
# Posted on September 16th 2011 by onscuba
Re: emerald banjos
With the greatest respect to Reverend I have played various Dave Boyle, and Clareen banjos. Both Dave and latterly Tom manufacture their own tone rings. The sound off one of these is actually no better than the tone rings used by us. There's a hundred years of technological improvement and experience which has been undertaken in America with tone rings. We use that experience. The advantage to our customers is that we're able to give them very serious choice of tone, snap, solidity, woodiness, loudness, and have serious discussions with them as to the nature of the sound they want from their banjo. We then spend lots of time tailoring that sound. I don't think that either Dave or Tom have ever made a solid ebony banjo such as the one we're currently making for a client https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=3529f6b1b7d50361&Bsrc=Photomail&Bpub=SDX.Photos&id=3529F6B1B7D50361%21224&sff=1#cid=3529F6B1B7D50361&id=3529F6B1B7D50361%21225
So Reverend, if you can just give us a bit more goodwill we'd appreciate it - for instance our headstock shape happens to be the simple distinctive shape we have designed to complement the look of our instruments. We made the fundamental decision to make our instruments as simple and distinctive to look at as is possible, relying on the sound and quality of our design, manufacture and customer service and recommendation from customers to sell our instruments. However hard you look you will not find a single dissatisfied EMERALD BANJOS customer. Each one has a top quality very distinctive banjo with a wonderful sound at a very reasonable price. Hope this helps a little !!
# Posted on November 26th 2011 by banjograham