Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo

Subject: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 05:12 PM

I am looking for a reasonably priced 5 string Banjo, I've never played one but always loved the sound. I like Derroll Adams, Hedy West type stuff, probably too old for the Flatt & Scruggs fast stuff. Can anybody recommend a good tutor and/or advise me on what to pay and what to look for in what is a totally unknown field. Thanks in advance I know that Mudcat will come through with the solutions like always.

Jock

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: Auxiris
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 04:28 AM

Hi, Jock. Unless you absolutely have your heart set on a long neck 5 string, first off I'd recommend that you purchase a standard length neck banjo. Most of the folks I know who have long neck models end up using capos all the time and I have heard that there are more problems with neck warping. As far as a decent banjo tutor, there's Ken Perlman's book entitled "Clawhammer Style Banjo" which is for both beginning and advanced banjo players. There are also two videos available that cover the same material as the book (ugly videos I must admit, but the explanations are very clear and will have you playing in no time). I'm afraid I can't really help you as far as what to pay for an instrument, as I've been living in France for the last fifteen years and banjos are fabulously expensive over here (?). I've no idea what the going price for a good instrument would be now, though I'm sure some of the other kind folks here at Mudcat can steer you in the right direction. I can suggest that if you happen to live anywhere near Elderly Instruments (Lansing Michigan), you might swing by there and see what they have to offer in the way of secondhand instruments or consult their on-line site at http://www.elderly.com/welcome.htm (sorry, I don't know how to do a blue clicky) One last word: if I were you, I'd avoid banjos with a natural skin head—unless you're a purist—because of difficulties with tension when the weather changes. There are now banjo heads (Fyberskin, or is it Fiberskyn?) that provide the "softer" sound preferred by most old-time and clawhammer players. Happy hunting!

cheers,

Aux

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From:
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 05:42 AM

i´m a clawhammer player who owns and plays a long neced banjo.the advantage of a long neck is that you can learn songs in the key of g but if there too high for you to sing you can drop it down to e.it´s true that most of the time i have it capoed,but for those few songs that i can´t sing in g it comes in handy.as for price rangs,well you get what you pay for.you can get new banjos at at least 500$ for anything worthwhile(unlees you find a great deal)but since it´s a matter of supply and demand banjos are more expensive than guitars,and you´d have to pay more around 1000$ for a good banjo and that´s with no extra frills.check out the web sites of deering,ome,wildwood,ramsey or elderly instments for styles and prices.deering has a good cheap starter banjo.also check out www.clawhammer.com for like minded links,the net has many available resources that were never around when i started playing,but remember the only way to learn is to listen and then practice.soon you´ll be bump-ditty-ing with the rest of us.happy frails.terryjoe

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: DonMeixner
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 08:00 AM

The long neck is often a love hate thing for me. Because I play in an Irish music band that is basically The Clancy Brothers with drums the visual appeal of the long neck is nice to have. Mine is an Ode from Boulder Colorado and was made around 1960. When I bought it it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up $225.00 for a banjo easily worth 4x's tht money. It plays beautifully and the neck is true.

The down side is it weights a ton. The long neck was not meant for saloon work. I have turn around while playing and upon turning back cleared the full glasses off a passing waitresses delivery tray. Dented microphones, poked our other guitarist in the ear. It was very hard to get a new case for it for years, now Elderly has them.

But the real problem for me is Vega Long Neck Banjo strings are either no longer being made or not available in my area anymore. I have to use GHS Mediums. The guages aren't the same and almost no one keeps banjo strings in bulk so I can mix and match. It is also my opinion that GHS strings are just awful. For me they last one job and then they are dead. They have the tonal quality of chicken wire. The only pluses they have is they come in the proper length and they are reasonably priced.

I'd buy the Ode again all things being equal but if I had to choose between the Ode and a Whyte Laydie or Deering for the same money, the long neck would be still on the shelf.

Lastly, eyes closed in the same room you couldn't tell the difference between long and shortneck 5's when played by someone else unless you had long experience with one or the other of them.

Don

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 08:17 AM

Unless you're a Kingston Trio wannabe you probably don't need the long neck. I recommend the Deering Goodtime open back banjo and a copy of the Pete Seeger book.

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 02:45 PM

I live in the good old UK, but I'm heading over to the US in September, NH/ME/VT and NY state, so was hoping for some pointers in those areas re. music shops etc.

Jock

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 03:08 PM

Elderly IS probably the best banjo site. You can buy banjos for less than $500 and get a nice one. The long neck banjo is problamatic, certainly. If you need to "down" tune your banjo, a long neck isn't important. Buy MIKE Seger's CD "Southern Banjo Sounds" he presents quite a few tunings and has some good info about the playing. I found Pete Seeger's book to be confusing but that was way back when I was easily confused. Bill Ross solved it all for me when he said (literally in passing) "Naw, Tom, it's BUMP-titty." I've frailed like a champ ever since.

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 04:07 PM

If you find youself in Maine, we have a very good music store here in Portland.

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 04:12 PM

Giok, I'm looking for a banjo, too(not a long neck)- I'll see what's around here and we can go shopping together!

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 27 Aug 01 - 11:40 AM

The point of the extra frets on a long-neck is so that you can sing in a little lower key on occasion. That was Pete Seeger's reason for designing a long-neck banjo, and it remains the only operational reason, as far as I can see. It is normal to keep it on capo most of the time, moving or removing the capo only when you need to sing lower. Of course if you don't sing there's no particular reason to have a long neck.

When I had Mike Ramsey build my banjo I at first wanted a long neck. He recommended that instead I get a regular banjo, string it with heavy strings, and tune it two half-steps lower than normal, then capo two half-steps up to bring its capo'd key to "normal". I followed his advice, had a "normal" banjo built. However, I found I intensely disliked the heavy-weight strings; it's like playing bridge-cables. So I changed back to mediums.

I don't regret not having the long neck, though. I find that I can deal with keys very nicely with the capo, capo'ing sometimes as high as the seventh fret.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Help: 5 String Long Neck Banjo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 27 Aug 01 - 01:30 PM

Right; one thing I've found out is that I don't want a long neck banjo anymore, just an ordinary neck. This is why I asked you guys out there; having such a large pool of knowledge available on my desk-top is wonderful. Thanks for the advice keep it coming.

Jock