Possible purchase.

[julian egan]

Hi all,  i am thinking of buying another banjo so i can have one with nylon strings. As a relative newcomer to ragtime i dont know the ins and outs regarding makes and quality, could someone tell me what i would have to spend to get a good instrument and what makes are recommended please.

[marc dalmasso]

 i play on old banjos , my favorites are Clifford essex , Weymann , Windsor , SSStewart etc; i have several_natural skin or plastic white or renaissance heads  (do not use fiberskyn )_depending of the sound i want ; the scale is important , too ; impossible to play for me a difficult tune on a giant scale .

I have only one banjo to play clawhammer , an old F& C with a new renforced neck by éric Stefanelli .

You could find an excellent banjo with a decent price on ebay

old gibson & Fairbanks are over priced , for me ; but i perfectly understand some people love it a put a lot of money whane they buy one ; however , i don 't believe one minute in the Gibson ' prewar sound ..i think that today 's gibson clone ' makers have modern tools  ( X ray etc ) to control the density of a tone ring ; and pre war , they had nothing .

Last thing , i am a piano technician ; and for a long time , i have noticed some " luthier & makers rules " , ideas that have been found on strings instruments pianos , banjos , mandolins ; for instance  some similitude between a gibson F mandolin and Erard concert pianos to add sustain to the instrument . All the concert pianos ( Bosendorfer but even Steinway , Bluthner , Forster ) have   " une ceinture vibrante " ; don 't know how to say in English but the sound walk in the wood of the piano , not only in the harmony table . Just want to come to this  : a modern banjo  with the rim made of blocks of wood is contrary to basic luthier   'rules . So , buy an old one or a new from a luthier with a regular rim

[Steve Harrison]

Hi Julian, have a word with Andy Perkins from Andybanjo in Faversham..he usually has a number of what he calls his rescue banjos available. These are vintage banjos that he's rebuilt into good playable order and are quite reasonably priced. He also has a good variety of new banjos and he'd set one of those up as a classic banjo if you wished.

[julian egan]

Than Marc & Steve.