Advice please

[infohunter]

Hi, My partner plays electric guitar. However when he listens to any piece of music with Banjo in it he grins from ear to ear and without fail every time before the record is finished he'll say 'I want a banjo'. Sooo... I think I should buy him a pressie. Any advice on what type to buy would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. xxx

[Danny]

Greetings Infohunter, welcome aboard.

If only everyone had a spouse like you (i'm sure banjo's have broken up more than 1 marriage :-) )

You can get a 6 string banjo (in effect a banjo body with a guitar neck) which is 1 way to go, but i'd recomend against it, I too started out as an electric guitarist, so I'm speaking from experiece. The true 'banjo sound' comes from the way it is tuned. For any style of banjo music you're likely to encounter by accident you're gonna need a 5 string banjo. They're funny looking beasts, 4 tuners at the top, like on a guitar, and 1 half way down the neck! Their's method in the madness tho, so stick with me.

You can get 2 basic types, 'open back' and 'resonator' or 'closed back' banjo's, (the last 2 are different names for the same thing)

Open back kinda does what it says on the tin, you get the banjo 'rim' or body but it's left open at the rear. This is my favourite kind, infact my first banjo was a closed back, and I removed the back and played it open.

The other kind is the resonator/closed back banjo. This is like an openback with a larger circular wooded dish mounted on the back to reflect the sound forwards. This is the style mostly used in bluegrass.

Open backed banjo's are cheaper (often a LOT cheaper) and they can be played the same (same tuning, string spacing etc) So I'd be inclined to go that way for a beginner.

2 good and reputable guys you can go to are www.andybanjo.com (on the kent coast) or www.eaglemusic.com (in yorkshire) Either of these guys will steer you straight (it's VERY easy to buy a BAD banjo if you don't know what you're doing, these guys specialise in banjo and are honest) 1 good brand is the 'Deering Goodtime' Eagle music will give you the best price on them, they're what's known as a 'master dealer' the one dealer prefered by the manufacturer basically. The goodtimes aren't the cheapest, but they are pretty damn good.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask any other questions and let us know what you decide on.

Welcome aboard

Danny