Many people who have come to me for lessons have dragged an old banjo out of the closet to learn on. In fact, I know that if I were to see 10 new students this week, 7 out of the 10 would say “I’ve had this durn banjo in the closet for 20 years an’ I figgered it’s about time to git it learnt!” Well, o.k., they may not all have that accent and that same drawl, but the message would be the same. I’ve heard this same statement many many times over the years. A fair amount of the rest of the students found an old banjo at a pawn shop or a garage sale, and they figured it would be perfect for learning on. And they are right, to some degree.
This blog post is about working with that old banjo you pulled out of the closet or picked up second hand, but before I get to the main message, I’ll throw in a disclaimer. There is nothing in the world to compare to owning a nice, high-end instrument when it comes time to take banjo lessons. Bottom-of-the-line, cheap banjos, while they can suffice, can be tough to play. A particularly bad instrument will actually stand in your way a little bit when it comes to finessing the instrument. However, having said that, all is not lost. You may want or need to stick with your low end banjo for various reasons, so read on for some pointers.
The Banjos Rule! Free Banjo Setup Guide
One of the biggest reasons that people need to stick with a low-end used banjo is budgetary. While a nice, shiny new banjo is a wonderful thing to own and a wonderful thing to behold, most quality banjos don’t come without a stiff price tag. You can get something decent to learn on in most markets for $700 to $1200, but even these numbers just aren’t do-able for some people’s budgets at the time they decide to take lessons. Or, further still, maybe the budget isn’t an issue but you aren’t sure you are going to stick with it. In that case, beginning to learn on whatever you can get your hands on is a great way to go. No need to spend thousands on something you might end up getting rid of soon anyway. Trust me, the therapy bill is huge and the public ridicule is brutal and never-ending, so you have to choose wisely when deciding to stick with the banjo. And that’s when people notice! After all, how is playing banjo and peeing in a dark suit similar? They both give you a warm feeling but nobody notices.
Alright, so you are bound and determined to stick with your used, beginner-level or low-end banjo. Now what? And why does it sound so bad? Well, there are a couple of key things that you can do to refurbish the banjo and get some new life out of it, making it sound a bit better along the way. One of the biggest considerations is strings! Many first-time pickers aren’t aware that strings have a short life, relative to your goals and how much you are playing. If you are pulling the banjo out of storage for the first time in many years, or if you know that the strings have not been changed in over a year, this should be your very first place to start. It’s amazing how different a banjo sounds when it’s re-strung for the first time in a long while. But aside from the sound, you’ll get the huge benefit of making the banjo much easier to play if you get rid of the old dead strings. Strings, as I mentioned above, have a relatively short life span, especially if you are an active picker. If you play occasionally or don’t take it real seriously, you should probably change strings a couple of times per year. If you attend jam sessions, play your banjo daily or weekly at home, join a band, etc., you’ll want to change them much more often than that for sure. Try different changing intervals to feel out what works best for you. (If you need a string outlet, be sure and visit my site and order them from my online store: www.banjosrule.com.)
Alright, see all those little brackets that run around the outside of the banjo? Those pull down on the head and keep it tight. If you push on the head and it feels mushy and you feel it give easily under your finger tips, or if you strum the banjo and the sound doesn’t ring out or carry, it’s probably time to tighten the head. This sounds hard but if you can work with very basic tools, then you can do it. Click on my maroon ad in this article or on the blog home page to download a free report that gives you some pointers on tightening the head.
Setting the bridge on the banjo is crucial!
Setting the bridge is another key element in getting your banjo to sound better. In case you weren’t aware, the bridge is not fastened down and so can be moved out of place through careless handling or bumping the instrument. Moving the bridge out of place is a problem, because in order to get your banjo to fret in tune, the bridge has to be an exact distance from the nut. This distance is different on each and every banjo. My free report available in this article or on the blog home page details some tips on setting the bridge.
Alright, these are just a few basic items which can help your banjo sound much better. Never underestimate how detailed and technical it can be to make some kinds of adjustments and repairs to your banjo. Experienced luthiers are worth their weight in gold sometimes, but some basic setup items can certainly be tackled by each banjo owner. You are not going to make your low-end instrument sound like a Gibson Mastertone, but you can definitely improve things.
Don’t hesitate to get a hold of me if you have questions…my contact info can be found on this blog or at my website: www.banjosrule.com.