getting another banjo finally!!

  1. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Below is a link to photos of a soon to be mine Bacon & Day Silver Bell #1 tenor banjo! It's a Hurricane Katrina survivor that has been brought back from the brink and amazingly restored by Vinnie Mondello. It'll be a few months yet before it's in my possession as I'm making payments on it, but I'm super excited about having a banjo again!

    Hurricane Katrina survivor Bacon & Day Silver Bell #1 tenor banjo
  2. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    That is a major undertaking, Jill. What a great project to be involved in, and I am looking forward to hearing you playing it in the near future. I am really enjoying having my Vega tenor and have even managed to convince some of my fellow players in the band that it can be an asset when played sympathetically - gives a real lift to a lot of the Scottish tunes we play and works well with the accordion. Hope it's not too long till you have the Silver Bell in your possession.
  3. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    I can't wait to be playing it! I've always been a fan of B&D Silver Bells and this one has the added bonus of such an amazing story attached to it - Vin has actually stamped "Hurricane Katrina Survivor" on the dowel stick for posterity!
  4. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    The Silver Bell is here! Just played it for about an hour and it is the absolute business! Vinnie did an amazing job bringing this banjo back to life. If I get a chance this weekend (and my upstairs neighbor is not home!) I'll record a few videos with it!
  5. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Looking forward to your banjofest, Jill. Upstairs neighbours? How could anyone not enjoy hearing the banjo when it is well played! When my wife goes out I usually get the banjo and have a few tunes - no upstairs neighbours.

    Have great times with it and set some parameters for the rest of us to aspire to.
  6. Ten_or_Fifths
    Ten_or_Fifths
    I can't wait to see it in action. That's a really great banjo!
  7. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    That's a great-looking banjo, Jill. Just saw the pictures at the top of the group here. Looking forward to hearing it soon.
  8. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Here's a quick sound clip - it's a bit rough as I only had a short window of time to play/record without the banjo mute on - had to wait til I knew me upstairs neighbor had gone out!

    The Mist Covered Mountain (jig)
  9. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Great sound, Jill, and the triplets are already sounding good even though you say you are adapting to the longer scale length. That site you have the music clips on looks good as a means of getting mp3s to the world at large. I must look into it - often just want to post the tune without the video stuff but have not yet signed up to MySpace or any other of the relevant sites.
    Congratulations again!
  10. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Cheers John, thanks for the kind words! The soundcloud site is pretty good because it doesn't have a lot of annoying pop up ads like Myspace does, and so far it's been pretty straightforward as regards uploading tunes.
  11. catmandu2
    catmandu2
    Very nice Jill. I would love to acquire such a lovely banjo.

    I recently traded away my Bacon C 17-fret. It was set up for GDAE and I just couldn't get on with it. I'm so used to CGDA tenor that I just capo up or grab a CBOM to play tunes.
  12. Shelagh Moore
    Shelagh Moore
    I've played TB for some time and have just received a very sound all-original (including case) 1922 short-scale (17 fret) Fairbanks-Vega Whyte Laydie R model in part-exchange for a mandolin I no longer use. Can post up pictures if anybody is interested to see.
  13. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Go for it , Richard! We are in this particular group because of our interest in the TB and it's always good to see someone else's pride and joy. Maybe even put in a link to some sounds from it?
  14. mikeyes
    mikeyes
    All I can say is that Vinnie is the man! Your banjo was a total loss and now it sounds great. He will be working on an Epi A for me pretty soon that came to me in two paper bags. I have the highest hopes for recovery
  15. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Vinnie is the salt of the earth, what a great guy! Looking forward to seeing the progress of your Epi A, Mike!

    And Richard, do post photos of your Fairbanks Vega please!!
  16. Shelagh Moore
    Shelagh Moore
    Will do Jill and John! I was cleaning and adjusting it over the weekend and it has come up rather nicely. I'll hopefully also do a sound clip shortly.
  17. zookster
    zookster
    After reading Jill's posts I decided to pursue getting a Silver Bell. Bought a 1924 17 fret from Intermountain in Salt Lake City. I had found a couple others (Bernunzio) but they got snapped up before I was ready. Got it set up last night and the tone is really amazing. It certainly has the ring, and with a 22" scale, is just right for me. Had to do some restoration on the case, but all the banjo needed was a new set of strings. I've got it set up in Irish tuning. A very nice contrast to my Paramount Style C. The Paramount neck is a little faster and slinkier, and the fiberskin head gives it a tad more bass. But overall, I've got a new main banjo to play. I get to try it out with the band this weekend.

    Sorry to see that Jill is selling her banjo. Absolutely stellar job by Vinnie.
  18. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Congrats on that Silver Bell zookster - it's that 22" scale that forced my hand as regards selling mine. I've played a few tenors recently with 19 3/4 scale or 20" scale and couldn't believe how much easier it was for me to get around on them. The Silver Bell has found a good home though and now I'm waiting for a luthier I know to finish fixing up an old Lange made "Triple X" 17 fret with a close fitting resonator. Scale on it is 20" and when you combine that with the close fitting resonator I think that it's going to suit me to a tee - I played an awesome old Triple X exactly like it a few years ago at Clareen Banjos and it was the absolute business. So much so that I agonized over whether or not to buy it. At the time I had a lovely 1920 Stromberg 17 fret open back and was about to move to the States so couldn't really justify having 2 tenor banjos. If the one getting fixed up now is anywhere near as nice as the one I played back home then I reckon it'll be a keeper for sure!
  19. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Managed to pick up a Fairbanks-Vega Style M Tubaphone for cheap - it's one of the small pot ones, 10 3/4 inches, I'm guessing age to be about 1918 ish, can't make out the serial number so just going on info from some Vega links I found over at the Irish Tenor Banjo site. It still has the old friction tuners on it - such a pain! I just put heavier strings on it as the previous owner had super light and floppy ones on it - the heavy ones are actually holding tune better, but I still see planetary tuners in it's near future! I'll try to get some photos of it at some stage, but probably won't record any vids or mp3's til I get the new tuners on it as it's so tough to get it perfectly tuned with the friction tuners. Still probably going to take look at the Triple X as well when it's ready, as the Style M was so affordable that I'll still be able to go for the Triple X if I want to. Just spent 2 hours playing the Style M and loved every minute of it!
  20. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Well, not surprisingly, the Lange made Triple X made it home with me. It was kind of meant to be as several years ago I played one at my pal Tom Cussen's shop back home and always kicked meself for not buying it! This will be my "back up" banjo - it's a 21 inch scale length vs. my Style M's 20 inch scale length, which is perfect for me. The Triple X is still comfortable to play, and has a different sound to the Style M what with it having a close fitting resonator, different tone ring and of course Renaissance head and purpleheart bridge, oh and it's an 11 inch pot as well. I've uploaded some photos of it for your enjoyment!
  21. John Kelly
    John Kelly
    Two great-looking instruments there, Jill. The scale difference is so important in feeling comfortable with your playing. I have a friend and band colleague who suffers from arthritic hands who got me to build him an octave having played mine with its 540mm scale but he asked me to build with a 520 scale - less than an inch difference but he feels much more at home on the shorter scale.
  22. mikeyes
    mikeyes
    Jill,

    In general you can't go wrong with a Lange made banjo even if the neck breaks at the heel (a common occurence with his designs) as they are easy to fix. I have several Langstile banjos including what is basically a Triple X with a different name on it - Langstile Deluxe. Lange was a genius banjo maker but was also a good business man who tried to make a buck whenever he could.

    Vega banjos are in the same class - every model from the most basic to the most fancy was well made with a great rim. Add Bacon and Weymann to that list and you know which banjos to buy on the net. Paramount is not on the list because it is a Lange banjo as is the Orpheum and a host of private labels. The clue is to look at the hooks and nuts which are distinctive.

    I'm glad to see you are back in business. BTW, Vin will soon have an Epi A for sale at a decent price in case you want to upgrade

    Mike
  23. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Ah, interesting to know about the neck breaking at the heel being common amongst his banjos - I had always heard about that being something to look out for with Paramounts, but of course wasn't taking into account that they were a Lange banjo, so just thought it was something peculiar to them. Is there a reason that the heels were vulnerable on his banjos?
  24. mikeyes
    mikeyes
    Jill,

    I think the heel breakage has to do with his heel design which seems to coincide with the grain of the wood.

    The Brian McGrath class at Zoukfest was great. I will have videos up pretty soon. It turns out that he rarely does these workshops and yet he was a great teacher and a font of knowledge about the banjo and banjo players - he knows and plays with a lot of them. Sorry you could not make it.

    Mike
  25. Jill McAuley
    Jill McAuley
    Glad to hear it was such a good workshop - I look forward to seeing some of the videos from it!
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