Re: Open-back banjo recommendation for a mandolin player?
Hi Mike, just some thoughts about your post. First thanks for mentioning Adam Hurt. Just watched some YT videos and he's very good! There is a nice video of him and Kathy Fink playing together. She plays a more traditional clawhammer style while he plays IMHO whats now called clawgrass. Kind of a hybrid between clawhammer and three finger Scruggs style. But both are playing open back banjos. Three finger Scruggs style picker typically play resonator banjos and use metal finger picks. Clawhammer players brush the strings with the back of their middle finger and use the drop thumb on the fifth string. Clawgrass, well that's a style that I'm not so sure how they play it!
Secondly please know that the mandolin and banjo are completely different instruments. (I play both, with clawhammer being my current preference. I played banjo before I took up mandolin). Aside from fretting little in common. So I'd approach purchasing a banjo as a separate entity.
That being said I say you're looking for an open back banjo. I have a Deering Goodtime Americana Artisan that has a 12" rim. I do like the more old time deeper sound. No endorsement intended here. Plenty of other great instruments out there!
Ratliff R5 2007, Capek A5 2003, Washburn M5S-SB Jethro Burns 1982, Mid-Mo M-2, Epiphone MM 30 Bk mandolins, Harmony Batwing 1970's, George Bauer bowlback early 1900's Philadelphia.
"Don't cloud the issue with facts!" Groucho Marx
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