Tenor Banjo or Mandobanjo?

[Martin Whitehead]

Now, anybody wanna gimme $389?

BTW, I'll let you claim me as a dependent on your tax return.

Can you tell I'm bored at work today?

[bmac]

I would not worry about the lack of a metal tone ring on a Deering Goodtime tenor banjo. The Goodtime is a very well built (American made) instrument. If you are worried about used Ebay instruments I would highly recommend the Goodtime. We had the dealer play a Goodime tenor banjo and the next more expensive Deering with metal tone ring... I could not hear the tonal difference... Maybe a little louder with tone ring but not very much much. My wife and I regard it as a fine first banjo. They show up used on ebay fairly often and usually sell around $275 up, if I recall. I believe the Goodtime Tenor from a few years ago with a different style headstock is often a better deal uded or on eBay... Apparently the headstock design was not popular so they changed it a couple years ago and these early ones sell for a bit less on ebay, but they are quality istruments.

By the way... I don't think there is a new case sold for a Goodtime Tenor.... The dealer will sell you a case for a five string if you want one.

I have purchased two no-name tenors on eBay. Both had missing parts, needed a new skin head, and needed adjustment badly. They were, however, easy to repair and I would not hesitate to buy one if the neck is straight, the frets decent, fretboard OK, and only a few hooks are missing. Both of mine cost roughly $100 each for purchase and shipping and roughly $30 more in parts and head. My No-name with metal resonater back is a wonderful sounding tenor. I'm not sure the back adds much in tone but it sure looks like a really nice hot rod hubcap.

[bmac]

Just for additional info on the Deering Goodtime tenor banjo price... The manufacturers suggested retail price of $499.00 is a meaningless figure because retailers sell them at whatever price they can make a profit. They come in various configurations but the least expensive Goodtime cost my wife $375 plus tax in New York State in April of this year.

[Tim2723]

Here's my review of the Goldtone TS-250 I've been playing for a couple of years now. Great banjo for the money.

http://www.banjohangout.org/reviews/...414&redir=true

In my experience, a $500 'vintage' banjo is one that needs $1000 to get it working. I've yet to meet a banjo that improved with age like a guitar or mandolin. They are mechanical beasties that just wear out and need all the important parts replaced. The good news is of course that you can tinker around with all the really important parts and get a huge variety of tones, as long as the basic instrument is mechanically sound. Just my opinion, YMMV, etc.

[epicentre]

Check out this youtube of Dennis Pash and Meridith Axelrod: That's what a mandobanjo sounds like...........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C88o2lHeGw

Strongly rec. a 17 fret tenor banjo strung .12 .16 .24 .36........EADG........Irish tenor tuning.

Lots of them floating around on e.bay. under $500.00.

Ask a bunch of questions and be sure you get the seller to say the neck is straight..........then print that.

Pay with paypal and get it insured. Cain't trust nobody.

Good luck

I'm thinking of a second instrument. I'm debating between the Gold Tone MB-850 mandobanjo, the MB-850+ and the the Gold Tone Cripple Creek tenor banjo (I'd really like the IT-250F tenor from Gold Tone, but it's more than 2x the price of the CC).

I'd like to know if anyone has compared the MB-850 and the MB-850+. The 850 seems to have a more substantial tone ring, but GT's website says the 850+ is louder.

I play an assortment of fiddle tunes, Celtic, old-time and bluegrass. I'm not stuck on Gold Tone, but I am in the under $500 range.

Thoughts and suggestions oh wise ones?

[bmac]

Here's a Deering Goodtime in new condition... very good Buy it Now price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=180538065490

[catmandu2]

Here's a Deering Goodtime in new condition... very good Buy it Now price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=180538065490

Looks like it lacks an adjustable truss rod.

[bmac]

"Looks like it lacks an adjustable truss rod."

This Deering Goodtime does not have a truss rod in the neck. That may not be much of an issue on these relatively short neck tenors. The Deering has a warentee of six years.

[8ch(pl)]

I have a Vega ranger tenor, 1969. it is a nice sounding instrument. it has no tonering.

[Martin Whitehead]

Thanks for all the responses folks! This discussion has been a lot of help to me.

[Mike Snyder]

Be aware that the older Goodtimes have VERY basic tuners, like the ebay banjo recently posted. The more recent ones, besides a nicer shape to the headstock, have upgraded tuners. The older ones were identical to StuMac econo tuners. I really like the Goodtime 17 fret, hope to own one someday. Perfect for old-time and adequate for ITM. The neck is one piece maple without a fretboard or trussrod. Pretty low tension on a tenor, should not be a problem. If it is, call Deering. Trouble with a GT, call China.

[bmac]

I wouldn't worry much about the older Goodtime tuners being cheapies... I use them on several of my restored instruments and they work fine. More expensive ones may be prettier but these do the job just as well.

Regarding tone rings... All metal rod tone rings are rolled (using rollers) to a round shape and the joint is welded or brazed.. The Deering catalogue shows quite a variety of more sophisticated tone rings at quite a variety of prices (high).

[catmandu2]

Pretty low tension on a tenor, should not be a problem.

True for standard CGDA tenor. But some folks who tune GDAE like much higher tension strings. But yes, for a bare-bones, economy instrument, dismissing an adjustable truss rod keeps production costs down.

[Rick Cadger]

Some of the Gold Tone tenors are very nice. I had an IT 250 that was a cracking tenor. I stupidly sold it to a friend in order to fund a mandolin. Wish I still had it.

I don't recommend the CC-IT. I had one of those too, and by comparison it is not a serious banjo at all. Big difference in quality between the CC-IT and the IT 250 and similar.

Not a fan of Deering tenors, personally. I've played a couple and didn't feel at all envious. Nothing wrong with them, but for me they seemed to lack character.

I'm currently playing an Andy Perkins Grafton Pop #2. It's nice enough for an inexpensive banjo, but not as good as my old Gold Tone.

[8ch(pl)]

My Vega Style K has a rolled steel rod for a Tone Ring. The High end Vegas, Whyte-Layde and Tu-ba-phone had cast and machined tone rings made of "Bell Bronze". Brass rod, rolled into a circle and with the ends brazed together, would probably be OK.

[Tim2723]

If you do go with the Irish tuning (GDAE) be prepared to do quite a lot of research and experimenting with the low G string. That string is at about the lowest tension a banjo can be reliably tuned to. Getting a solid tone from the low G is one of the most prevalent topics on the Irish banjo forums. Took me a couple of months to find something I liked.

[bmac]

"If you do go with the Irish tuning (GDAE) be prepared to do quite a lot of research and experimenting with the low G string."

That is interesting... I thought I was the only one to have trouble with the G atring, It bends so easily that i sometimes have difficulty keeping the note really clean.

[Tim2723]

It can often be so near the low limit for the instrument that even just tuning is a major challenge. Short scale instruments seem to be even more troublesome. I play a 19 fret banjo and have had my share of work.

[catmandu2]

Received an email this morning--here's a nice old 19 fret TB selling for a reasonable price ($299): http://bernunzio.com/products/1015140


Personally, I would do this over a GT CC or Goodtime. NFI

[John Flynn]

I added a vintage tenor to my collection about a year ago. It needed work and it took me about 6 months to get around to fixing it up, but I am glad I did. Now it's my most-played instrument, I'm having a blast with it. I play Irish on it, also old-time. I have a ton of respect for people can play mando-banjo well, like my former instructor Curtis Buckhannon and Dennis Pash in your own Kansas City area, but I have to say it seems to be a much more limited instrument than a tenor.

But as others have alluded to, you are still not out of the woods deciding just "tenor." You have 17-frets, 19-frets and even 22-frets, which some will sniff are not tenors, but "plectrums," and now we also have cello banjos, which may not technically be tenors, but are in the family somewhere. Those are way cool, BTW, but I think also limited. Then you have to make an initial choice of GDAE, CGDA, or I ran across a local instructor who only teaches GDAD tenor. You also have resonator versus non-resonator.

BTW, there is a great site that is becoming the "cafe" for this, called "The Irish Tenor Banjo" although they discuss a few other things than just Irish. Great group, check it out. A humorous digression I just have to share: Someone on that site described the two extremes in banjo tone: 1) Warm and mellow, 2) Helicopter Gunship Attack! I think this could definitely also apply to bluegrass! End of digression.

Having just gone through this decision and playing what I play, my recommendation is go 17-fret, GDAE, because you will be able to transfer the max from the mandolin. Then branch out later. Also, don't agonize over your first instrument. Get something "competent" you can afford, then decide what you want to do long term and trade the first one in or keep it as a second. The Gold Tones and the Deerings are all competent instruments. There is also "Mastertone." I got a vintage, but I will caution you on this: Low priced vintage banjos can have problems, not the least of which is friction tuners, which I don't recommend. I would have been playing in earnest six months sooner if I had gotten the cheapest Gold Tone or Mastertone. Just MHO.

[John Flynn]

Correction: When I said "Mastertone," I meant "Mastercraft"

[bmac]

John Flynn comented:
"I got a vintage, but I will caution you on this: Low priced vintage banjos can have problems, not the least of which is friction tuners, which I don't recommend."

Certainly friction tuners can be problematic... but slippage can be pretty much solved by rubbing the "cones" which contact the wood (and/or the wood itself) with violin rosin. The rosin allows the tension screws on the tuners to be set with a minimum of compression against the wood. The rosin tends to hold the strings in proper tension reduciing re-tuning. THis may, or many not be common knowledge, but I find it works quite well, and considering the cost of geared tuners the cost of the rosin is money very well spent.

My own experience with eBay banjos and banjo-mandolins is that as long as the neck is straight they can often be a pretty good bargain. My personal favorite is a no-name eBay tenor banjo I paid less than $100 for, including shipping, new head and a few missing parts. If you are willing to work on them you can often bring them up to decent playing condition. Of course I enjoy fussing with them almost as much as I enjoy playing them.