Buying Your First Banjo

OK, you’ve heard Earl, Bela, Tony and Pete and you can’t stand it any more. You have the banjo bug, really bad, and you’re going to do it, you’re going to jump into the fire and buy your first banjo. That’s great, but you realize you don’t know squat about the crazy things. Help is here, yeah!!!!!!

This will be presented in a question and answer format for easy perusal. We will deal with what to look for when buying a first or better banjo as well as other tasty tidbits to help with your 5-string education. Buy the time you finish this article you should feel intellectually armed when making your banjo purchase.

Here is the first step of your banjo journey - and this is a fun part. Listen to some of your favorite banjo recordings and get a flavor for which type of banjo tone you find the most appealing. Some banjo players prefer a real sharp, bright, cutting timbre (timbre is a fancy word for sound quality) other banjo players prefer a sound that is a little more earthy or tubby. If you are really into newgrass and the hard driving bluegrass or some of the progressive styles you will want to go for a tone that is bright and cutting. If you are more into the old-time banjo styles like claw hammer or frailing you will be looking for a more tubby timbre. We will get more into this style stuff later.

You may be inclined to think because you are just starting your banjo adventure that a cheap banjo makes sense - but this isn’t really the case. The reason cheap banjos are cheap is because they are cheap banjos. They play like cheap banjos, sound like cheap banjos and feel wrong in general. It’s difficult enough learning to play a banjo – don’t handicap yourself with high action, fret buzz and poor construction. Especially with entry level banjos, saving money for an extra month or two so you can afford around $150.00 more on a first banjo can make a world of difference in playing enjoyment.

Let’s take a look at an average $200.00 banjo and why it costs $200.00.

Reason two – The rim. Inexpensive banjos have rims that are similar to plywood (composite rim). This type of rim works but does not add much to the tonal quality of the banjo. In general the more dense the wood of the rim and its thickness the better the sound quality. Look for Mahogany or Maple.  If you pick up an expensive banjo and compare the weight to less expensive banjo you will notice the expensive banjo is a lot heavier.  This is due to using denser woods and better components.

Reason three - The tone ring.  The tone ring slips over the rim.  The banjo head - that white drum looking thingy -  slips over the tone ring. And the thigh bone is connected to the knee bone.  Oops, back to the tone ring.  Cheaper banjos use less expensive metals for their tone rings.  A good tone ring, if struck like a chime, should have a good ring to it.  The bell brass, or even better, bell bronze tone rings are outfitted on more expensive banjos and contribute to much better tone.  The real expensive banjo makers may use their own metal composites in their tone rings.  There is endless debate over tone rings and which type is better amongst banjo players and you'll have a ball joining the debate once you get up to speed.

Reason four - The flange.  The flange is an ornamental piece that fits between the rim and the resonator and helps to fill the space.  There are one piece flanges and two piece flanges.  Most of the better resonator banjos (the resonator is the wooden bowl shaped component attached to the back of the banjo) use a one piece flange.  Many of the cheaper banjos don't use a flange and resort to four small metal plates that extend from the rim and secure the resonator to the banjo with for thumb screws.  Pretty ugly, really.  Open back banjos don't use flanges.

When the rim, tone ring, head, etc. are all assembled the end result is referred to as the pot.

Reason five - Other woods.  Less expensive banjos use Rosewood for their fretboards which is not really any problem.  The more expensive banjos, or any stringed instrument for that matter, use Ebony or another exotic hardwood.

OK, lets sum up what we have learned so far.  Generally the cheaper banjos are using composite rims, tuners that work but are not real accurate, tone rings that lack a good ringing tone, woods of lesser quality and not as dense as the more expensive banjos and, in a lot of cases, have no flange.

Another factor in the price of the banjo is the obvious consideration of imported verses American made and the amount of inlay work and ornamentation on the banjo.

I've found a banjo that has all of the good stuff, what else do I need to look for?

Let's discuss action.  Action is the distance of the string above the fretboard.  The lower the action the less a person has to depress the string to produce a note.  Striking the correct balance with action on a banjo means having the strings at just the right height that they don't buzz against the fret wires farther up the neck when depressed.  High action on strings will eliminate fret buzz but can cause a banjo to go sharp when playing up the neck and, in general, make the banjo more difficult to play.  Things that contribute to high action are the height of the nut, the height of the bridge, and neck bow or neck angle.  All of these factors can be corrected or adjusted to create comfortable action.  A banjo, if properly set up, will have had these factors addressed.

String gauge or thickness can can also affect feel or action.  The thicker the string the more effort it takes to depress them.  This is more a matter of personal taste than function.

Intonation.  If the bridge on your banjo is properly set the the strings will play at pitch where ever they are fretted on the neck.  A quick test for this is to pluck a string while it is not fretted.  Listen to the pitch.  Play a harmonic on the same string at the 12th fret - the pitch should be the same.  Then fully depress the string at the 12th fret - if the pitch sounds higher or lower than the harmonic tone the bridge needs to be adjusted.  Compensated bridges are also available to help create more precise intonation.

Head Tension.  A banjo head should be good and tight.  Think in terms of a drum head - if you give a banjo head a thump it should have a good ring or snap to it.  You shouldn't see too much of a depression under the the feet of the bridge.  In general, the tighter the head on a banjo the brighter the timbre will be.  A banjo head that is too tight will tend to lose some of it's liveliness and will hinder tone.  If a head is too loose it can make the banjo sound like you are playing a rubber band.

Playing Style.  What do you want to play?  Do you like bluegrass,  jazz, or blues?  You are probably going to want a resonator banjo.  If you want to play the real old timey music and play in styles like clawhammer, or drop thumb, or frailing you will want to consider an open back banjo.  A lot of people play just any thing on what they have.  That's part of the fun of being a banjoist.