The oldtime banjo blog from Kiel

The old mylar banjo skin is removed, I put the fiberskyn on. I think the sound is softer now, more "old timey" to my ears. I will post an audio tune next week. Here are some photos of the naked and the newly clothed banjo. You can see the removed tonering on the first pic: Here is the new compensated bridge: The bone nut makes tuning easier: And here ist the newly clothed baby: Hopefuly I can frail it a lot at the banjoree tomorrow.

(Hopefully my family will not read this header, they would declare me insane - and they are right: banjo-insane) Andreas did a wonderful job. He put in a new bone-nut, a compensated Grover bridge (like Patrick uses with the Somerset line) and he lowered the action. The baby sounds beautifully again. Last week I got mail from Martin´s Musikkiste : The fiberskyn head has arrived. I ordered it because I hope this will change the sound of my Saga banjo more to the plunky side. I love the soft and mellow tone of old time banjos and as they´ve got mostly fiberskyn heads I´ll give it a try. Let´s see what this will bring.

Seit kurzem gibt es eine neue Folk Session in Kiel. Das nächste Mal am Dienstag, 26.5.09 im Statt-Café . Das soll eine regelmäßige Einrichtung werden, die Regel habe ich aber noch nicht durchschaut.

The Crisfield Retreat has started without me :-( September´s Retreat is far away :-( My banjo is not ready yet :-( But the weather is beautiful right now :-| And it´s just one weekend till the Banjoree in Hagen will start :-))) (Andreas, don´t forget to finish my banjo in time!) Hopefully the Crisfield gang will shake the rafters and the floor over there. Camilo and Carlos: Raise high the European flag!

I´m without my banjo! Since long the g-string buzzes. I think it´s the nut which isn´t sliced properly. When in Crisfield last year, Patrick showed me how to avoid this by putting in a very small piece of paper on the nut under the g-string. It worked perfectly, but with every changing of the string I had to do this again and renew the paper from time to time. This was annoying. So I decided to bring the banjo to a luthier who has his shop near Kiel, Andreas . He´ll put in a bone nut and will do something to lower the attack. Hopefully it all will work. But I´m without my banjo now, it´s a terrible time ;-) Andreas promised me that it will be ready before the banjoree. And just now, when I have nothing to frail on, I saw this beautiful banjo of Neil on his site. This banjo really is a dream! "If I were a rich man ... didldidldidldum" Maple pot, maple neck, wooden tonering, scooped neck ... and not only some sort of maple but the most beautiful flamed maple I ever saw - at...

Just was told about a new banjo design, which comes from China: A five string for lefties, but the 5th peg on the other side (under the 1st string). I will look for the website and post a photo as soon as I find one. PS Here it is: PPS Probably a special April 1st edition?