Waddo Soqable

Not 9 grand or whatever it was the last time actually looked at the listing again and it's got 7000 reserve on it !

A crappy pic of the major bits ( this tablet effort takes rubbish blurry pics) The metal pot thing was quite corroded and has polished up quite well considering, the little hooks and nuts were rusting and had a soak in vinegar and a scrub with a brass wire brush to get the worst off. The drum head was knackered so I've ordered a slice of goat, like wot I dun on the olde one. It's a bit tricky stretching a soaked skin and bullying it in place, but I've done a couple before so may be easier this time. The experts will prob say "you should have a remo drum type head on a banjo like this".. but someone's always bucking the system eh. I'll prob do steel strings on this as the old one has nylon, it'll sound totally different anyway. I'll also need to make a wedge shim type thing where the neck joins the body, the fit here is rubbish with a gap you can see thru, and you really need a nice fit with full contact where they join. These things look fairly thrown together originally tbh and it should be poss to do much better I'd hope !

Thats a bummer to put it mildly, frankly I'd still be on to them demanding recompense, it's clearly not of " merchantable quality" or "fit for purpose" The fact you've prepared it for use I don't think waives them of responsibility.. I'd not just leave it at that personally, either way what's to lose ? I'd be phoning them and try to speak to the manager in the first instance.

"Mental" would be better...

Where do i go when I transcend "experienced" I wonder

Ol' Mr Soup's Banjer Pickin' Cornerr

It's totally in bits at the mo, and awaiting my "engineering expertise" !

Cool! And if it all goes t!ts up you can just say to the Mrs .. "This is all your fault.."

Then again you could do the deliberately naff thing, a bit like Elvis Costello's glasses ! I now gots another banjo btw ( this is all your fault) a very cheapo fixer upper, its one of the aluminium body things aka bottle top type. It's in bits at the mo receiving 'attention' will be very different from my olde one so all good! Perhaps we could make this thread the Banjo Action thread, ie "what's your latest action with banjos guys?"

I've certainly found those little £3.99 clip on headstock tuners work for a banjo no problem. The ones that light up green when you're in tune would be just the job on a dark stage too ( as long as you don't think it looks too naff using one in public !! )

Looks like a load of good stuff ^ for me to catch up on again!

The other side eh... Sort of online Ouija board then

Hmm.. you had given up bass... Thought that wouldn't last long

That's brilliant, absolutely love it! Now you need to work the suitcase into the act.. I actually reckon you'd do very well busking with all that, great stuff👍

Glad your tweaks helped ! Bear in mind though that bridges are available in different heights and are the simplest solution to changing action height, the equivalent to adjusting your bass bridge saddles with a lil' allen key. On my very old banjo of course there is no coordinator rod type adjustment available, and dropping the bridge was the only option without butchery ( which i wasn't going to perpetrate) Be great if you put up a sound clip of the 'jo !

^ 👍 saved to watch in full later !

That's brilliant, great find 👍

Nah..That's the accordion I believe

Nice one.. Has a kind of 80s look somehow 👍 ps. Hope the pooch doesn't fancy a chew on it when you're not looking...

I ordered a neck from them about a week ago, no email confo but received a card payment receipt and form confirming order, with details, within a few days, so presumably all good. I assume as a firm they just don't operate much with email. ..^ handy to have the email of Dawn tho ( who is I guess the lady I spoke to when ordering it) in case i need to contact them. She said ring them in a few weeks to see how the order is progressing. The estimate was 7-8 weeks but possibly a bit sooner according to the conversation I had Hth

Cutting a plate from sheet metal and drilling the holes is easy enough, I've made things like that myself, but if youve got to pay someone to do it then it starts to get tricky, plus chroming i suspect would be expensive especially for a small one off item. As you say, a ready made off ebay would be the painless route !

Btw check out Clifton Hicks on you tube, he's excellent and has lots of videos on all aspects of old time banjo, well worth perusing his stuff

When banjo became incredibly popular in the late Victorian period ( hence lots of banjos survive from that era) I believe the main style was essentially finger picking. When I muck about with the banjo it's my own hodge-podge of "styles" but mainly subdued finger picking with a bit of strumming, I tend to play funny old music hall type songs on it, and assorted daft tunes. Definitely I don't go anywhere near bluegrass / rolls with picks stuck on all me fingers etc..noooo

I still like the stingray plate best. ( not just cos I like stingrays!) I think it looks like it's a designed finished item rather than the P shape that looks like a bit that's been cut off something ( which is essentially what it is !) Obviously this stuff is in the eye of the beholder, and you've got to go with what you yourself feel looks right.

Love the vocal on this !