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Cornflake - Posted - 02/21/2011: 22:27:27
Recently I have had the pleasure of helping two people get off to a good start playing their newly acquired banjos. In both cases I have been surprised--almost amazed--at how good their banjos sound. These people both have inexpensive aluminum rim banjos (Are these "bottlecap" banjos?) made somewhere in Asia I assume. I started out 20 years ago playing this kind of banjo but I don't remember them sounding this good. Has anyone else discovered how nice some of these "cheap" banjos sound, or has my ear become less discriminating?
Vapor - Posted - 02/21/2011: 23:04:13
I think when we start with that "Starter" Banjo, we hear a better banjo, and have to move up, and then up, and we forget where we were and how it sounded. We get better, and all the time we blamed the banjo. Then we look back nd realize where we are, and what we did not understand, no could we, we were beginners.
Then the sky clears, and we figure out, it is more important who is playing, than what they are playing.
mike gregory - Posted - 02/22/2011: 01:15:34
The term "Bottlecap" refers, not to the aluminim body (which may be a flat wall with separate brackets), but to the rim with the flange casr as a part of the rim.
It's the multiple pointy things around the perimiter perimater perimeter edge that give it a similar shoape.
charliebucket - Posted - 02/22/2011: 04:31:35
quote:
It's the multiple pointy things around the perimiter perimater perimeter edge that give it a similar shoape.
Thanks for the info Mike, and the laugh.
Klondike Waldo - Posted - 02/22/2011: 04:44:24
I think we have access to more knowledge about how to set up a banjo and to a wider variety of bridges, strings, tuners, heads, etc. almost instantly compared to what beginners had 20 years ago, largely because of the internet and BHO, so it's easier to get the aluminum rim banjos sounding better these days. I play an Epiphone MB200and I like it better than most Mastertones and masterclones I've heard and played. Maybe if I was a dyed in the wool Bluegrass picker, I wouldn't, but that's not where I'm coming from anyway. I chose it over a couple of wood-rim banjos at the local music store because I liked the way it felt and sounded. Still do.
I think I'll write a song "Pickin' on a Bottlecap Banjo" ;-0
Paul R - Posted - 02/22/2011: 05:37:22
I started on an aluminum-rimmed "pre-bottlecap" banjo in the early seventies. It actually wasn't bad. After I upgraded, I dug it out and played it and was impressed with its clear tone. Last August I saw one at the antique market in Market Square but didn't buy it, as I was riding back from a club bicycle ride. I never saw it again and regret not getting it.
If you like a clear, ringing tone, they're fine. If you like woody and plunky, not so fine.
I'm glad they're called "bottlecap" and not "circular saw blade", but I imagine that's how they feel after playing a couple of hours, seated, without the resonator.
banjogra - Posted - 02/22/2011: 05:41:21
I can agree with all above, when we start, in my case anyway, its a frustrating row, then has we learn (I was lucky to find a good teacher) clean picking, the pleasure of the banj opens up to us.
I started with a stagg bj30 something(metal pot, it held tune perfect, well decorated ect
a perfect starter banjo, .
Bob Peelstrom - Posted - 02/22/2011: 06:52:58
Back when I started picking, I was envious of a guy in the next town who had an aluminum pot...
...mine was plastic 
JohnGP - Posted - 02/22/2011: 06:59:48
quote:
Originally posted by mike gregory
It's the multiple pointy things around the perimiter perimater perimeter edge that give it a similar shoape.
Why struggle Mike, old bean, when you could have written
sircumference cercumfence cicumpherense rim.
beegee - Posted - 02/22/2011: 07:17:48
I don't have so much of an issue of how these sound. The biggest thing about them is the clunky neck. The necks are usually narrow, poorly fretted and too thick and they have a long scale. The next thing is the neck attachment and then the tension hoop. I'm almost tempted to buy a bottlecap and hot-rod it to make a decent player. Upon reflection while I write this, the biggest thing I don't like about bottlecaps is that they lack aesthetic appeal.
charliebucket - Posted - 02/22/2011: 07:48:19
quote:
Originally posted by JohnGP
quote:
Originally posted by mike gregory
It's the multiple pointy things around the perimiter perimater perimeter edge that give it a similar shoape.
Why struggle Mike, old bean, when you could have written sircumference cercumfence cicumpherense rim.
So John, are you talking about the
perifeary parifray edge?
JohnGP - Posted - 02/22/2011: 08:11:46
quote:
Originally posted by charliebucket
quote:
Originally posted by JohnGP
quote:
Originally posted by mike gregory
It's the multiple pointy things around the perimiter perimater perimeter edge that give it a similar shoape.
Why struggle Mike, old bean, when you could have written sircumference cercumfence cicumpherense rim.
So John, are you talking about the perifeary parifray edge?
Naah, the boarduh.
mike gregory - Posted - 02/22/2011: 09:22:25
Oh, get serus serrius real!
The boarder is the person who rents the spare room.
Anyway, I've made aluminum banjo bodies out of frying pans, pressure cookers, and once, from a slice of a cylinder from a heart-lung machine.
gmo - Posted - 02/22/2011: 10:53:14
A heart-lung machine ,huh ? Now that's the ultimate recycling, breathing new life into discarded material !! I like it !!
George
xnavyguy - Posted - 02/22/2011: 16:10:21
I think we can all agree that Mastertone style banjos have a unique note complexity that could never be duplicated by a metal rimmed banjo. It is possible, though, to get these banjos to a level where an audience would not care, nor would they question the instrument's construction. I spend a lot of time, standing up in front of a microphone, in a group, playing a banjo. My weapon of choice is the Oscar Schmidt shown in the attached photo. It weighs just over half that of my masterclone and it looks like a banjo, sounds like a banjo, & I can play it all day, pain free.
David Cunningham - Posted - 02/22/2011: 17:24:59
I had a fight with one of these aluminum banjos today. It now has more parts than it began life with today. And I have to admit - it's a decent sounding banjo - NOW!
MrNatch3L - Posted - 02/23/2011: 08:13:03
quote:
Originally posted by beegee
I don't have so much of an issue of how these sound. The biggest thing about them is the clunky neck. The necks are usually narrow, poorly fretted and too thick and they have a long scale. The next thing is the neck attachment and then the tension hoop. I'm almost tempted to buy a bottlecap and hot-rod it to make a decent player. Upon reflection while I write this, the biggest thing I don't like about bottlecaps is that they lack aesthetic appeal.
I'd have to agree with you, BG. With 1 exception, all the 5-strings I've seen around St. Petersburg have been Asian-made bottlecappers. Whenever I come across one I always try it out, with the thought that it might make me a beater. The one's I've come across were too bad to even be beaters without some major work on the neck. You could rip your palm to burger with the way the frets stuck out. The fingerboard wood looked like it was made from a packing crate slat... pitted and uneven and a grain you could toss a dog thru. You'd have to replace fingerboard and frets to even get a beater. And tuners... too. Not one of about 8 I've tried would hold tune worth beans.
Maybe the makers are dumping rejects into the Russian market figuring Russians don't know any better. Stupid, because there are getting to be plenty who do (I'm happy to say), and the junk doesn't seem to be selling. There's one in a shop nearby that's been there for almost 2 years. A Czech-made banjo (not bottlecap) that was a bit reminiscent of a Goodtime, and which was much more expensive than the bottlecapper, sold pretty quickly.
Edited by - MrNatch3L on 02/23/2011 08:13:51
yumagah - Posted - 02/23/2011: 12:53:46
quote:
Originally posted by Klondike Waldo
.... I play an Epiphone MB200and I like it better than most Mastertones and masterclones I've heard and played. Maybe if I was a dyed in the wool Bluegrass picker, I wouldn't, but that's not where I'm coming from anyway. I chose it over a couple of wood-rim banjos at the local music store because I liked the way it felt and sounded. Still do.
I think I'll write a song "Pickin' on a Bottlecap Banjo" ;-0
I remember a shop that had a few lower priced banjos, I can't remember if the brand was Saga, Dean or something else. Two of them were wood rims, and were cheaper than the one with aluminum rim. And the aluminum rim did sound better, at least to me. There are a number of tips and tweaks in older forums about getting the best sound from aluminum. Almost makes me sad I sold my old Iida, Almost.
mike gregory - Posted - 02/23/2011: 15:52:40
The one I am currently playing MOST is an Iida aluminum pot, cast as an archtop.
Made a neck with the 5th string running all the way up, so one capo changes all strings evenly.
(The previous neck was a bit to twisted to be worth flattening.)
It does the job.
opotable - Posted - 02/23/2011: 16:36:27
personally( but don't take it TOO personally please) i'd rather listen to mr. top hat grego'ry than a lot of top line instrument holders.
