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revellfa - Posted - 08/13/2014: 15:53:57
I've never heard another banjo that could compare with my dad's. When I was a kid it had a five star head and a bridge with bone inserts. The hardware is all original and it has it's original 40 hole archtop tone ring. It's been played pretty much constantly since he got it in 1963. The neck has about had it and recently it seemed to be loosing it's sound. I've tried for years to revive it. I think I've finally found the trick.
After trying several of the modern plastic heads (Remo, Clear, Five Star, etc.) I finally decided to stick a goatskin head on it. The head is from a Bell and Sons Minstrel banjo kit and is THICK. After dialing it in for several days she really came alive today.
I've tried MANY bridges on this banjo over the last five years. Overall, I like the really, really old Grover with bone inserts best. However, I don't have access to that bridge right now so I put a bridge on it that I had on my Jeremy Rushing openback banjo. Boy does she sing now--just like she did when I was a kid. Limitless power, quick response, great sustain, and a pop to die for.
Tom Berghan - Posted - 08/13/2014: 17:29:13
That really POPs!!! I love it. I also have a medium thick hide head on my Hatfield Buckcreek and my experience is pretty much the same as yours. It's a classic sound I think. I'm very glad that you found the sound you maybe feared was lost!
Dave1climber - Posted - 08/14/2014: 05:59:05
O boy! What a sound! 
pickNgrin - Posted - 08/15/2014: 20:32:26
Sounds good! How susceptible are those things to humidity? Maybe not too much of an issue if it stays inside.
Tom Berghan - Posted - 08/17/2014: 12:35:37
quote:
Originally posted by pickNgrin
Sounds good! How susceptible are those things to humidity? Maybe not too much of an issue if it stays inside.
They are stable enough. What they don't like is going from really dry to really humid or vice versa. But if the environment is continually humid or continually dry then they really don't have a problem.
If you were to go to a camp-out for a few days and it was really humid then you would have to tighten the head. Then it would be OK. When you went home, and if you have air-conditioning, then you will have to loosen the head.
It is only a little more trouble than tuning your strings.
95RenoRevival - Posted - 11/08/2014: 11:53:24
Hey I know I'm about 3 month's late here, but just wondering what kind of neck is on there and that sort of thing. My archtop is serial # 9552-2 and it's not sounding too great, but man oh man that one sounds killer!
Kind of makes me want to copycat it, so if you were willing to let me know some more setup details would sure appreciate it.
Some really good picking there also, that's probably 80% of why it sounds so good, but it sure sounds like a prewar flathead to me, like Earl's banjo or something like that!
I've tried all sorts of stuff out here, trying to get that killer sound, but the best banjo I have is a 1933 (might be earlier per Joe Spann's records) TB-1 conversion I got from Curtis McPeake in 1997, with a McPeake 20 hole ring and the rim turned for that ring, and a Robin Smith neck, (I think it's a Mahogany neck with a Brazillian RW board)
It has an older Remo plastic head on there right now.
Anyways, maybe I should start a new thread but I like the original archtop ring, and goatskin head combo you have there, that might be the secret for an OPF archtop I've been looking for... Thanks for putting the video up here.
95RenoRevival - Posted - 11/08/2014: 11:57:17
Also I'm willing to bet you it's the conversion neck that's on that banjo that makes it so killer and maybe the maple rim is a really good sounding one, I kind of doubt it's the tone ring itself... might be how it fit's on the rim though... Thanks again, and I'll check back in a couple of months or so to see if you've had time to reply or have moved on to other things by now.
John
