BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/17/2015:  03:51:09

 already have a Deering Maple Blossom & I love the neck shape & the way its sounds & if I had the money I would also get a banjo from these banjo  builders, Sullivan & Hatfield banjos, Stelling for that different sound AN American made banjos, I like what he is doing with his line of banjos. how about you do you like what Jeff & Eric are making & how about Arthur Hatfield he is a one man show & I here one hell of a nice guy.

jstltreat - Posted - 12/17/2015:  04:22:14

I love my Sullivan. I have yet to be able to play a lot of the big brands to comment on any of those. I do like my Gold Tone also. Its very easy to play and dont break the bank. I think it would be hard to beat an Rk 35/36 for the money. My buddy has one and it sounds awesome, especially when he really digs in.

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/17/2015:  04:47:35

good morning Steve, only American made banjos. that lets the Rk 35/36 models out of the running. God I wish there was some one with a Sullivan & a Hatfield banjo on Long Island. too bad they don't have banjo shows like they do for guitar makers.

Unclelevi - Posted - 12/17/2015:  04:51:37

I would  DEFINITELY include Nechville on the list. Tom Nechville's Heli-Mount system makes his banjos different from every other banjo made. What a FINE banjo ! Great sound and super easy to adjust. I would also include OME. The quality of workmanship ,appearance and sound of an OME banjo  is second to none.

eagleisland - Posted - 12/17/2015:  04:58:55

All due respect, but I find this a silly question. The only objective way to rank them would be sales figures - in which case, there's Deering, and then there's everyone else.

I'd be surprised to learn that any builder in the everyone else category is producing much more than a hundred instruments a year. In fact, Deering's output most likely exceeds that of all the other craft and custom builders combined.

And everyone else is building terrific banjos. You're not going to find significant differences in quality between them. It really comes down to a matter of personal preference in design (both mechanical - i.e., Nechville's approach, Stelling's approach, vs. the Mastertone design - and dress), and with whom you'd prefer to do business. That's all subjective, and there's really no way to rank them.

lightgauge - Posted - 12/17/2015:  05:07:10

I will agree with most anything nice that you want to say about Jeff, Eric, and Arthur. I believe you can safely add Yates and Huber to your list of quality builders. (Not quantity, as said above)

stanleytone - Posted - 12/17/2015:  05:44:25

forget the big companies pretty much. it's the independent builders that are tacking up the slack.

CarolinaPicker - Posted - 12/17/2015:  06:21:03

I have a Bishline Heirloom and a Mullins Woody that I really enjoy playing. Rob is a nice guy and makes a great playing and sounding banjo. He is a great fellow to talk with about banjos.
The Mullins was made by Mr. Clancy Mullins in Johnson City Tennessee. Mr. Mullins is also a great fellow to talk with and his banjos also play and sound great.
Your choice and what you decide to get is totally your preference. Each banjo has it's own unique character and sound. The main thing to look for is what the person playing it really wants.
Most independent builders put a lot of pride in to their builds to make sure the banjo plays and sounds great.

swamplunker - Posted - 12/17/2015:  06:21:53

When a question begins with "What do you think", it is specifically requesting a subjective, not objective response. Apart from that, it could use a lot of focusing. Durability, sound, influence, popularity, innovation, value for the money? And, what type of Banjo? So I'll answer from my own prejudices and limitations, I certainly haven't played every banjo, and my interests are primarily 5-string Bluegrass and Newgrass, so that discounts open backs, plectrums and tenors. I'm starting with Gibson, who appear to be slightly out of business, because more people have copied them than any other banjo. The other four would be Stelling, Huber, Deering and Yates. I just never touched a Nechville or OME to date and have total respect for Sullivan and Hatfield, based on everything they've done.

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/17/2015:  06:28:38

good morning every one. Skip just making small talk here & trying to stay out of trouble here which I am very good at. funny thing, I just took a look in the classifieds here & their is NOT one Sullivan banjo for sale. I guess that says a lot about them & their banjos.

Edited by - BANJO TONY on 12/17/2015 06:36:54

stanleytone - Posted - 12/17/2015:  06:45:13

my comment is in no way directed at the companies like Deering, Stelling, etc. My comment was aimed mainly at Gibson.Heck they don't even MAKE banjos anymore!And Fender's a joke. 

---

Originally posted by stanleytone

 

forget the big companies pretty much. it's the independent builders that are tacking up the slack.

---

Edited by - stanleytone on 12/17/2015 06:45:57

Joe the banjo guy - Posted - 12/17/2015:  07:12:32

I have come to really love my Bishline Midnight Moon.  The neck has a thinner profile than most other banjos I've played.  It just feels faster to me (and I need all the help I can get in that regard).  But, I haven't played that many banjos in my life, so I'm not the best source on that.  It's interesting going from that to my Ramsey banjo, which is on the opposite extreme.  It's like half a baseball bat.  

Glen5 - Posted - 12/17/2015:  07:22:22

Yates, Huber, Hatfield, Sullivan, Deering

texasbanjos - Posted - 12/17/2015:  07:41:42

Actually, there are two Sullivan banjos listed in the classifieds......

banjohangout.org/classified/54774

banjohangout.org/classified/54329

dpgetman - Posted - 12/17/2015:  07:48:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjo5string

 

Actually, there are two Sullivan banjos listed in the classifieds......

banjohangout.org/classified/54774

banjohangout.org/classified/54329

---

And 43 Deerings!

I would put Ome up there in terms of >1 man shop knocking out top quality products. I own a North Star and a John Hartford, two of the most satisfying banjos I've ever played.  Not that I've played em all or anything... 

DPG

Beardog - Posted - 12/17/2015:  08:02:21

I cant give you the top 5, but could probably give you my top 10. Numbers of banjos made and quality may or may not coincide. The type of sound that one seeks should be paramount to each individual's "top list".

rbergesch - Posted - 12/17/2015:  08:42:36

Since this is sort of open and subjective,  you might consider adding Jimmy Cox into the list. 

While Jim has made banjos for over 50 years, he has never been a volume producer.  Probably his biggest annual numbers were achieved when he made the Raymond Fairchild series of instruments over a couple years, and those volumes were in the hundreds, not thousands. 

He has been making his Kentucky 5, both as a flathead and as an archtop, since the 1960's; I went to a local bluegrass event recently and there were five Cox banjos, some from the last century, and some newer.  Mine was made in 2004.  He makes or has made other models, some with a different tone ring, some with different art design and various tonewoods.  But except for the tuning keys and the plastic head, (and in some case a original Snuffy Smith bridge), every component, whether wood or metal, is fabricated in Jim's shop.  He has total control over the product. 

While there are a fair amount of Jim's instrument in the Northeast, his completed banjos are not widely represented in the rest of the country.  Not so his parts, however.  While he's made relatively few banjos compared to some other producers, he's made banjo parts by the thousands, and they are everywhere.  Stanleytone and Osborne Chiefs have Jim's components, and many well known makers, including some mentioned here, use Cox rims, resonators or flanges, often specified by the customer.  This has been true for decades; I brought in an Old Boston-made Vega made in the 1960's, and Jim found a 4 piece flange piece he had made for Vega a few years later, and they were practically identical. 

Jim's banjos totally reflect a spirit of perfectionism.  They ring true all the way up the neck, the note separation is outstanding, they look great, they sound great, and they are always the loudest banjo in the room.

Who could ask for more?

Edited by - rbergesch on 12/17/2015 08:51:59

jhko - Posted - 12/17/2015:  08:59:42

My list of 5 "best" US makers still making banjos (in order, totally subjective):

1.) Stelling
2.) Huber
3.) Yates
4.) OME
5.) Sullivan

Honorable mention: Hatfield, Deering

camlan - Posted - 12/17/2015:  09:01:52

Do yourself a favor and check out Rob Smith's Heartland Banjos. He has built up banjos for Bela, Noam and Alison Brown. You get amazing workmanship and great advice on all build specs. Think of a Huber or similar but for $1200 less!

Winged Words - Posted - 12/17/2015:  09:29:02

Got to bag places for Greg Galbreath, Jason and Pharis Romero at least.

Edited by - Winged Words on 12/17/2015 09:31:26

doryman - Posted - 12/17/2015:  09:43:22

quote:

---

Originally posted by BANJO TONY

 

good morning every one. Skip just making small talk here & trying to stay out of trouble here which I am very good at. funny thing, I just took a look in the classifieds here & their is NOT one Sullivan banjo for sale. I guess that says a lot about them & their banjos.

---

Most of us understood that you were just making small talk here and allowing us to have fun talking about one of our favorite subjects.  Thank you for that. I would have to nominate Deering as # 1 because of what they have been able to accomplish and that is to gainfully employ American workers and successfully compete against banjo makers who utilize cheaper, overseas labor. I thinks it's a remarkable story. I also happen to think that they make some fine banjos.  

TOMCAT - Posted - 12/17/2015:  09:49:29

Stelling without doubt are impeccable banjos.Yates also. Two completely different animals, but absolute tops. Huber no doubt builds very good banjo, and Hatfield(although I never got to play one) I hear are second to none.

banjoman56 - Posted - 12/17/2015:  10:11:17

I haven't played Hubers, Hatfields or Yates, but I can't see anyone topping the Sullivans. I have a Stelling Red Fox that is just a great banjo, but it don't compare with the Sullivan. I've played Deering's, and am not very impressed with them. I am impressed with the Bales banjos though!

haretrigga - Posted - 12/17/2015:  10:22:06

don't forget dp hopkins banjos ,great sounding like nothing else  ,top workmanship

banjoez - Posted - 12/17/2015:  10:37:29

You can make the argument that every one of the builders mentioned can make a fine banjo. It all depends what you are looking for and even among the same builder every banjo is different. Been fortunate enough to have owned many of them and even a Stelling which is known for consistency can sound quite a bit different from banjo to banjo. You gotta own and play one for a while to really know whether it is what you are looking for or not. Sometimes a banjo sounds really good at first because it is different than what you are used to but after a while the "newness" wears off and you grow weary of the tone that you thought was so good at first. That's why there are so many used banjos for sale all the time. Most of them were someone's dream banjo but after a while they weren't. The litmus test is when you find a banjo that makes you smile every time you pick it up over the long term.

Edited by - banjoez on 12/17/2015 10:47:14

arnie fleischer - Posted - 12/17/2015:  13:17:10

I've been lucky enough to have played banjos made by everyone mentioned in this thread, as well as a few others like Bill Hayes (Bill-in-Me) and Kyle Smith. All of them make first-rate instruments. The phrase "Gibson clone" is often bandied about on the BHO, but it seems to me that even among those banjos to which that term fairly applies there are notable differences in tone and construction. And then there are those banjos that are distinct departures from the Gibson model. Isn't it great to have so many excellent options?

Edited by - arnie fleischer on 12/17/2015 13:27:46

Craig_B - Posted - 12/17/2015:  13:48:45

I'm of course partial to Stelling, but I'll add that there was a Sullivan on the sales floor at Elderly last month that was very nice, and a friend of mine just got a Hatfield earlier this year, and it's a fine banjo. I like it a lot.

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/17/2015:  14:36:30

I am very surprised more people are not saying Hatfield. I know if I won the lottery any time soon the first two banjos I would get would be a Sullivan & a Hatfield.

Majorbanjo - Posted - 12/17/2015:  18:19:05

Limiting it to 5 is like saying to a woman with 10 children which are your favorite 5 children.....all makers mentioned before are certainly deserving but......

a discussion without Frank Neat just doesn't work.......

The Old Timer - Posted - 12/17/2015:  18:46:36

Let me take a whack in a different way: I can think of 4 or 5 different DESIGNS of bluegrass banjos, basing my differentiation on the flange as the most obvious significant difference..



Masterclone (all undoubtedly sharing one or two parts suppliers, with a few individual tweaks, truth be known): Huber, Neat, Cox, AMB, Hatfield, Smith/Heartland, Sullivan, Yates. et. al.



Deering



Ome



Nechville



Stelling



I think back to the early 1970s when we had about the same number, but none of them had any American clones: Gibson, Vega, Fender, Baldwin/Ode.



I think we were in a new golden age of banjos up until Gibson threw in the towel.

Edited by - The Old Timer on 12/17/2015 18:48:04

jhko - Posted - 12/17/2015:  20:14:53

quote:

---

Originally posted by arnie fleischer

 

I've been lucky enough to have played banjos made by everyone mentioned in this thread, as well as a few others like Bill Hayes (Bill-in-Me) and Kyle Smith. All of them make first-rate instruments. The phrase "Gibson clone" is often bandied about on the BHO, but it seems to me that even among those banjos to which that term fairly applies there are notable differences in tone and construction. And then there are those banjos that are distinct departures from the Gibson model. Isn't it great to have so many excellent options?

---

I agree, and I think this truly is a "golden age" for banjo building. There are just so many great makers out there. 

jaysails - Posted - 12/18/2015:  07:25:56

I think if you were to ask this question to all the great players that we have, there would be a name that would consistently come up.  If you were to ask all the builders, and they answered subjectively you might get the same name  The same guy that is entrusted to do the necks on most of the pre wars., and a living legend of builders. He has his own line and also does the Osborne Chiefs.  That would be Frank Neat.

Kevin B - Posted - 12/18/2015:  08:40:57

I think #1 represented among pro players would be Huber. Not that there are not others, but these seem to be very prevalent in their ranks.

kmwaters - Posted - 12/18/2015:  11:49:07

It's a photo finish between more than five, so you have to go with subjective criteria at some point. Too many quality brands out there. But then within the brand, you have quality differences as well. My Deering Tenbrooks is better than a Goodtime.

JMalmsteen - Posted - 12/19/2015:  01:23:10

I love my Stelling. There's definite variation, so you want to play them. I've played a few killer Stellings and some that didn't do anything for me. They are unique sounding and you can see the quality.

Hatfield put together my Gibson conversion, and the neck is excellent.

You need to play a bunch of banjos from different makes and see what talks to you. In NY, I know we are limited. You may need to take a trip to do this. You can check out the jam out on the island that is on Sundays. People have varying brands and most would likely let you play them.

mainejohn - Posted - 12/19/2015:  05:54:22

Judging by the responses I think you meant to say "top 5 American bluegrass-style resonator banjo makers." Funny how so few look beyond that category. I guess you're implying top 5 in terms of volume, because if you include craftsmanship, then it opens up a whole new realm, as in Unger, Romero, Chuck Lee, Flesher, Fielding, Levan, etc., etc.

steve davis - Posted - 12/20/2015:  05:09:34

Jimmy Cox is one of the all-time great American builders.
I wouldn't know much about the other four.

stanleytone - Posted - 12/20/2015:  08:31:16

 some day I WILL get a lefty Stelling Virginian!!

quote:

---

Originally posted by JMalmsteen



I love my Stelling. There's definite variation, so you want to play them. I've played a few killer Stellings and some that didn't do anything for me. They are unique sounding and you can see the quality.



Hatfield put together my Gibson conversion, and the neck is excellent.



You need to play a bunch of banjos from different makes and see what talks to you. In NY, I know we are limited. You may need to take a trip to do this. You can check out the jam out on the island that is on Sundays. People have varying brands and most would likely let you play them.

---

firemx220 - Posted - 12/21/2015:  03:55:45

If I had the opportunity to buy five banjos right now they would be from Hatfield, Sullivan, Huber, Yates, and Bishline. I would also love to pick them up in person and meet some incredible people!

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/21/2015:  12:50:11

maybe I should have ask, who do you think are the top 10 or 20 banjo builders in the USA & Canada. I know you guys a north have a few great banjo builders up there. the two weeks me & a friend spent up in Toronto we drank a lot of great beer & seen a lot of very good looking hot ladies up there. so I know you must make great banjos also.

snapjackson - Posted - 12/21/2015:  14:06:42

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kevin B



I think #1 represented among pro players would be Huber. Not that there are not others, but these seem to be very prevalent in their ranks.

---

I love Huber banjos. I would also say Deering. Trischka, Luberecki, Pikelny, Steve Martin, Ryan Cavanaugh, Jens Kruger, Baucom, Eric Gibson, are just a few great pickers with a Deering in their arsenal. 

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/22/2015:  07:40:26

boy you got to say Gibson miss the boat with the Gibson Bros they both should be playing a Gibson in my book.

mikehalloran - Posted - 12/22/2015:  13:22:33

I, too, find the question ridiculous. We are living in a golden age, ladies and gentlemen, where it is possible to call up any of a few dozen or more fine makers, large and small, and obtain a great banjo — or have one made — in any style and ornamentation you desire. The only limits are your imagination and your budget. If builder A can't/won't do it, someone else can and will.

The only thing you can't get is a brand new Gibson other than some NOS still sitting on a couple of dealer shelves.

Let's go back 45 years when you couldn't find 5. It was ODE and Fender or Fender and ODE, then a few small builders such as Liberty, then you got down to Vega and Gibson both varying degrees of mediocrity. Christy was making banjos from surplus ODE which was one of the things that got Stew-Mac going. Harmony, though bankrupt, was still assembling and putting out banjos, many under the Regal and Fender names (Regal was a distribution company owned by Fender at the time). You found a few independents in the back pages of Sing Out! and Guitar Player or word of mouth at folk festivals as they were called back then.

Edited by - mikehalloran on 12/22/2015 13:26:08

doryman - Posted - 12/22/2015:  15:42:10

It cracks me up that two of the longer replies came from folks who thought the question was silly or ridiculous.

Edited by - doryman on 12/22/2015 15:42:42

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/22/2015:  18:21:09

lighten up guys, this is a question like what brand of shoes do you like the best. I am just hoping to see some small time builders listed, you know people you never here of but are very good like Arthur Hatfield type of builder.

Mullie - Posted - 12/23/2015:  10:00:36

quote:

---

Originally posted by BANJO TONY

 

I am very surprised more people are not saying Hatfield. I know if I won the lottery any time soon the first two banjos I would get would be a Sullivan & a Hatfield.

---

I thought the same thing. While I am a huge Stelling fan, Hatfield belongs at or near the top of any list of American builders IMO

drbluegrass - Posted - 12/24/2015:  13:25:37

Yates, D.P. Hopkins, Huber, Sullivan, Stelling. And I'd likely have to find a place to cram Hatfield in there somewhere.


Tom

Bill Rogers - Posted - 12/25/2015:  01:47:38

Ome, Kevin Enoch, Renee Karnes, Huber, Deering.

BANJO TONY - Posted - 12/25/2015:  08:22:16

besides Sullivan & Hatfield, I like what American made banjo is doing & making.