TOMCAT - Posted - 12/20/2015:  04:41:02

that the Yates RS banjos have captured that old dry hollow open sound of the the (do I dare say it!?) prewar banjos. I know this will probably turn into a " yes they do, no they don't" thing, but when you play one of these banjos your first thought is " dang this thing sounds old". Warren and Ron I believe have captured something no one else has.

warpdrive - Posted - 12/20/2015:  05:03:25

Tom, we agree on lots of things, so this isn't meant to be in disagreement, but for the life of me, i will never understand how a person determine's the age of "sound" or "tone", a human associates things, thats just what we do! So if a door, in a creaky 150 year old house makes a sound, we say it sounds old because the age of the house is old, never mind you could probably take the same door, on the same rusty hinges and put it in a newer house, and it will still creak the same way, but because the age of the house is newer, we associate the sound as being newer or different! Earl scruggs banjo was made in 33 or 34, so that makes the banjo apron 15 years old when FMB was cut in 49, 15 years is hardly the age or what the collectors have in mind for the sound and value of there prized old jo's! Yes, warren yates and ron stewart have brought a wonderful banjo to bear and show how it just good craftsmanship, and superior parts and ability, that make up a banjo that not only rivals but in many ways surpasses the old war horses! But my contention is that the old banjo's sound "different" not old, i just can't hear age in sound, i hear volume, i hear harsh, i hear mellow, i hear cutting, i even hear crack, i just don't hear old! But again, this is "just me" and "only me"!

TOMCAT - Posted - 12/20/2015:  05:10:43

I guess what I'm saying is they have the same characteristics of sound that you hear in the prewar banjos, that you don't hear in a lot of new banjo. Not that they don't have good sound.

warpdrive - Posted - 12/20/2015:  05:58:40

Ok, yeah, i get that! But you know, there are times, after i have put a new set of strings on and played them about a day, i would say my rk-35 sounds as good as any banjo i've had in my hands, that being said, i guess i just can't settle on one banjo, or banjo sound! But i do hear something in the Yates, for me, the latest cut of the Box Cars(i think its the box cars, i must admit i'm not a fan!) but it sounds like ron's style that he used to play back when i was out on the circuit, there is an "intense, sweetness" to the tone that i haven't heard in a long time, something that has been missing in digital recordings, almost like the warmth of the old vinal stuff, like some of Sonny's later recordings with his Granada, and for me, if you measure all banjos by that, everything else just fails in comparison! But i do hear what your talking about in a least the last Yates i listened too!

Edited by - warpdrive on 12/20/2015 06:00:21

robbyboone - Posted - 12/20/2015:  11:11:53

Let's call it old.....or different.....or a squirrel in Bermuda shorts for all I care......fact IS that Warren is building banjos that have characteristics of the "old" banjos that are considered by many to be the pinnacle of the 5 string bluegrass sound.

Kudos to Warren for building incredible banjos.....no matter how WE describe them.

Robby

Edited by - robbyboone on 12/20/2015 11:14:00

Banjophobic - Posted - 12/20/2015:  11:38:46

The thing to remember is that there isn't "one" particular "prewar" sound. A great flathead has certain characteristics in common with others, but I've never played two that had exactly the same tone. So when you talk in generalities, you can say that many modern builders capture some of those characteristics very well. Warren captures some of the qualities well in his banjos, from the banjos of his I have heard and played. 

But I've never played a new banjo that captured all of those intangibles of a great prewar flathead. That isn't to say I haven't played some monster new banjos, be sure I have and have owned some. But none of them had that those things in quantity of an old flathead that had "it". But I play anything that sounds great to me, prewar or not. Heck, I've played everything from a flathead to an RK36 and everything in between,haha.

lightgauge - Posted - 12/20/2015:  12:31:58

Tomcat, I have to agree with your original post. There are lots of great new banjos today, but the Yates RS models  I have played have something special to my ear.