had a bottle cap that i grew out of a while ago and heard that hook and shoe contruction aluminum rims sounded better. anyone wanna weigh in on the pros and cons of both constructions? soundclips/pix cant hurt either
5 Comments |
 | darwinyarwin says:
1/31/2015 5:19:30 PM
I'd be interested in comparisons, too. I've only had hook & shoe rims: 2 vintage Ode rims on their original banjos; and several Saga rims on different parts banjos. Hardly ever had a chance to play a bottlecap. One thing that will be hard to agree on, I expect, is a fair idea of what defines "better".
(I'd also love to rant about all the deadwood rim players who judge"better sound" with their eyes ... you know, those guys who deplore metal pots and then spend $500 adding a METAL tone ring to their banjos to make them sound good. Heh heh.)
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 | Klondike Waldo says:
1/31/2015 5:28:27 PM
The only hook and shoe aluminum rim banjo I had recently was an Iida tenor which had an integral cast archtop rim. It was a decent banjo, but I decided I was not going to pursue tenor after all.
I had two aluminum tenoprs many years ago- both Japanese.
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 | John Gribble says:
3/6/2015 1:59:24 AM
I've been playing one for fifty years. It is a Gariepy, made in Long beach, CA for a few years in the 1960s. It is a modest instrument, open back, walnut neck, and similar to both the Iida Waldo talks about and the early Ode banjoes, with an integal archtop tonering. I've found going with a softer bridge (currently one of Bart's "Mystery Wood" bridges) and a slightly soft head gives a really nice bright but warm tone. The head is an ancient Remo I put on in the 1970s. If it ain't broke, why fix it?
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 | towser42 says:
3/20/2015 12:54:24 PM
I had an Epiphone bottle cap with a resonator back the I worked on really hard to get an acceptable sound. I put a wooden liner inside and foam tape inside under the bridge and all kinds of other experiments. At the beginning is was so tinny and metallic sounding it drove me crazy, I got it to the point where the sound was pretty good. I sold it to a friend who wanted to start learning banjo and needed a beginners instrument.
I just got a Christy 5-string resonator banjo, which has a spun aluminum pot with a veneer on the outside. This is an old instrument, probably from the '60s (although I don't think it's one of the ODE pots), and the previous owner obviously played the heck out of it, but right out of the box it has a nicer sound than the Epiphone ever did. It's really comparable in tone to my Gibson RB-170, maybe even a little more even.
Pete
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 | tucsonsean says:
1/13/2016 8:41:08 PM
"Old" from the '60s? Sheesh! I must be ancient then, being from the '40s, LOL. I also play a '60s hook-and-shoe aluminum arch top Gariepy, set up as John suggests. Sounds great, very balanced, and needs no stuffing. Sounds better than some of my more-expensive wood rimmed banjos.
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