Anyone a Mando Or Banjo owner ?

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Guys I've always loved Mandos and Banjos ...

I do not know how to play either of 'em but

I want to buy a Gibson Mando and a Gibson Banjo

and learn how to play .

 

Are there any owners here ?

 

thanks

 

J.C

[fortyearspickn]

I've owned a banjo almost as long as guitars. Only play 10% as much though. They are fun and different. I have a five string Deering. Suggest you research brands before assuming Gibson will be the best for you. You could get a six string guitar in a banjo body. But, that's like kissing your sister. G'luck.

[fortyearspickn]

I've owned a banjo almost as long as guitars. Only play 10% as much though. They are fun and different. I have a five string Deering. Suggest you research brands before assuming Gibson will be the best for you. You could get a six string guitar in a banjo body. But, that's like kissing your sister. G'luck.

[BigKahune]

.

Here's an odd bit. Many years ago, after my banjo playing uncle passed away, my aunt (his wife) gave me his banjo. I decided I was too busy to learn proper banjo, so I tuned it D G B E and played it like a four sting guitar. I had a lot of fun with it. A couple years ago, when my uncle's oldest grandson became a guitar player, I gave him his grandfathers banjo - he hadn't heard about the banjo and was very happy to receive it.

[L5Larry]

30 years ago a friend gave me a cheap no-name 5-string banjo. It did not take long for me to realize I did not have the right hand (or time to learn) to do anything besides strum chords. So as the banjo was passed to me, I passed it on to my wife's son.

 

About 10 years ago I found out that one of my favorite jazz guitarists, Bucky Pizzarelli, started out on tenor banjo. That renewed my interest in the banjo, albeit the tenor, so I picked up an old Gibson TB-1. The tenor and plectrum banjos were the stringed instruments in the earliest jazz bands.

 

I did a recording with a friend on 5-string fingerpicking and me strumming on the tenor. The combination was pretty interesting. I'm still hoping to find a song to use it on with my jazz Big Band. That would make me have to sit down and actually learn how to play it.

 

Anyway, here's a photo of my 1932 Gibson TB-1.

 

[Wayne]

I play banjo (sort of) and have several, but none are Gibsons. I play open backs, and I dont think Gibson has made any of those in about 85 years.

[zombywoof]

Yup - mandolin. I used to play a pumpkin top Gibson A but later switched to a Strad-O-Lin. I pretty much just noodle around but can make my way around some blues when I put my mind to it. I also play lap steel and a little bit of fiddle.

 

[iamgreg]

I play a 1970 Gibson F-12 mandolin; here's a video. Ralph is playing on a 1994 J-100 Xtra.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/gregvulcan#p/a/u/1/213w6uc0QKg

[jgwoods]

Yes, I play a 1917 Gibson A4 mandolin for many years now and I have been playing claw hammer banjo on a 1904 Fairbanks Regent, since 1970.

[CAMELEYE]

I chop chords on a '32 A-00. Great old dry tone. Really gets heard! Ce

[struma6]

I have an Epi MM50. It's a POS but fun to play and learn on. Personally I wouldn't spend $1,500-$2,000 on an instrument to learn on...but that's just me.

 

 

 

I went to toss my accordion into a dumpster and it landed on a banjo....

 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[TommyK]

After my MIL passed away, my wife and her sisters got it in their minds that their Arkansan father needed something to keep himself busy. He liked to go to bluegrass concerts and commented once that he always wanted to play banjo. Then I get this facebook message from my daughter that she found a banjo on a craigslist like site for $30.00 and wondered if she had it mailed to me if I could fix it up. I said, 'Sure'

 

Here is what the case looked like:

 

 

From the looks of the flower I figured this to be a 'good' one.

 

Behind Door Number 1:

This is a pac-rim, cheap as they come, banjo. The name plate was stuck on with double sided foam tape, approx 1/16" thick. You can stack 3 playing cards underneath the brass like name plate. This was, apparently, a no-name banjo which got branded on the cheap.

 

Trained noticers out there will note that the 5th string tuner is missing. I replaced the tuner, bought a new bridge, re-strung it. I even removed the hooks and head, polished the pot and cleaned the head. She sparkled like a shiny new dime. Then, no sooner did I get it playable, when an opportunity to deliver it to him came up (we live 500 miles a way, these things need to be planned.) The opportunity came up so quick I forgot to take after photos.

 

The case needed some work but I was able to get it usable. My wife bought him a 'how to' book with DVD to go with it so he could teach himself. He was tickled pink.

 

This is the only banjo I ever had in my possession.

[JuanCarlosVejar]

After my MIL passed away, my wife and her sisters got it in their minds that their Arkansan father needed something to keep himself busy. He liked to go to bluegrass concerts and commented once that he always wanted to play banjo. Then I get this facebook message from my daughter that she found a banjo on a craigslist like site for $30.00 and wondered if she had it mailed to me if I could fix it up. I said, 'Sure'

 

Here is what the case looked like:

 

 

From the looks of the flower I figured this to be a 'good' one.

 

Behind Door Number 1:

This is a pac-rim, cheap as they come, banjo. The name plate was stuck on with double sided foam tape, approx 1/16" thick. You can stack 3 playing cards underneath the brass like name plate. This was, apparently, a no-name banjo which got branded on the cheap.

 

Trained noticers out there will note that the 5th string tuner is missing. I replaced the tuner, bought a new bridge, re-strung it. I even removed the hooks and head, polished the pot and cleaned the head. She sparkled like a shiny new dime. Then, no sooner did I get it playable, when an opportunity to deliver it to him came up (we live 500 miles a way, these things need to be planned.) The opportunity came up so quick I forgot to take after photos.

 

The case needed some work but I was able to get it usable. My wife bought him a 'how to' book with DVD to go with it so he could teach himself. He was tickled pink.

 

This is the only banjo I ever had in my possession.

 

 

thanks Tommy I enjoy great stories too !!!

thanks for the pics as well .

I smiled while reading this :D

[Pickax]

Mando? Yes! Gibson 24 A-Jr Snakehead, Hogan F-5 and a pre Gibson Flatiron Pancake. Love playing these little pickers and they compete for my Guitar playing time. Go out and get one!

[devellis]

I have several mandolins (including a Gibson A3 and Gibson F4) and a couple of banjos (a 5-string and a tenor). If you're wanting to expand from guitar, the mandolin, in my opinion, is more similar to guitar than the 5-string banjo or even the tenor banjo. Flatpicking guitar and flatpicking mandolin have a lot in common, even though the left-hand fingering is different. Fingerpicking guitar and fingerpicking banjo I find quite different because the banjo makes use of the high G string on what would otherwise be the bass side of the neck. Of course, it all depends on what you're used to and if someone was really proficient on banjo and guitar, they'd be able to move between those two instruments more easily than between mandolin and guitar. But I think for most guitar players, taking up mandolin would be less of a hurdle than 5-string banjo. Tenor guitar is another thing entirely. If strummed, I suspect that it wouldn't be that difficult to adapt to from guitar. I play Irish traditional music on tenor (when I play tenor banjo, which is almost never these days) and that's flatpicking, not strumming. I'm assuming you're not talking about a tenor guitar, so I won't go into any detail.

 

Bottom line, I think mandolin is closer to a guitar in approach than is a 5-string banjo. Mandolin is also fairly versatile and its tone is less overpowering than a banjo's. They're nice instruments. Of course, there are several different styles and while pretty much any style can be used for most types of music, some mandolins are better for certain musical genres than are others. Probably the most universally useful mandolin style is an A-style body with f-holes. The A-style body saves the unnecessary expense of the carved scrolls seen on F-style mandolins and the f-holes give a bit more cut and projection than an oval hole. I personally favor oval holes but I don't play bluegrass. Oval holes have been played by bluegrass players with great results but f-hole instruments are far more common in that genre. F-hole instruments have also been used in just about every other type of music, including classical. Oval holes have a sweetness that I prefer for the stuff I play but are arguably a bit less versatile.

 

In my opinion, starting with a fancy f-style mandolin (the ones with the scroll on the bass side and points onthe treble side) is a big mistake. That style of body costs more to build and you end up paying for features that don't contribute at all to tone. In high end instruments, going for that look is understandable if it really appeals to you and you don't mind paying extra for it. But in a basic instrument, it sucks up a substantial proportion of the total cost and doesn't add to the tone at all. I have mandolins in multiple configurations, including f-hole instruments with A-style and F-style body shapes and oval hole instruments with A-style and f-style body shapes. The F-style body shape looks cool but it doesn't alter tone appreciably.

 

Hope this helps.