| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 894.1 | THE DESCRIPTION | CDR::JNELSON | Damn this television. What a bad picture. | Thu Oct 06 1988 15:25 | 18 |
| Brass-tone ring Open Back Banjo with Hard shell padded case
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The body is made by the famous (but no longer existing) banjo
company "Ode" in about 1958 or 1959 of Boulder, Colorado.
It is an open-back banjo (no resonator) with a brass (bell-metal)
tone ring which is wy it sounds so beautiful. Really extraordinary
tone!
The neck is newer -- about 8 or 10 years old -- by Wildwood;
finest mother-of-pearl inlaid work in Wildwood's unique bird
and flower pattern. New strings on banjo now. Just bought
new hard shell padded professional case ($100). Also have
teach-yourself banjo book with audio cassette.
The value of such a rare and beautiful banjo is around $1000 - $1200
which is the low range for all brass tone ring banjos (professional
quality). It is in EXCELLENT condition; a real beauty.
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| 894.2 | I know a little !! | ANT::JACQUES | | Fri Oct 07 1988 11:26 | 20 |
| I have a 5-string banjo. It is an inexpensive one, HondoII.
It cost around $150 used with chipboard case. I have played
around with it during the past 1 1/2 years I've had it, but
I can't say I've put any serious effort into learning how
to play it right. Maybe someday I will.
My only complaint about the playability of it is the 5th string
tuner, which tends to slip, but this can be easily remedied
with the installation of a Shruggs tuner.
My suggestion would be to start off with an inexpensive model.
If you find out that you are serious about playing banjo, then
go out and buy a better one like you described in .1
Whatever, you decide, have fun with it.
Mark Jacques
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| 894.3 | 5-stringa | HYDRA::OLSON | Zamfir, master of the pan flute | Fri Oct 07 1988 18:58 | 22 |
| I would second the advice in -.1. Get a semi-good one for less money
first, and see if you like it. Also, availability of teacher and
other players can be a problem. I've had lessons from three different
teachers in three seperate styles (tenor, clawhammer and bluegrass).
It's not been easy to find lessons in the Worcester area. My last
teacher was pretty good, but soon (in 2 1/2 months) ran out of
material. Tenor (4-string) banjo was his specialty, but I was more
interested in learning bluegrass at the time.
If you're interested in bluegrass (the most popular five string
playing) I would get Earl Scruggs book (and record) on playing 5-string
banjo. He's recognized as one of the originators of the three-finger
picking style.
It is a real fun instrument ... most people enjoy hearing even the
simplest songs (most of the songs I know), and it's not too hard
to pick up given the open tunings.
Chuck O
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| 894.4 | flexibility | ANT::JACQUES | | Mon Oct 10 1988 16:05 | 0 |
| 894.5 | silly me... | CDR::JNELSON | Damn this television. What a bad picture. | Mon Oct 10 1988 21:23 | 9 |
| Hi, me again.
I intentionally deleted the quoted price from .1, for a reason
which escapes me now. It was $700. Does that make any difference
to the authors of .2 & .3 (.4 is currently being written)?
Thanks for the input
Regards,
Jon
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| 894.6 | | ZYDECO::MCABEE | Time to change my personal name | Tue Oct 18 1988 13:12 | 10 |
| The Ode you describe is is a clawhammer style instrument. If that's
not what you want to play, then you probably should look elsewhere.
Personally, I prefer the sound of an open-back banjo for all kinds
of music, but I'm definitely in the minority. What style do you
want to play?
$700 is likely to be a fair (market) price for an Ode.
Bob
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