[NOTSBA Friends] Hide the women and children...Ed's at it again

[phillip sparks]

Ed,

World Music, Nashville, in the same shopping center as Bellevue Kroger, across the way from the Violin Shop, sells the "Indiana IB 200" with gig bag for $200, not a bad beginner's banjo. I would be happy to help you set it up--which can make a world of difference in how it sounds.



I can also sell you a top-quality Whyte Ladie reproduction for $800, all set up and ready to go, but now is probably not the time for such a major leap.



(-: Phil



PS: You might let me look at your Gretch. It might be made to play and sound OK. I know of no other instrument that can be tweeked into sounding so much better. By the way, all banjos go "Wah Wah" when you pull on the neck. That is not a sign of poor quality. I've never seen a Gretch banjo, but they made some OK cheap guitars.





  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ed Gregory<mailto:edgregory at comcast.net> 
  To: 'Friends and Members of NOTSBA'<mailto:friends at nashvilleoldtime.org> 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:46 AM
  Subject: [NOTSBA Friends] Hide the women and children...Ed's at it again


  About a month ago, I saw a great video on YouTube called "Rocket Science
  video" that made clawhammer seem approachable for the first time - in
  theory.

   

  I couldn't bring myself to try it on this wretch of a Gretsch banjo that
  somebody dropped off years ago. Luthier friends refuse to touch this thing.
  I don't know why, though, because it's cool that you can flex the neck while
  you play and get some real interesting wah-wah effects.

  Last weekend, I went to Rebecca Weiler's beginner banjo workshop at Uncle
  Dave Macon days (co-hosted NOTSBA via the person of Ray Mathes) and held a
  real banjo, tuned and everything. I was stunned to find that between her
  coaching and remembering that video, I could brush and pluck without falling
  out of my chair.

  I came home and tuned the Wretsch as best I could and went through Rebecca's
  exercises. With this mess, whose strings quick sag and do not line up in
  orderly fashion, I cannot do more than 1-5, or is it 5-1?   But I was having
  a ball. I one-stringed for a couple of hours on the Wretsch and my wife
  walked by and said something, after years of listening to me learn mando,
  fiddle, and guitar, that I thought I'd never hear and she thought she'd
  never say.

  "Honey, you're just going to have to buy a banjo. That's all there is to
  it."

  (Later, she confessed that it was not that she was awed by my raw talent,
  but that she couldn't stand the thought of me woodshedding on the Wretsch
  for the next couple of years.)



  I've looked online for a music store that might rent one on a monthly basis
  so I can be a little more certain before I invest $100 or more on a good
  banjo  (kidding).

   

  But I am getting ready to make modest investment in a beginner banjo and
  would love to have your input - especially on what NOT to do on a first
  banjo purchase.

   

  ~Ed Gregory

   

   

   

   

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