Hi,
I’m going to get myself a nice 1920s tenor banjo soon and need a tutor to get the technique right. I’m fairly confident with irish music and know what’s the difference between jigs and reels 
, so something more technique-focused than music-focused would be great. Doesn’t have to be irish trad. at all actually.
Many thanks in advance for advice!
cool
what banjo are you going to get?
for the jazz banjo I’d suggest Buddy Wachter tutorial - it’s great.
http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0201863/details.html
for irish - Gerry O’Connor
http://claddaghrecords.com/WWW/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1461
and pretty new one by Enda Scahill.
http://www.endascahill.com/Enda_Scahill/The_Tutor.html
you can join us on banjohangout.com there’s a section for tenor banjo players.
http://www.banjohangout.org/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=29
best of luck
Hi Padre,
thanks a lot for the tutor links! I might get all three of them…
The banjo I’m getting is currently being restored by a friend who bought it in parts off ebay. It’s probably a not-so-expensive Slingerland/May Bell or Orpheum or something like that - unfortunately there’s no mark or other hint regarding its maker. I’m not very knowledgeable regarding banjos…so here’s what I’ve been told: it is an open-back 11" archtop type banjo with wooden dowel stick made from birds-eye maple. Short scale (17 frets) to accomodate my shortish fingers. Scale length is a bit short of 21". The headplate was black cardboard and has been replaced with ebony and some mother-of-pearl inlays. The tailpiece is a new one, the armrest is vintage and made by “Elton”. A part of the fretboard was missing and has been replaced as well. All wooden parts are unpainted (just nitro-varnished) and look lovely. The skin is a see-thru plastic thing which brings out the lovely dowel stick. The neck is made of flamed maple, fretboard is ebony. No idea what wood the rim is made from, looks like some maple as well. It’s a compact instrument and looks lovely, even now in it’s unfinished state. I hope that I’ll be able to collect it this week!
Sounds like an interesting banjo you’ve got there. Shall I keep my eyes open for a 19-fret Orpheum neck for you? They do turn up from time to time, and that might make you happier as far as getting that Irish banjo tone. Cheers,
Rob
Is there such a big difference between 19- and 17-fretted necks? I tried a 19-fret Framus banjo the other day and found the stretch involved too big to be comfortable, but on the 17-fret neck my fingers sit just right. I could not actually play it until now since it’s still in restoration.
Whatever, I don’t play any stringed instrument at the moment and can’t really judge on what’s better…I just know that the stretch involved with regular guitars and especially bouzoukis is way too much for my fingers (been there, done that, suffered heavily), and the same general feeling occured when trying the 19-fret Framus, but not with the unnamed shortscale banjo.
Anyway, if the price’s not too high, having a second 19 fret neck might be a nice option for the future…so please let me know if you find something! 
Well, virtually everybody in Ireland plays a 19-fret banjo. The longer scale gives that snappy sound. There are things you can do with your technique to get around the stretch issue; for starters, think about ‘rolling’ your hand to get up to the high B, using the middle and ring finger as the pivot, rather than doing a pure stretch.
By the way, Framus is one of the most common banjos in Ireland, so you may already be close to 4-string nirvana without realizing it. Does it have the heavy, arch-top tone ring? That’s the best one. Do try the short-scale route, but you’ll probably find that it won’t hold its own in a session, volume-wise. Cheers,
Rob
I have some first-hand experience with the Enda Scahill tutor. It’s a good one!
Thanks for the info, Rob. The Framus I tried belonged to the inventory of a cottage I recently rented for the Tubbercurry week in Sligo. That’s where the bug finally bit me, after wondering for quite some time if the banjo might suit me. It was in fact a VERY heavy one with an archtop tone ring, resonator and a very loud sound with LOTS of sustain (which made me wonder if irish players dampen the strings after plucking to prevent them from sustaining for decades…).
However, the banjo probably won’t be my (main?) session instrument for a long time as I’m pretty confident on the flute and enjoy having a small instrument bag, esp. when on a plane , so volume isn’t a concern for now. I just got message that the banjo is finished, so I’ll probably be able to hear it played tonight.
What kind of banjo does Seamus Egan (the Solas one) play by the way? That’s the sound I like most.
Seamus plays a B&D montana I think
nice banjo.
Since I’m in Ireland I’ve seen on sessions 17 fret banjo, 18 frets and 19 frets
my banjo teacher in Monkstown Comhaltas branch plays Gibson plectrum 22 frets.
the difference between 17 and 19 frets it’s not that big - it also depends on the pot - I had very nice Orpheum 2 banjo with 17 frets but 12" pot, and that gave the scale similar to some of the 19 frets banjos.
also it depends on how do you play - I’m not very ortodox and I use my pinky on 5th fret - it just suits me like that. any way I don’t see any differnce playing 17 or 19 fret banjos.
in Germany you’ve a guy that is a walking encyclopedia of knowlegde about banjos
banjoworld.de check it out he has a huge collection of banjos some of them for sale.
the banjo you’ve described seems interesting.
show us some snap shots of it.
do you know what kind of tone ring you have there?
do you have a resonator and flange?
keep an eye on ebay.de sometimes you can get there framus banjos for really good money.
The biggest difference I’ve found between 17 and 19 fret instruments isn’t so much the stretch as it is the response of the G string. In a 19 fret instrument the G is playing about as low as a banjo can play. When you shorten the neck even further, the G can get very wonky, IMO.
Then again, most of the players I know seldom if ever use the G string anyway, and couple of them might as well just take it off entirely, as they play whistle arrangements and don’t drop below the open D. I, on the other hand, will frequently chord an Irish tenor (I’m not all that trad), so I prefer the 19 fret length. And as Rob mentioned, there are other techniques. The banjo can’t be treated like an over-sized mandolin unless you’re stretch is quite good.
Thank you all for the great advice and information - C&F at its best…
So I was able to hear the banjo yesterday played by someone who can play - and how I liked it! It was not as loud as newer resonator banjos but could hold its own quite well again two fiddles, guitar etc. despite of playing outdoors. I guess that it’ll be a bit louder indoor. The tone is not as edgy as modern banjos, somehow a bit mellower with more “plong” and less “pleennnkk”, which is what I like. The G string indeed wasn’t too loud, but still okay I think. The banjo is back to the shop now, since the action has to be tweaked a bit (too low, causing rattling strings from time to time).
Here is a photo:
I’ll upload a better one as soon as I’ve got the banjo here.
Tuning the G up to A is what some do to reduce the floppiness. It doesn’t really limit the tunes you can play, you just lose the ability to have a G drone.
or just give a little bit heavier string on G
on my 17 fret Orpheum I had set of
G .40 D .30 A .20w E .13
and it sounded great
I put some photos online in the strings photos thread: https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/photo-of-your-string-instrument/58134/34
The G string works well enough for me, at least now - it’s also nice tuned to A though, give the wole thing a kind of open-tuning character.
Short scale 17-fret tenors are popular among the banjo players I mix with in glasgow. All three regular attendees at our sesh that play banjo (though not always as fist choice instrument) prefer the shorter scale.
There are pluses and minsues to both scale lengths but not enough to make any defining difference to the instrument, just personal prefernce at the end of the day.