Hello there!
Some of you may know that I am a banjo fiend. Some people say things to me like:
“Why do you have so many?”
“Is that really necessary?”
“That’s stupid.”
and
“Have you gained weight?”
But that is all beside the point, because I just got a new banjo, and celebrations must be had. This new magnificent beast comes from the USA division of Recording King. The idea for this banjo came about when I saw Noam Pikelny with the Punch Brothers and decided that I needed to be just like him (too bad I can’t grow sideburns).
This new banjo is based off of a prewar Gibson “Style 12” banjo, and the main differences between this banjo and a regular banjo is the Top Tension design. Basically I can adjust the head tension from the top without having to take the resonator off, which isn’t really necessary, but it sure looks cool. Speaking of looking cool, how bout those gigantic Art Deco inlays? EH? Pretty cool right?
Needless to say, this new instrument has only been in my possession for a little over a month, but the ideas that it has given me so far have been invaluable. I cannot wait to follow it’s glorious path of tone and see what sort of music it inspires as the sound of this instrument is beyond what I imagined a banjo could sound like. Even my fellow band mates said things like “Cool… I guess” and “Can you stop playing now?” This banjo will most certainly be on our upcoming record, and I’m excited to see where it takes me… and hey… if it doesn’t take me anywhere, at least i’ll look cool, right?
Kam