View Full Version : curious about a mandolin banjo
presto120270
Feb-07-2010, 7:59pm
I found a mandolin banjo on EBAY. May father has this very animal with a different head. PLease tell me what you guys thing. My dad's need s tone ring and a head and it should be right as rain for what it is. here is the link if I do this right. Who made it?
http://shop.ebay.com/310197436651
Thanks
Preston
allenhopkins
Feb-07-2010, 8:12pm
Well, almost anything's worth $35, but I'd pass on this one. Looks like a nondescript "trade" level mandolin banjo. Hard to tell who made it; many were sold through catalogs and by the big distributors such as Bruno, B & J, etc. There are many of these instruments around, and this one has no tone ring and a pretty thin shell, so doubt its sound is all that great.
Perhaps someone else will recognize the headstock shape and give it a more accurate ID.
8ch(pl)
Feb-08-2010, 4:10am
The tailpiece alone is worth about $50.
presto120270
Feb-08-2010, 4:49am
thanks, well I am not going to get it because I will get my dad's it does not have a tone ring either. Anyway I am going to try to get one. And as far as the sound, without the tone ring, it will not stay in tune over 3 strokes of the pick. LOL
Thanks Agian
8ch(pl)
Feb-08-2010, 9:26am
Are you sure there is no tone ring? Some had a simple round tone ring that was let into a recess around the outside edge of the pot. My Vega is one of these. It is very hard to detect while the skin is in place.
allenhopkins
Feb-08-2010, 9:54am
Perhaps some confusion over the definition of "tone ring." This was a metal ring on top of the wooden banjo shell, directly under the head, designed to increase the volume and improve the tone of the instrument. It shouldn't have anything to do with staying in tune. Most of the cheaper instruments didn't have tone rings; the head was stretched directly over the shell. The ring or hoop around the outside of the instrument, which stretches the head tight and into which the brackets are hooked, is called the "stretcher band" or "tension hoop"; its main function is to keep tension on the head.
presto120270
Feb-08-2010, 2:14pm
I am glad I am participating on this forum. It is not a tone ring I am talking about then, it is tension hoop. Thanks. I am trying to get this little thing out of my dad's hands and get it fixed up but until then it will be out of tune. LOL. I am new to playing music, so any info is almost new to me. Tanks again
bigbike
Feb-08-2010, 9:32pm
One thing that tends to go with them is the heel. As with most "banjo" and Banjo type instruments, you need a great close fit between the heel and the pot in order for the instrument to have great tone. Having a tone ring is also paramount for great sound. Look carefully at the heel of your dads instrument. The problem is that the tension put on by mandolin strings tends to cause weakness and splitting of the heel in many old banjo-mandolins, or mandolin banjos. I have seen many of them and played quite a few, and it is an inherant weakness.
But they are a quaint novelty and unusual to take to a jam. Hardly anybody has seen them, let alone heard a decent one. And by the way they play a nice blues set of music on em.
mandroid
Feb-10-2010, 3:53pm
Neck to rimstick joint also tends to need re gluing, after 80 years.
Unless I am misunderstanding your statement you seem to be misinterpreting the neck/rim connection. there is no glue at that point. the thing holding the neck to the banjolin is the screw at the opposite end of the dowel stick running through the banjo body (behind the head). The mechanism just inside the banjo rim surrounding the dowel stick is to replace the missing tension due to the missing rim "hook at that point It keeps the wooden rim (and skin} in fairly consistent tension. The only important glue joint at that point holds the dowel stick in the neck.
There is some very good stuff on Youtube featuring banjo mandolins. Here is one example you might enjoy.... But there is a lot more. A growing number of musicians are taking banjo mandolins seriously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5e3JcoDnUc&feature=related
PS:
The seller may not know there is a tone ring under the skin as it is hard to see.
Sorry Mandroid... I didn't read your last post carefully (regarding the stck and neck gluejoint connection).
By the way that might be a good thing... Check the stick/neck connection and the straightness of the stick. It must be perfectly straight to function properly. even a minor bend wiill affect playability greatly.
Whoops... another mistake... I meant to use this one as an example of mandolin banjo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ82pDuMBVI&feature=related