Banjo- mandolin

[DENNY7P]

does anybody play one ,i wonder how they like them

[bgjunkie]

I have an old Weymann & Sons mandolin banjo. It has a 7" skin head. It is fun to mess around with every once in a while, but not something I play much. I like to play ragtime and some old time stuff on it.

[Ken Berner]

I've had a few in the past, all Fairbanks-Vega. My keeper is a 1926 Style K that I have made several upgrades to. If you can get one in good playable condition, you would probably enjoy it. I jam with mine and have no problem being heard!

[jim_n_virginia]

I have one. It's pretty fun to play but I don't take it out much. I'll play it sometimes if I have a jam or picking party at my house.

Me and a friend have Dueling Banjo's worked out sorta as like a joke and I can cross pick it and it sounds surprisingly like a clawhammered banjo or tenor banjo.

Maybe one day I'll use it for a gig sorta as a novelty thing.

One thing for sure is it SURE cuts through a jam pretty easy! #

[Santiago]

Why on earth would someone want their mandolin to sound like that? It's hard enough to figure out why someone would want their B-Jo to sound like that!

[mandroid]

Ive got 2, one 8 string, one 4 string . 10" head

working on fixing up another BM as a 4 string. another 10"

next would be a Tenor banjo. But I contribute soprano voice to the Irish tuned tenor of a Galway born friend,
when I get a chance, and know the melody line/tune.
other than that I use double stops as a harmonic line along with the melody/chord changes.

[Givson]

I would recommend a tenor banjo. Banjos are by design pretty short on sustain. A banjo with a mandolin scale length is going to have even less sustain than a tenor banjo with a longer scale. A tenor banjo is tuned in fifths like a mandolin and is the original "mandolin banjo", designed to lure mandolinists looking to learn a new instrument. Its longer scale length and single strings make it a more versatile and musical instrument.

[bienkow1]

Dawg plays one on "Stealin'" off Shady Grove, and I think it adds to that old timey feel. I mess around with one at Elderly all the time.

[Jim Garber]

I have an old Weymann & Sons mandolin banjo. It has a 7" skin head. It is fun to mess around with every once in a while, but not something I play much. I like to play ragtime and some old time stuff on it.

I also have one of those Weymann's. One of the few mandolin-banjos I could stomach. My bridge warped tho and I have to make a new one (or have it made) -- in my spare time.

[allenhopkins]

Own and play a Vega Little Wonder. #IMHO it's a "niche" instrument, fun for ragtimey and jug-band stuff, raucous and unsubtle, but light-hearted and high-spirited. #I've done a bit of the more "music hall" klezmer tunes on banjo-mandolin.

I also work in a Celtic group in which Mark Deprez plays a very nice instrument he built himself; it's one of the principal lead voices. #If you'd like to hear how it sounds in that context, here's a link to the Innisfree page at my website where you can listen to a couple MP3's of his playing.

[Ken Berner]

One good upgrade I made to my mandolin banjo was a mahogany bridge by Red Henry. Mahogany will reduce some of the harshness of this instrument and the price is right.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Anyone try one the newer banjo mandolins - Goldtone MB850 or Tyler Mountain TMBM200?

[johnwalser]

I have an 1920 banjo mandolin I have alterered with:

Fat Frets
Plastic Clear 10 1/2" head
A mandolin style bridge I made of ebony
JazzMando flatwound strings
A chrome armrest

I played it with a traveling Gospel group at chapel a few weeks ago and they loved the sound it makes. Everyone that plays it say it sounds more mellow than the average banjo mandolin,

John