Frailer'
- I have been working on this frailing banjo since the
mid-seventies. Originally, I bought the mahogany neck blank and an unturned
beech rim from Stewart-MacDonald. The fingerboard was bought from George
Gruhn (a GTR) and I had the simple one-piece headstock inlay done by Randy
Wood's group at 'The Pickin' Parlor' - then located in Nashville. I purchased
the hardware (tension hoop, shoes, brackets) from Stewart-MacDonald along
with a 1/4 inch rolled brass "tone ring." The present tuners
were purchased in the late 80s from David West of Cider Hill Music in Knoxville,
TN. In addition, I have a resonator and flanges bought from Saga Musical
Supplies.
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- Working with this banjo has been a labor of love and
its history keeps being enhanced as changes are made. My next planned move
is to have the beech rim turned on a lathe so the resonator and flanges
will fit better (the rim is just a bit 'fat').
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- The sound is warm and not-too-loud for bluegrass and
somehow I have a deep feeling that there is a great banjo in there just
looking to come out. After all, I have heard some great sounding RB-1s...
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- This is probably more than you wanted to know, but hey,
this is a banjo page and you wouldn't be here reading this if you were
not interested...at least I hope this is the case!
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