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Andybanjo's news & information page
 Welcome to the revised page of news, information & special offers.If there are any information items that you would like to see posted here, perhaps you could e-mail and tell me (things you would like to know, things you think other people ought to know etc etc ..............);
April 2008 - Stock-taking ...... the aftermath ...
08/04/2008
 Apologies to those people who were trying to phone us yesterday whilst we were closed for stock-taking - we will catch up with all the messages just as soon as we can this morning.
The annual stock-take is where we have to find all the instruments that we've taken in part-exchange over the previous 12 months. As there do seem to be rather a lot of these, we'll have to do some sorting out and maybe have a "yard sale" once the weather gets better ............ we've certainly got a big enough front yard and it's mostly unused at weekends!
We are still in the throes of upgrading and updating the website - as some of you will know, the "bones" of this website have been around for a long time (around 11 years .....) and the present structure has been in place since 2001.
We felt it was time to try to catch up with modern trends in website design - but we've encountered the usual gremlins lurking in the software. We are assured by the hosting company (BFInternet) that "it will be alright on the night" so we'll let you know when the changeover is imminent ..
There are some "Spring promotions" now listed - and there will be some more to come as soon as I have time to put them up on the website. It's high time I did some Spring Cleaning anyway to clear out some of the stuff that has accumulated over the winter. Watch this column for details!
The phones seem to be working OK at the moment & we think we've got a workable system for now.
Our aim is that phones should be covered from 10am - 4pm, 7 days a week. If you get the "engaged" tone during those hours, it means we're on the phone to customers. Outside of those hours, there is an answerphone on which you can leave a message - we try to pick them up & reply as soon as we can.
The BTCallMinder during the working day has been discontinued - it seemed to confuse people and lead them to think that we were "never there". I suppose that's a natural reaction to hearing an answerphone cut in and, in similar circumstances, I am often tempted to skip the actual message too!
E-mail is dealt with at least once a day (usually much more often now) and you should get a reply within 24 hours of sending a message - if you don't, your message didn't get through to us. Please try again directly to andybanjo@aol.com rather than via the website contact link.
Steps are now in hand to install a secure link from the website so that you can order and pay on-line. This facility will be available for those who wish to use it - but it will not be mandatory. You will still be able to phone and discuss your requirements before placing an order if you prefer to do that. Hopefully, it will provide a quick & convenient order/payment method for those who know exactly what they want.
Winter/Spring Changeover Sale
15/03/2008
 New stocks are now arriving to fill the gaps left by the Christmas rush. The promotion on Rover & Saga banjos is going well and we'll most likely add a few Gold Stars as well in the near future ..
As there are a lot of p/x items that have accumulated over the winter, I'll try to list a few of them on the site so that people can get an idea of the sorts of things that are available ...
The picture shows the first of the new Saga Style 3 resonator 5-strings - these are now available & full details are on the website ...
There is a 20% promotional discount on Gold Star banjos for a limited time - great banjos at bargain prices ....
Spring promotion - Gold Star Bluegrass 5-strings
14/03/2008
 The new stock has arrived here - so there is a Spring promotion under way. 20% discount across the board on banjos which are the latest models and seriously upgraded from standard "factory spec".
In response to customer feedback, it is now my policy to upgrade all these banjos prior to sale to get the very best performance from them has been popular ........... not that they aren't good with the factory specification - but there are some areas which benefit from attention.
Specifically:-
(a) the resonator mounting arrangements, whilst perfectly "period", leave somewhat to be desired - these will be altered so that the flanges sit neatly into the rebates in the resonator rims
(b) the Remo head, whilst adequate, won't take anything like the tension that you can get on a 5-Star - all models will be fitted with 5-Star heads as standard
(c) the Presto tailpiece, whilst producing a pleasant sound, offers no possibility of variation as it isn't adjustable - all models will be fitted with the Kerschner tailpiece as standard
(d) the factory bridges, frankly, aren't up to much and much more serious items will be provided with all banjos ....... we always did do this as well as replacing the factory strings ...... :-)
"Upgraded model" list prices for the GF85/GF100/GF200 will be £795/£895/£995 respectively - Spring promotion brings them down to £636/716/797 respectively.
I do have a couple of GF300 banjos in stock as well. They haven't been upgraded or set-up yet and I'll publish a price for them as soon as I can. If you would be interested in one, just phone or e-mail. Spec is very similar to the GF200 except that the metalwork is gold-plated and the fingerboard is "Flying Eagles" like the GF100E.
To help you compare these prices with a direct import form the USA, I have shown the total price that you would have to pay for each of these banjos including the standard hard case and delivery to most UK postcodes (£855, £955, £1055 respectively) - though you don't have to buy the case if you don't want it - and you can collect the banjo if you prefer.
I have also shown the import charges that have already been paid on each of these items - remember that my prices include all charges and there is nothing to pay on arrival!!
If you deduct the charges already paid from the total price, you will have a realistic basis for comparison against the amount you would pay to a US mail order dealer for the banjo, hard case & shipping cost - you pay the import charges separately on delivery.
For instance, the GF85 costs £855 including a hard case and delivery to most UK addresses. To make the comparison, deduct £215 = £640. Multiply by the tourist exchange rate that your card company uses (around $1.97 at the moment) and you have a figure in dollars. Deduct the shipping & insurance cost (typically around $150 - $200) and you have a US$ price to compare against the price on a US website.
I think you'll find that the price isn't wholly uncompetitive and you're getting a seriously upgraded product (have a look at the price US Dealers charge for doing just some of these jobs ..), all the benefits of dealing with a UK based supplier AND having a UK based warranty .......All the Gold Stars that I offer for sale are professionally set up in the most experienced Banjo Workshop in the UK.
As soon as I get a bit of spare time, I'm going to post up some details of exactly what we mean here at the Banjo Works by the expression "set-up" - some dealers seem to think it means no more than getting the bridge in approximately the right place and tuning the strings ....
The banjo illustrated here is the lovely flamed maple GF200
Vintage 5-string open back banjos
13/03/2008
 There seems to be a widespread impression that we "don't do" vintage banjos any more. Whilst it is true that the bulk of the stock consists of brand new or modern secondhand items, that still leaves space for a few (dozen) vintage pieces .......
As we hardly ever have time to post anything secondhand up on the website, the wide selection of old banjos (refurbished/restored and ready to go) isn't readily apparent to the website browser ........... and they are worth a look! If I have time, I'll post up a selection of "typical" items to illustrate the sorts of things that are here ............
Apart from seriously "collectible" items, all our banjos will have been completely sorted out and tastefully modernised i.e. re-fretted, new top/5th string nuts, new heads, reproduction vintage style planetary tuners & geared 5th pegs etc etc - so that they tune up & play much the same as modern banjos.
In addition to these "original" items, we also have "rescue" banjos. These are made up from lovely old rims whose original necks have gone past the point of economic restoration fitted with good quality modern reproduction necks. In some ways, these banjos offer real advantages - the modern truss-rodded necks will stand much heavier stringing than you would ever dare to put on a vintage neck ..... and it is quite rewarding to get old banjos "back on the road" so that their voices are not forever silenced .....
Prices for these "rescue" banjos tend to be a little cheaper than the equivalent banjo with an original neck in first class playing order - in many cases, you are actually only paying for the re-neck job, the rim itself being effectively free .....
Here is a montage of the first 14 vintage banjos that were sitting on the shelf in the stockroom one afternoon some weeks ago - that's all that I had time to photograph. Price range was from £150 - £250 - I didn't get far enough along the shelf to get into the more expensive instruments.
Current price range is from £150 - £995 and the present stock consists of a couple of dozen assorted Windsors, John Greys & Houghtons as well as a few nice Essex & Dallas models etc .... there are even one or two more exotic items .....
As ever, give us a call if you're wanting this kind of instrument - most customers for vintage banjos come to the Banjo Works to play through the stock but if you're fairly clear about what you want, it is perfectly possible (& quite easy) to buy by mail order.
Even though buying an old instrument without playing it first isn't the ideal way to do it, many people live in areas where that simply isn't possible - and relying on getting an instrument from a stall at a festival isn't to be whole-heartedly recommended (how many of us have regretted an impulse purchase made in the heat/enthusiasm of a great day out?).
Buying a vintage banjo from us isn't anything like as chancy as a bid on an untried instrument on an internet auction site .... all the banjos are professionally refurbished & guaranteed and you can return anything that doesn't suit you for exchange or refund without question. Our banjos are already sorted out (no searching the internet trying to find rare vintage spare parts ...) and are often little more expensive than the so-called "bargains" on auction sites ..
Repair, restoration & appraisal services
12/03/2008
Well, the really good news is that we are making considerable progress with the backlog of existing repair jobs .. it's now down to a very few items. A big "thank-you" to those patient souls who have waited (and are still waiting, in some cases) so long for their banjos to be put "back on the road".
We had hoped to clear the backlog by Easter but it didn't happen .... we were simply been too busy to be able to devote the necessary time to this kind of work. Hopefully, we'll clear everything by the end of April.
With this in mind, we can now consider taking on a few "servicing jobs" for vintage banjos - but no serious, extensive rebuild/restoration jobs as yet ........... and we can probably go back to doing some appraisals and valuation by e-mail as well .. I'll post up details on the website as soon as I can ..
Servicing & maintence for existing clients ...... we have made time for servicing and maintaining the fairly large number of new & restored vintage banjos that we have sold to existing clients.
Servicing & maintenance on banjos we have sold is (and will continue to be) available on a priority basis as will any necessary warranty jobs. For this type of work on banjos which have been purchased from us, existing clients should just "book in" as usual.
Regrettably, for the time being, such work on Gold Tone/Gold Star or other modern banjos NOT bought from us cannot be undertaken. Whilst we have previously been able to do initial set-up jobs on instruments brought in from the USA as "direct imports", we simply don't have time to do this at the moment.
We may be able to start offering this kind of service again at some stage in the future.
Website catalogue re-organisation
21/02/2008
 The long-awaited rebuild & re-organisation of the website is now under way. Some of the software "played up" in the week and random category heading started appearing all over the site. This has been fixed but I have little doubt that there will be further mishaps along the road to the "new-look" site. Thanks in advance for your patience!
The first changes have already been made - the actual product details (the "pop-ups" that you get when you click on the instrument description) should now be much easier to read/use. In due course, the quality of the pictures will be upgraded too - at the moment, they are still configured to be easily downloadable at "dialup" speeds ...
The next stage - updating the "scroll-down" lists of types of product - is also in train and should be finished by the end of March. Then I'll have to go through and check just how comprehensive those lists are .. I'm aware that there seem to be an awful lot more banjos around here than the website would suggest ....
The next bit after that will be the updating of the "Home Page" - the web designers tell me that "floating" drop-down menus are the "in thing" (does the use of that expression date me horribly?). Apparently a 3-column layout is the current favourite so that's what we'll be doing ....
Concurrently with all this will the addition of the "pay-on-line" facility to the order system - though I must stress that this will not be mandatory. You will still be able to phone and discuss your order before placing it and paying for it.
After that, we address the "Parts & Accessories" listings ...
This will all take some time to complete so please bear with us whilst this work is in progress. The site may look a bit "scrappy" for a while as the progress of the updating proceeds - it's simply not possible to do it all over a single week with a site as big as this one ....
Once the site has been updated, it may start to be possible to list some of the other banjos that are physically in the Works but which don't fit into the existing set-up of the website.
We apologise for anything that is unclear and you are welcome to e-mail us at the Works if you need explanations - or phone if you prefer ..........
Website catalogue vs stock in the shop
07/01/2008
 Unlike many web traders, we aim to have all the instruments shown on the site physically in stock all the time.
Where a particular line has sold out or is unavailable for some other reason, that will be indicated on the listing. We try pretty hard on this - though we don't claim to be perfect ...
The other side of this coin is that there are always a great many more banjos in the shop than there are on the website. We don't generally list secondhand items as they usually sell from the shop before they can be listed - though sometimes they make it if we're having a burst of special efficiency. Have a look at the article about vintage open back 5-strings on this page for further info.
We also have new instruments that we just haven't got round to writing up & photographing - and there are numerous "custom" variations on existing lines as well. A phone call to the shop may reveal that we've actually got in stock the exact thing you're looking for .....
This picture gives a brief glimpse of two of our 5 stockrooms - piled up with banjos to the ceiling, as ever ..
It may also be worth noting that we do all our own photography (that explains the somewhat "Box Brownie" approach ..) - but it does mean that you get a picture of an actual instrument that exists and is available for sale - not a library shot lifted from a glossy manufacturer's website .......
Grafton Clipper banjos - a new model ........
07/01/2008
 As the "Popular" and "Popular #2" banjos have gone so well, we've now moved on to the next stage of the "Grafton" banjo range.
In addition to the "Pops", we now offer the "Clipper". Same range of models as for the "Pops" - "old-time" open back 5-string, "bluegrass" resonator 5-string (both models available right and left-handed), shortscale "Irish" open back tenor, shortscale "Irish/Jazz" resonator tenor, standard scale "Irish/Jazz" resonator tenor and "Singalong/Jazz" resonator plectrum. 8 varieties of essentially the same banjo - each one constructed and set-up specially for the particular sort of music for which it is appropriate.
Basic specification is rather higher than the "Pops" - this is a maple banjo with a thick rim, twin co-ordinator rods, a rolled brass tone ring and heavy-duty hardware. It would make an excellent first instrument - but the sound and build quality are so good that this banjo will be an ideal intermediate grade banjo too ... frankly, it knocks spots off any other product in this price range ... no matter where it comes from ....
Specifications & pictures have been been posted up on the website. If you want a run-down of how this product compares with other well-known banjos in this price range, just give me a call ....
Prices are £245 for the open back version and £275 for the resonator versions. The picture shows the shortscale open back tenor - a small "session" banjo which you can compare with other products of this type ......
Grafton "Popular" & "Popular #2" banjos
07/01/2008
 a range of entry-level banjos with all the features you need in a decent starter instrument. They have planetary tuners (with geared 5th string pegs on 5-strings), properly dressed, smooth fingerboards & fretting, lovely low actions, 2-point neck fixing for great tuning stability, brass tone rings, 24 brackets, good quality tailpieces, nice firm armrests and attractive, easy-to-remove resonators for flexibility in playing ..... all at a sensible price for a beginner!
This has been achieved by having the parts made to specification in various large factories - and assembling them here in my workshop.
The Grafton "Popular" range (now 8 models - standard resonator 5-string, standard open back "old-time" 5-string, lefty resonator 5-string, lefty open back "old-time" 5-string, standard resonator tenor, shortscale open back tenor, shortscale resonator tenor, resonator plectrum) is priced at £195 for the resonator models and £175 for the open backs.
They are much the same price as (or only a little more expensive than) a great many other entry-level instruments which are nothing like so well built or specified ............
All 8 models are now listed in their respective sections on the website.
A range of "beginner's complete outfits" will be posted up very soon - details will be on the website shortly. If you're in a hurry, give me a call - resonator banjos outfits will be £235, open back "old-time" £215 with gig bags, £270/£250 with hard cases.
In response to demand, we are now making a "Popular #2" - basically similar banjos but with heavier rims to produce a louder and more "cutting" tone. It's available in open back 5-string format (£195) as well as resonator plectrum, resonator standard tenor and resonator shortscale tenor (all 3 models at £235). Other versions could easily be built "to order" - just give us a call.
Meantime, here is a picture of the Popular #2 standard scale resonator tenor with archtop tone ring.
ANC/Fedex Parcel deliveries
07/01/2008
 The system seems to be working fine now - and many parcels are being delivered a bit quicker than ParcelForce used to do it .... though the price remains the same at £10 for most UK postcodes and £20 for Highlands & Islands, I-O-M, Ulster and the Republic of Ireland.
The ANC Euroeconomy service is also available to many EU countries. The pricing system is not "flat rate" like the UK/Ireland service and depends on the size & weight of the purchase. Please enquire for details, giving your address and an indication of the sort of thing you'd be interested in. For example, a uke banjo to Belgium costs a good deal less than a heavy bluegrass 5-string to Spain ......
Hopefully we will be able to expand this further as the ANC/Fedex consumer delivery network develops.
I'm hoping that this will turn out to have been a good move that will improve the service to customers .. though I'm not prepared to guarantee that they won't ever mess it up. Anyone who claims to have a 100% effctive delivery service is living on a different planet from the rest of us!
E-mail Communications - back to normal ...
06/01/2008
 E-mail is now doing rather better than the old "reply within 24 hours" basis.
If, however, you don't get a reply within that period, please check that you DID include the keyword "banjo" (or "andybanjo") in the "subject" line - and that you DIDN'T attach or embed any other material to/in the message. The message system accepts only plain text e-mails with appropriate keywords.
For urgent sales enquiries, orders and card payments, you may find it quicker & more covenient to phone the Banjo Works. The phone is attended from 10am - 4pm 7 days a week. There is an "out of hours" answerphone on which you can leave a message for us to call you back.
Normal service is that I do the e-mail first thing in the morning and then keep an eye on it during the day, closing down around 4pm/5pm. I now answer e-mail rather more quickly than I used to but in any event endeavour to reply to all messsages within 24 hours. If you don't get a reply within that time frame, please try again - your message probably fell foul of my filtering software.
Messages can be addressed to andybanjo@aol.com as well - but there is now similar filtering software installed there as well so you do need to be careful to put one or other of the keywords in the "subject" line.
The system has been in place for some months now and doesn't seem to be causing too much inconvenience.
Postage rates - (a) instruments & (b) parts + accessories
06/01/2008
 (A) Instruments & instrument cases
Standard ANC service is £10 per parcel for most mainland UK addresses. For the Scottish Highlands & Islands, I-O-M and Ireland (Ulster & Republic) the cost is £20 per parcel. Service is overnight to many places, 2/3 day to more remote areas.
ANC Euroeconomy parcel service is available to many EU destinations, please enquire for prices - typical range is from around £25 for a small-ish parcel to Belgium/Netherlands up to £60 for a large parcel to Spain or Italy. Price is based on the size of the parcel and the destination.
(B) Parts + accessories
Basic system is that all orders of £10 or over are post free within the UK.
Small orders under £10, add £2 P&P/Handling.
Almost all "parts & accessories" orders are sent by Royal Mail First Class Post - but please note that bulky items (like hardshell cases) are too large for the free postal service and have to go via the chargeable (£10/£20) ANC service.
Outside the UK, we use Royal Mail International Standard Service, please enquire for details.
Royal Mail have recently altered the way ordinary post is charged. Most banjo parts will now travel at the new "packet" rates - approximately twice as expensive as the old "First Class" rates. This will inevitably mean that some parts prices will have to go up - sorry! A new "Parts" list is presently under construction and we hope to publish it early next year.
Getting to the Banjo Works .......... and what to expect
04/01/2008
 Making an appointment
The Banjo Works is not a Retail Shop as such - it's an Industrial Unit full of banjos and bits of banjos. The major part of the business is Internet and Mail Order Sales - and we spend a great deal of our time building and setting-up banjos - or on the phone to customers ....
Whilst we are happy to receive visitors, we really can only cope with personal callers by prior appointment. The Banjo Works is now so busy all the time that an appointment is absolutely necessary. If you call in without phoning first, you will almost certainly have had a wasted journey.
Making an appointment is very simple:
by phone - call 01795 590374 between 10am - 4pm - or by e-mail. It is often possible to book at quite short notice - though if you need to make an appointment less than 48 hours ahead, best to use the phone rather than e-mail.
Finding the Banjo Works
We can give you simple directions over the phone from Junction 7 of the M2 - or you can look at the map and directions on the website. These seem to be working fairly well and most people are finding us pretty easily ........ though some SatNav systems seem to be a bit flaky. Some of them don't appear to recognise the roads inside Industrial Estates. As we are clearly visible from the entrance to the Estate, this doesn't seem to be too much of a problem ..
What to expect
This place is a combination of craft workshop and factory and is often described as a sort of "Aladdin's Banjo Cave" .... there are piles & piles of bits of banjo, large numbers of "jobs in progress" and innumerable cardboard boxes of "bits" - not to mention hundreds and hundreds of banjos ...
We can make visitors reasonably comfortable in one of our Stock Rooms - these aren't plush but the acoustics are good. We always talk to visitors first as we really need to have a clear idea of what's required so we can get out a selection of the appropriate instruments to be tried out.
There are no display racks or showroom arrangements as such - browsing through the entire stock simply isn't practical here, there's far too much of it.
We can do demonstrations if required but generally leave visitors alone with a rake of banjos and a cup of tea. For many people, that's close to their ideal ............ but if you really want the "glossy showroom" & "attentive salesperson" approach, you may do better in Denmark Street..
(from a conversation last week with a client who had spent a whole day in the West End of London trying to find a banjo that suited him, I rather gather that the current "West End" standards of service/facilites are not quite what I remember from the 60's ... so maybe the Banjo Works isn't quite as primitive an establishment as I think it is!)
Shortscale "Irish" tenor banjos
24/05/2007
 Lots of great little banjos on the shortscale tenor list at the moment ...
I've listed some new models on the "shortscale tenor" page - all described as "Irish" tenors though any of them can be delivered in "Jazz" tuning if required.
The 2 little "Ozark" models (TB1SS & TB2SS) are pleasant entry-level items which offer good value for money.
Some clients have enquired why I don't use the Ozark catalogue numbers on these products (2104TS etc) - this is because these are NOT standard models. I'm not all that keen on them the way they come out of the box (they don't work as well as they might) so I upgrade them as necessary. The TB1SS, for instance, comes with budget guitar-style tuners as standard - these don't work that well on a shortscale tenor so I replace them with planetary tuners ....
There are also a fair few regular & custom Gold Tone shortscale tenors at great prices.
I always have some stock of vintage/secondhand shortscale tenors. These are fully refurbished, set-up and ready to go - though they almost never make it to the website.
If you're looking for a particular banjo, give me a call for details of what's immediately available.
The picture shows the Gold Tone CC-ITS Special presently on offer - a smashing little banjo for only £275 ....
Gold Tone supply situation/prices/direct imports
01/01/2007
 Most standard Gold Tone banjos are now available from stock though some specialised items (Chord-o-harps, resonator guitars etc) may have to be ordered in from Florida. We aim to stock the widest selection of models in the UK and can also offer "custom shop" facilites.
There will be a "Gold Tone" promotion in October which will soften the impact of the new price list which came into effect on 1st June (Wayne Rogers extended the date by a month owing to the late delivery of the new catalogues/prices from the printers - there's a result!). In practice, the decline in value of the US Dollar (if it continues at the present rate) will help even more .....
If you're comparing prices against a direct import from a US mail order company, please read the piece on "direct imports" that appears at the top of the "Gold Tone" pages on this site. The major points are:-
(1) direct import isn't as cheap as it may seem as there are substantial extra charges to pay when the parcel arrives in the UK - typically around an extra 25% or so on top of the cost + the shipping charge.
(2) you get no effective guarantee or warranty with the instrument as the Gold Tone standard warranty specifically excludes banjos owned outside the USA. Any service you require in the UK will have to be paid for - possibly including the initial set-up job. Banjo set-ups, no matter how carefully done in the USA, quite often don't survive airline handling!
Beginner's complete outfits
01/01/2007
 In response to demand, we are now listing quite a few "beginner's complete outfits" - these are good value with lots of extras thrown in at a bargain price. Eventually, we aim to list outfits for most of the entry/intermediate level instruments but that will take a while.
In the meantime, we can make up (to order) a complete outfit based on any banjo in the catalogue - just phone or e-mail for a price. A typical cost would be the price of the chosen banjo plus £40 for a 5-string banjo outfit - this includes a padded gig bag, fitted banjo strap, spare strings, instruction book, set of picks and an electronic tuner (normal total cost about £60 if purchased separately).
Tenor, plectrum, uke and mandolin banjo outfits are also available at similar or slightly higher additional cost to the price of the instrument selected (the tutor books vary in price a bit).
Have a look on the "special offers" item above for details of which of the outfits are on promotion at the moment.
Secondhand banjo cases
01/01/2007
 I'm sorry to say that I am no longer able to sell used/secondhand hard cases for banjos.
I have no practical means of refurbishing instrument cases so I never could offer any worthwhile guarantee with such items. I thought that I had always made this fairly obvious when selling them but maybe it wasn't as clear as I thought.
After a difficult experience with a particular client who had an accident with a period banjo case, I have decided that it's better not to sell them at all.
I'll alter that section on the website when it's updated later on this year.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
. . . or hit Back button to return to shop page.
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