Andy Banjo's News and Information Pages
Welcome to the "news & information" page - or perhaps I should now call it a "blog"? A vast amount of work is presently being done to the website to bring it up to date but the basic premise remains the same; clear, honest advice to enable you to get the product that best suits your needs. A lot of people ask about pricing - I've never tried to be the cheapest supplier of anything (though it seems to turn out that way more often than I expect) but I do aim to offer the best value for money. It's always worth looking carefully at exactly what you're getting from a "best price" supplier when comparing the figures. The saving on the banjo itself can easily be wiped out if you have to pay for all the little "extras" (like a decent quality bridge & brand new good quality strings actually on the banjo, spare sets of strings, capos, capo spikes, straps and so on) and then fork out for a proper set-up job as well! Please scroll down the page for more articles;
New Year 2012 at the Banjo Works
07/12/2012
After a very busy Christmas period, the stocks of banjos are considerably down on their usual levels. We're working as hard as we can to rebuild the stock levels and every week should see a few more items come back on-line.
Because of the amount of setting-up (or building) work that we do to each & every banjo that we sell, it isn't as simple as just getting in a new delivery from the wholesalers & bangig them up on the website. There is a lot more to it than that but we don't believe in putting out product that isn't absolutely as good as it can be (within its own limitations, naturally).
That takes extra time & effort to do - but the end result result is well worth waiting for!
December 2011 - blog update
19/12/2011
Well, this year is proving to be a bit of a surprise - unprecedented demand for banjos and thin (or non-existent) stocks at the major importer/wholesalers. In many cases, banjos are going "out of stock" (especially the uke banjos) and are not likely to be back in again until January/February. We're building banjos as fast as we can but even our stocks of parts aren't infinite so this year's choice may not be quite what it should be. If a particular model that you were after is shown as "out of stock", it's worth phoning or e-mailing to see if we've got a substitute .....
The website work is now "on hold" until the New Year apart from trying to keep up with listing the vintage & used banjos. There are further changes planned for the eary part of 2012 which will hopefully lead to a more comprehensive site than ever before with a majority of the items actually in stock here appearing on the website. As previously, it's not that there's anything fundamentally different going on - just that you'll be able to see more of it! The aim is to have 90% of the current range of banjo parts available to be bought on-line. The exception must be the vintage banjo parts - there are a lot of them and the task of attempting to list & photograph them all is beyond the scope of the resources available. Most people manage well enough with an e-mail enquiry and sending a vintage part for matching.
The "Information" pages have been updated to make them more accessible - and there are some new pictures to give you a bit of an idea of what we're all about.
The "Advice" pages are being updated too; there's now a "Help Topics" section where we'll be putting some of things that used to be here - but also some other useful stuff that we always used to send out as printed leaflets.
The pictures are all still "in-house" shots of real banjos (no glossy library shots) and pretty well all the banjos can now be ordered as part of an outfit.
There is a new section (under "Banjo Cases & Gig Bags") which enables you to order just a gig bag or hard case with your banjo - and even a bit of that which lets you order an outfit with a used or vintage banjo!
The revised and updated "Parts & Accessories" section has made great strides and is now "live", if not quite as comprehensive as had been hoped. More than 60% of the products are already available to buy on-line and we're hoping to add a few more between now & Christmas. The next significant additions will come in early 2012.
Website catalogue & stock at the Banjo Works
18/12/2011
The updating of the website catalogue of instruments has gone about as far as we can push it this year - the majority of the revised lists of products are now done & "live".
They have better quality images than the old site and more of them. Each product has several pictures and there is a "zoom-in" facility so you can get a close look at the details.
As ever, the shots are of real banjos - not glossy images lifted from a manufacturer's website. This will hopefully enable us to keep up with specification changes rather better than some other sites who rely on manufacturer's hand-outs - though it should be understood that the images cannot be guaranteed to be 100% accurate. Minor changes often occur and it's not always possible to replace the set of images on the website immediately.
The intention is to try to include all the "brand new" stock on the website - it's not certain whether this is actually possible but we're doing the best we can.
Even if all the "brand new" stock can be included, the secondhand & vintage items are always going to be a bit problematic. Best advice is, as ever, to phone and ask if you're looking for something in particular and can't find it on the website ..... there are quite a few items on the "vintage & used" lists but the lists are far from comprehensive.
Whilst it's never a bad idea to phone & check availability, we do try pretty hard to remove all "sold" items from the website (in the case of used items) or to mark "out of stock" (in the case of new items). We don't claim to be perfect in this respect but, by and large, if you can see it as "available for sale" on the website, it is ...
A caller at The Banjo Works earlier this summer expressed astonishment when shown a couple of 5-string conversions on 1920's Vega Tubaphone rims. "I didn't know you did that kind of thing! There's nothing about it on your website ........."
(Almost) "true enough" - the bits that talk about banjo conversions (Paragon 5-strings/plectrums to tenors, Vega tenors/plectrums to 5-strings etc ... ) are buried deep in the "advice" pages which derive directly from the old front section of the "pre-website" printed catalogue. Time to get them out and dust them off, perhaps?
Meantime, a phone call to The Banjo Works will reveal what's available in that kind of line at the moment!
Getting to the Banjo Works .......... and what to expect
17/12/2011
Appointments really are necessary!
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 can only deal 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 quite likely will have had a wasted journey ..............
How to make an appointment:-
by phone - call 01795 590374 between 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri (please use the phone for short-notice requirements)
by e-mail via the website or directly to andybanjo@aol.com (fine for making appointments a few days in advance)
Last appointment is usually around 4pm as we close at 5pm.
It is often possible to book at quite short notice - but if you need to make an appointment less than 48 hours ahead, it's 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. There is now a Google map to look at as well! These directions 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. The range of banjos that you can see in the picture on the Home Page was put out purely to make a nice image for that picture; they aren't normally kept like that.
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, that's not us!
Banjos & banjo outfits
14/12/2011
The new website listing include a great many more of the banjo outfits that we've always sold - but hardly ever listed on the website ......
These banjo outfits are not the cheapest items you'll find on the Internet - but we believe they are the best value. The instruments themselves are properly set-up (re-inforced neck to rim joints, hand-dressed fretting etc etc) and come with lots of extras thrown in (for instance, all the 5-strings now come with a free capo & fitted capo spikes) - the beginner gets everything he/she needs to get started all in the one big box ....
Outfits like this are available with any banjo on request - but you can now see lots of them on the separate "outfit" lists which are springing up all over the site.
If you feel that you'd like a different selection of items in a particular outfit, please e-mail and we can create a "custom" outfit especially for you.
Postage rates - overseas news + (a) instruments & (b) parts + accessories
14/12/2011
We're delighted to say that the service level of the Fedex deliveries to the Republic of Ireland has now improved to the point where we are quite happy to accept orders for banjo deliveries. Deliveries to cities (Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway etc) are much the same as for urban areas in Northern Ireland - about 2 to 3 days. Remote country areas will take longer, of course.
Deliveries of strings, parts etc by Royal Mail/An Post seem to be fine at the moment.
There is now a proper website "postage" band for "Ireland" - when you get to the "shopping cart" stage, you will be able to select "Ireland" and the system will charge you the appropriate carriage charge. Just ignore the "postcode" box when putting in your address, the system actually does know that there aren't any postcodes in the Republic of Ireland (it just pretends that it doesn't!)
We're sorry that we're not able to offer a delivery service to any other other EU or non-EU destinations at the moment
(A) Instruments & instrument cases
Standard Fedex NextDay service is still only £10 per parcel for most mainland UK addresses. For the Scottish Highlands & Islands, I-O-M and Northern Ireland only the cost is £20 per parcel. Service is overnight to many places, 2/3 day to more remote areas.
(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) Fedex service.
Royal Mail altered the way ordinary post is charged 2 years ago. Most banjo parts now travel at the "first class packet" rates - the minimum postage charge for "packet" rate is £1.58 up to 100 gms. This is more than 3 times the cost of a standard first-class letter of the same weight. If you are sending a part to us for matching or returning an item that didn't suit you, please make sure that you pay the appropriate postage - there are very few banjo items which will go by ordinary first-class letter post!
Over all, we believe that our "Parts & Accessories" prices offer pretty good value for money if you take account of the P&P charges that other suppliers add to the price of your order.
The "Banjo Parts & Accessories" list is up & running and you can browse through it to find a great many of the item that we stock..
Strings, parts etc can be posted to the UK & Republic of Ireland but other EU destinations are more problematic. For the time being, we regret that the rule has to be UK/Eire only.
Repair, restoration & appraisal services
14/12/2011
As you would expect, these services are pretty well finished for this year - but we'll be back to "business as usual" from 3rd january 2012.
Apart from the annual holiday, service, repair & restoration work is now running pretty well on schedule. We are happy to do estimates for all kinds of banjo work but, in most cases, we do need to have the instrument available for physical examination to be able to give anything like a sensible idea of cost.
An e-mail (even with pictures) is not sufficient for us to work out exactly what needs to be done - there are so many things that you can't work out properly from a written description or a photo.
Turn-round times on major restorations of antique banjos are faster than they were but usually take "months rather than weeks". Straightforward jobs we can handle very efficiently but complex vintage restorations are another matter and cannot be rushed.
In order to avoid any misunderstandings, all such antique restoration work is undertaken only on the basis that estimated completion dates cannot be absolutely guaranteed.
Routine overhaul and repair services (new heads, new tuners, refrets, set-ups etc) on modern instruments can be carried out quite quickly - but not necessarily on a "while you wait" basis.
We can still do some set-up and repair work on a "same-day" basis but it can be difficult to combine this with an appointment to look at banjos unless this is arranged in advance (i.e. one person to look after the set-up job and someone else to look after the banjos - it's not really practical or satisfactory for one person to try to do both things at once ...... :-)
Appraisals & valuations are a bit simpler (in theory) but we can't give advice on the value of an instrument being offered for sale by someone else without the express agreement of the seller. A quick "once-over" and broad opinion is often free of charge if you can bring the instrument to the Banjo Works by prior appointment. If there is more time involved (more detailed examination or unpacking/re-packing the instrument, for example), we do have to make a charge to cover this.
The picture shows a recently restored banjo from the 1880's
Vintage banjos - 5-strings, tenors & plectrums
14/12/2011
There seems to be a widespread impression that we "don't do" vintage banjos. 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 ....... some of which will be found illustrated on the 2 "vintage" banjo pages in the on-line shop.
We are trying to post up used & vintage banjos on the appropriate section of the website but that section is never likely to be as comprehensive as the rest of the site. We're quite good at removing the items that are sold but not nearly so prompt at posting up the newly refurbished/restored stuff. So much of it sells before we get time to write up a listing .......
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 .....
Give us a call for a resume of what's in stock at the moment - most customers for vintage banjos come to the Banjo Works to play through the stock but if you're clear about exactly 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 ....
Grafton "Gem", "Popular" & "Popular #2" banjos
13/12/2011
Well , the popularity of these banjos is now well-demonstrated - we're pretty much sold-out on most of them. We have a very few tenors & plectrums left but that's about it until we can get some more built in the New year.
a range of entry-level banjos with all the features you need in a decent starter instrument. The "Gem" has die-cast sealed unit guitar-style tuners and the "Populars" have planetary tuners (all with geared 5th string pegs on 5-strings). The banjos have properly dressed, smooth fingerboards & fretting, lovely low actions, 2-point neck fixing with twin-co-ordinator rods 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 "Gem" range has open-back and resonator 5-strings in both right- and left-handed format - and other models will be available later this year. "Gems" are priced at £195 for the resonator versions and £170 for the open-backs.
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 £250 for the resonator models and £225 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 12 models are now listed in their respective sections on the website.
A range of "beginner's complete outfits" featuring these very well specified banjo is also available on the website.
In response to demand, we are now also making a "Popular #2" - basically a similar banjo but with a heavier rim to produce a louder and more "cutting" tone. It's available in open back 5-string format (£250) as well as resonator plectrum, resonator standard tenor and resonator shortscale tenor (all 3 models at £275). The standard versions (and outfits featuring these banjos)can be found on the appropriate sections of the website.
Other versions could easily be built "to order" - just give us a call.
Grafton Clipper banjos - now well established........
12/12/2011
The next grade up in the "Grafton" banjo range - being a more expensive item, the stocks of these have held up a little better though 2 or 3 models are sold out. We'll rebuild stocks early in 2012 with at least one exciting new model to offer!
In addition to the "Gems","Pops" & "Pop #2's", we now offer the "Clipper". Same wide 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 £295 for the open back version and £325 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 ......
In addition to the other models, we now have an open back "old-time" 5-string model available with a cutaway fingerboard - no extra charge on top of the standard price of £295 for this model
There are also versions of these banjos available with a larger resonator and a decorative flange plate (Clipper #2) at £355 - details on the relevant sections of the website.
This type is of such quality that it is perfectly feasible to fit them with a high-quality tone ring - you'll find various versions on the website with "White Lady", "Tubaphone", "Archtop" etc tone rings. It's possible to do "retro-fit" conversions on existing standard "Clipper" models as well - please phone for details.
Saga banjos - Gold Star/Saga/Rover Bluegrass 5-strings
11/12/2011
New arrangements for building Gold Star banjos here in the UK are now in place - the GF85 is now in stock! Better than ever!
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