Deering Goodtime 'The Crow' banjo

I thought I would continue to chronicle my experience with the banjo in stages. So here is a bit about my experience of choosing and buying one. After a lot of research into other people’s experiences and getting the basics of what kind of banjo would suit me best I created a shopping list:

1. A standard 5-string banjo. I wanted as much choice as possible on learning methods, online, via books and videos and there is more for the 5-string out there than the tenor, or four string or any of the other more unusual banjos like uke banjos and 6-string guitar-style banjos.

Trying out a banjo with a resonator

3. A banjo from a reputable maker. Here is where you can start splitting hairs, especially when you are shopping in a budget as a total beginner, with little to compare to. Reviews, reviews, reviews. I found the most helpful reviews on Banjohangout. I also found the Folk of the Wood site handy. The videos people put up on YouTube were also invaluable. I was also looking at many of the UK-based banjo suppliers I could find, for example:

Hobgoblin Music – comprehensive listings, several UK stories and online sales, have bought from them before, they know what they are talking about.
Eagle Music – comprehensive listings, UK store is in Huddersfield, Yorkshire but online information wide-ranging, also highly knowledgeable about banjos, particularly those made by US banjo-makers Deering.
Andy Banjo – came highly recommended by other UK-based banjo players, a banjo specialist who even makes banjos to order, excellent listings on his website and open by appointment in Faversham, Kent. He is also a Gold Tone banjo supplier.

4. My choice. I boiled it down to two makes, a Deering Goodtime or a Gold Tone Cripple Creek Series (CC).

I suspect I would have been very happy with either but in the end I chose the Deering Goodtime ‘The Crow’ package. This choice was partly influenced by practical issues and partly because I managed to get a good deal. I also wanted to buy in person, and not online and have to set up the instrument myself. I live in Wales but often visit London and Hobgoblin’s London store was able to get in a Deering Goodtime Crow from one of their other stores for me to try out on a future visit. I also had an old instrument I wanted to part-exchange.

The Crow package was great value for money in my opinion, particularly as I was part-exchanging. UK price listings were much the same, around the £299 mark. This special edition of the Deering Goodtime was made in tribute to Steve Martin’s album of his own banjo music called ‘The Crow’ [It's a great album, listen to it]. The Crow package includes:

-A 5-string open-back banjo, beautifully hand-crafted from Rock Maple and made in California with 3-ply Violin Grade Maple Rim (this is important as it is the rim that regulates most of the sound quality).
-A quality Deering gig bag (well-padded and emblazoned with the Deering eagle on the front).
-Steve Martin’s ‘The Crow’ CD and song book (with tablature).
-A set of picks (one plastic thumb pick, two nickel-silver finger picks).
-An electronic clip-on tuner.
-A Deering broad nylon strap.

In other words, most of what you need to get going.

What Deering Goodtimes have going for them in my opinion are that they are hand-made in the USA with mainly US components. There are major debates about the relative merits of banjos made in China, Korea or Thailand, or those made from parts from the Far East. I think you really have to use your instinct when you are starting out and everything I read about Goodtimes instilled me with confidence. What really made it for me was watching Deering Goodtimes being made and also watching this description of the Goodtime banjo. I knew it was a ‘no frills’ banjo but it is a beautifully crafted work of art in my opinion, it’s very light at less than 2 kg and the lack of arm rest or guitar-style geared tuners rather than the preferred banjo or planetary tuners hasn’t bothered me (yet). That there is no metal tonering is compensated for by the excellent quality 3-ply thick maple rim. I’ll write a full review of my own instrument soon.

It was a close call between the Goodtime and one of the the Gold Tone CC range. I was prepared to make the trip to Kent to try one, and perhaps buy a Gold Tone from Andy Banjo. For roughly the same price I would have gone for either the Gold Tone CC50OT or the Gold Tone CC100. Andy Banjo’s own packages are very good value for money, usually including two sets of top-quality spare strings, a capo (for the 4 long strings) and a pair of fitted capo spikes (for the 5th string) and a fitted banjo strap. One of the reasons I was inspired by Gold Tones was hearing them being played by the wonderful Paul Roberts. In particular it was seeing him play the cello banjo, a new type of banjo made by Gold Tone that inspired me to do something about my long-time banjo ambition. One day I would like to play the cello banjo myself.

Stairwell Sisters bango (credit: Vance Dubberly)

After some years of fascination I have now decided to acquaint myself with the banjo first hand. Yes, I want to buy one and learn it. Tenor or 5-string? Short or standard scale? With or without a resonator, and what of the those still made in the USA such as the Deerings and Gold Tones, versus those assembled from parts made in Asia? I am lured by Saga’s Rovers but what do I know? Not much at the moment but I am looking forward to an odyssey of musical and self-discovery that I didn’t think possible but am now brave enough to try. So far much of my initial armchair research has involved poring over the following banjo sites.

Andy Perkins, The Banjo Works (UK specialist in banjos).
Hobgoblin Music (UK and US folk instrument suppliers).
Eagle Music Shop (instrument suppliers including US Deering banjos).
Gold Tone banjos (well-known American makers).

I am learning a lot from:

Banjocrazy.com, particularly the videos of Paul Reynolds playing everything from Irish trad to Persian folk on the amazing Gold Tone cello banjo.
Banjo Hangout, a great forum with reviews.
Banjo Physiology 101 . A great introduction to banjo terminology, anatomy, tone rings, rims, metal or wood, explained.

McKay and Etherton

A couple of weeks back I was introduced to a local group (from the Gower, near Swansea) who have produced a fabulous CD of folk songs in tribute to Swansea’s sailors and coppermen. It is called Pennbucky to Llangenny by Andrew McKay with Andy Baker, Tony Beddow, Joe Parsell, Dave Robinson and Ken Simpson. The 18 track album is a treasure of history explored in song. One of my favourites is Dead Reckoning (hear a sample), a song about old skills made redundant, particularly regarding the change from shipping by sail to steam. Others sing about the art of the ship’s carpenter (Made of Wood), about Swansea’s wealth deriving from brass and copper (Bronze and Brass) and intrepid journeys Welsh mariners made around Cape Horn (they were known as Cape Horners) on their way to Chile and Cuba to collect copper ore to bring back for smelting (Drinks at the Cuba, Pennbucky to Llangenny). The album also includes a nod to the traditional with a set of hornpipes from Mumbles and Greenholme / The Ivy House.

At the moment I am working on a project on the heritage of Welsh copper at Swansea University and in amongst the research, the liaison with other organisations and people, my heart fills with joy when I come across things like this. That history has inspired beautiful music or art or words from people means it is worth remembering and telling to others. I wonder that people won’t learn more from these songs than they will from a run of the mill history book …

In my effort to campaign for better public transport links between south and north Wiltshire I have not as yet looked in great detail at actual services provided by rail, their cost, convenience and duration (bus to come). I feel it is important to express the problems with current service in this way as for too long those in authority (Wiltshire County Council, First Great Western and Department for Transport) have assumed the service cuts are a very localised issue for Melksham and therefore felt more justified in ignoring it. Well it isn’t. With Wiltshire CC winning its bid to become the only local authority in the county and the majority of county services being based in Trowbridge and increasingly Chippenham, it is more important than ever for transport links between south and north to be improved.

As you may have read from previous posts, there is a direct railway connecting Salisbury and north Wiltshire (Chippenham and Swindon) via west Wilts (Melksham) but there is only one direct service a day timetable in the evening, the service starting in Southampton at 1827, arriving Salisbury 1905, arriving Chippenham 2000. An excelleLondon bound service at Bath Spa. The direct service continues to Cheltenham Spa. There is no direct journey back to Salisbury and/or Southampton. Using the www.nationalrail.co.uk website the following results were obtained for weekday and weekend services.

The search first yield the following warning on ticketing:

Please be aware, you may need to buy separate tickets for this journey, as a through ticket may not be available. If you don’t want to travel via this route, click ‘Restart journey’ at the bottom of the page and try again.

DISCLAIMERPlease do not use the timings given below as a guide to using these services, use www.networkrail.co.uk

Monday to Friday

[time requested from 0000 on a Monday. Advanced fares quoted at £3.00 to £8.00 single with standard Open return fare at £13.70 (with anomalous fare of £22.00 if on the 17.41) and Saver/Cheap Day return at £16.00]

Dep. 06:02
Arr. 07:30
Dur. 1:28
Cha. 1 [Westbury 29mins wait]

06:40
07:54
1:14
1 [Bath Spa 11mins wait]

07:19
08:54
1:35
1 [Bath Spa 23mins wait]

08:25
09:54
1:29
1 [Bath Spa 20mins wait]

09:03
10:24
1:21
1 [Bath Spa 11mins wait]

09:41
11:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]

11:11
12:24
1:13
1 [Bath Spa 9mins wait]

11:41
13:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]

12:41
14:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]

13:51
15:24
1:33
1 [Bath Spa 29mins wait]

15:03
16:24
1:21
1 [Bath Spa 11mins wait]

15:41
17:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]

16:41
17:54
1:13
1 [Bath Spa 9mins wait]

17:41
19:54
2:13
1 [Bristol Temple Meads 39mins wait]

19:05
20:00
0:55

19.11
20.54
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 48mins wait]

20.56
22.07
1:11
1 [Bath Spa 2mins wait]

21.41
23.02
1:21
1 [Bath Spa 16mins wait]

Saturday
in compilation

Sunday
in compilation

The erratic waiting times for changes at Bath Spa indicate that this is not a route that was planned for. While many argue that the spheres of leisure and work travel are very different in south and north Wiltshire, with those in Chippenham for example preferring to travel to Bath, Bristol and Swindon and those in the south preferring Salisbury or Southampton, has anyone bothered to find out about the potential for travelling across Wiltshire by rail? Considering the significant traffic problems on north-south routes such as the A350 (Chippenham to south coast) and also A338 in the south east of the county, there has never been a better time ti make changes to mass travel.

Next, North to South Wiltshire by rail.

Heaven knows (literally) how the Chinese government will administer this one!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/

Quite by chance, I happened upon this string of comments about the meaning of Tehmina on an (old?) blog called Tam’s Diaries. There were suggestions of all descriptions from people called Tehmina across the world. Some suggestions were: ‘true witness’, ‘shred’ or ‘scintilla’, ‘healthy’ or ‘insurance’ in Arabic, ‘honest’ in Hebrew, ‘precious of heart’ and originating from south India, and then there was my suggestion which I believe, to my best knowledge, to be true, that it is from old Persian (Pahlavi) or older, and means ‘strong woman’.

I think among these descriptions, any ought to do?

Last year, during the FA World Cup, I bought a sandwich which came with its own thought for the day. Today I find myself buying the same sandwich made by Daily Bread: shaved cheddar and pickle. It still comes with its daily motto which today is:

If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us airline tickets

Mel Brooks

Quite so.

Apparently Britain is missing 6,500 million pennies. That’s £65 million. This, while the Royal Mint are designing a new penny to be introduced in the coming year. The portcullis does not represent ‘modern Britain’ any more [like it did in 1971?]. I wonder what we’ll get instead? A white shell-suit? A pimped-up car? A Sky dish? No, what about a big M for McDonalds?

I can account for at least 650 which are sitting in my house.

I have recently returned from the USA. While I was there I wanted to find out how many miles I had travelled. I duly went to Google Maps and found out: approximately 3,500 miles between Salisbury (home) and New Jersey (first port of call). What I didn’t expect were the precise directions:

12. Slight left at Portsmouth – Le Havre (111 miles)
13. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean (3,462 miles)
14. Turn left at Long Wharf…

I noted that the most recent edition of the Now Show on BBC Radio 4 (13 April) also marvelled similar directions a listener found while travelling from Chicago to the London.

Ed Vaizey, Conservative MP for Wantage managed to secure a parliamentary debate on First Great Western’s questionable service. While many MPs who have been petitioned by their constituents were not present at the debate, at least this is a start. Whether there will be a finish I do not know.

My MP, Robert Key (Conservative) for Salisbury, has been very responsive to my emails about the problems with the service cuts introduced by FGW last December, and in the latest correspondence he assured me he had already signed two of the Commons motions raising the issue of FGW’s bad service and will be writing to the Minister responsible for service level agreements on behalf of his contituents regarding the problem.

Yesterday in Parliament, FGW’s performance was raised in Prime Minister’s Questions (Wednesday 24 January 2007), Dr Doug Naysmith, MP for Bristol North West (Labour), tabled a question to Prime Minister Tony Blair regarding the poor performance of First Group’s buses and trains. He described them: ‘disastrous commuter trains and unreliable and expensive buses.’

The Prime Minister’s reply was unsurprisingly bland and non-commital. Read the Hansard transcript.