Can This Banjo Be Improved? Ft. Jim Pankey 

Two weird things I noticed about this video... 1. I'm indoors for once 2. Jim is sitting up while talking to you... 😂

Nice to see Jim completely in frame.🙂

THIS IS THE CROSSOVER EPISODE WE NEEDED

I recently got this banjo and am currently on day 2 of Jim Pankey’s beginner banjo series.

It was a very fun to do this!

I got that banjo. I have been told before and this gives me more confidence to save for a new one. I would spend too much to upgrade and keep it. I can get a used one for around $600. There is a guy who sells banjo for a good price I know. Thanks for the advice. I kinda needed it.

Solid advice - Cool to see you and Jim working together! Loved the Fireball Mail at the end!

That was great advice and I loved that duet at the end there!!

Great to see you together! Thank you for that!

Love both of your channels.

That's very Cool to have Jim in your video and Marcel to correspond with you too. OMG!! Way too Cool! Great info in the video by the way.

The collaboration we've all been waiting for! 😃🪕

It's good to see both of you together talking Banjo! I don't feel like a traitor to Jim, who is my favorite first Teacher 6 yrs ago! Now I'm getting some tips from you and a couple of others !

I follow you both so this is great ❤

The streams have been crossed! Neat idea for a video Mason! It's good to see you and Jim!

Who's the handsome gentleman with the beard?

Awesome

No way, Mason! You're featuring professionals now?!

No way! That's so cool that y'all got to do a video together! The banjo sounds good, and I'm sure the way y'all are playing it makes a huge difference. Side note: Your arms look RIPPED! 😂 Do you lift weights!?

On the weekend we had the chance to sit down with Snuff Smith and talk bridges. He informed us that a lighter bridge would make a difference in sound. So we sat down and weighed the current bridge of my son's banjo. 2 grams, Italian made, very high quality. He then went through many of his hand made bridges and found one that was 1.72 grams. What a huge difference. The high notes finally started to pop out. Derek could not have been happier! He finally got close the prewar sound on his 2005 Gold Star. We also got Cobalt Picks but the big difference was the bridge. It pings now and it really loud. Cool video with Jim. He's the best.

💙

“What do you do when you’re 14 years? Take things apart and put them back together.” YEEES! Good times!😂 Just ordered this banjo based off your videos brotha! Thank you! 👍

I just noticed the skinny nut today when looking at zero glides. Had this guy a few weeks and already got a OB-3 on the way! Pumped. Good video tho! good to know this isn’t standard size neck. I almost got wide neck version cuz how skinny this neck is.

I put a towel inside the resonator. Helps with overtones.

You look Absolutely amazed that you're in the same room as Jim

I purchased a Kay banjo for $100, and I put an additional $100 into it. After all that, It was a horrible banjo, however, it was awesome as kindling in the fireplace. 😆

On a cheap/beginner banjo, I would limit my changes to bridge, head, and strings. You can get a LOT of variations with one, or more, of those. HOWEVER, I know that it is in the nature of man to want to monkey with his banjo, sooo.... GOOD LUCK!

Tighten the head, change the strings, change the bridge

I agree that the neck is pretty narrow, especially when you have large hands and sausage fingers. In a year and a half, I have not been able to get 3-2 pull offs down because it’s just too narrow. Since I’ve had this banjo I think the quality has gone up on them since then because out of all the reviews coming out it seems to me that my example of this banjo truly is bottom of the barrel. You cannot adjust the truss rod on mine, there just isn’t a screw to tighten or loosen it- it’s just not there. I really want another banjo but a good one just isn’t in my budget right now, so I’ll just have to be patient. Thanks for the suggestions on how to improve the sound!

Hey jim what do you think about gibson epiphone masterbuilt banjos?

Something no one mentioned was to make sure to tighten all of the hardware to eliminate rattles and slop.

I don't have my dream instrument (banjo). But one time i was trying to put new nut on my bass guitar, and my mom asked me what I was doing, told her what I was doing, bone's much better. And she told me not to take it apart or off. You see, i find taking it apart, and modding/upgrading to be different.

What’s better than one great banjo player two great banjo players.

You look so angry most of the video😂 nice job y'all😀

I wish I had known how easy it was to change a head before I sold my first banjo. I thought it was basically ruined....😂 No shotgun?!?!?!?🤣

I improved my old banjo with a new tail piece , bridge and Head.

How does adding mass to the head with tuning knobs or a new tension hoop change the sound of the banjo

How does a bridge change tone? I figure it can be higher or lower off the head, which would obviously change the sound, but other than that what qualities would affect tone?

Sounds like a banjo to me.

What are some of the best bridges? I know Jim mentioned a Sosebee but it doesn’t look like they’re carried by most places online anymore. Also what strings would you recommend to use on a cheaper banjo like this? I want a “punchier” sound but I also don’t want anymore overtone and ringing than I’m already having.

The banjo just sounds like a guitar on drugs. I don’t understand what’s so great about it. Maybe you could do a video about what a banjo even is, it’s just looks like a drum guitar. And where can I get blue grass? All my grass is green, I would love some blue grass.

So this little piece of wood called the bridge can make an improvement?? We'll see 🤔

A $240 banjo is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick and no banjo at all...