Bass Banjo

[Bisbonian]

Dude...CCR on a bass banjo! It just doesn't get any better.

[TVcycleHD]

@BanjoMikeGregory : We have a Bass Banjo working now! I took your advise of "buy a used snare or tom, and cobble a bass neck to it". It's a 16" floor tom cut shallow with an open back. Here's a video: watch?v=hgypOPLkKu4

Thanks for putting your video up and answering my questions. Very helpful.

[FrancisCrickable]

DIABEETUS

[Zekla]

Nice stache!

[tinseth7]

why :(

[BanjoMikeGregory]

@tinseth7 For the fun of it. Did we not seem to be having fun?

Later on, we also had more fun with it, and got paid.

I hope that, at some point in your life, you have already done things for the fun of it.

If you haven't, I would highly recommend some activity involving peaceful use of a banjo.

Thank you for the opportunity to tell everyone that it was fun.

[tinseth7]

@BanjoMikeGregory yes i have done stuff for the fun of it and that was a great project but it wasnt the most pleasing to the ear :-)

[cbrayfield]

How much would you charge to build one? I've been thinking about building one, but my free time is limited right now, between college, reserve duty, my internship, and playing in my church band. In fact, that is what I want it for. Our band has a bluegrass/country feel, and I wanted a unique sound/look.

[TVcycleHD]

@BanjoMikeGregory : Thanks. I played a Gold Tone (14 inch head, 32 inch scale) and wasn't particularly impressed, specifically the head didn't resonate sufficiently and the E string just dies. So, I'm going to 34" scale and using a floor tom that'll get massively cut down, but still run as a 16". I'm also using a bolt-on bass neck. Thanks for posting this video. I especially dig your neck attachment block.

[TVcycleHD]

I'm looking to build something similar. What diameter of head did you use?

[BanjoMikeGregory]

@TVcycleHD ---I found a pre-tensioned REMO drum head, and built the body to fit, by wrapping the "skin" off a hollow core door around a form. Since the banjo is not HERE, to be measured, I'm relying on my memory. Fourteen inches.

You might just save yourself some work, buy a used snare or tom, and cobble a bass neck to it.

[BanjoMikeGregory]

It does what we need it to do.

Your smileage may vary.

[PureZOOKS]

Seeing as you built it, that is a fantastic looking instrument, and seems like it was from a manufacturer, however I feel it has the same problems as all bass banjos, except uprights, it is very quiet and the sustain is poor.

[JakobVirgil]

play it with a bow.

[BanjoMikeGregory]

@JakobVirgil : I wondered why the suggestion, so I looked at YOUR site to see what you did. Nice video.

We use the bass banjo as a way to set the rhythm, since MY sense of timing is not all that regular. 

[JakobVirgil]

@BanjoMikeGregory its beautiful have you thought about making an upright?

[thelonearranger1]

Great job in building the bass banjo. It has a unique sound. You should record more songs with it and post it. Cool stache, by the way.

[2010trainhornman]

That's pretty awesome. I play banjo among other things.

[BanjoMikeGregory]

Please, everybody! Don't insult people on MY page for expressing their opinions.

I went to HIS page, listened to his music, and the guy does a good job of making music. He's obviously talented, and works hard at doing music. And I left a compliment.

To react with anger, and/or more insults, over such a minor matter, does no useful good to any of us.

[TheHuskyDax]

sounds awsome :D.. for the dipshits who are critisizing this here vid must be ignorant of a bass's purpose in a band/ and the bass's uniqueness as an instrument :P

Good work mr.tophat :D

[gottlove4music]

Just GREAT! Never heard this CCR tune played with these kind of instruments, but anything played from the heart is the best kinda music =) Kudos for the ingenuity in making that wonderful banjo. Gotta love it! ♥

[BanjoMikeGregory]

@xxgdkxx Compared to the one you made? Please post a link to your work. I'm not trying to sell it to you; just showing what a person can do, with a few simple tools and a little imagination.

Perhaps a better microphone on the recording would make it sound better, OR perhaps a better microphone would reveal even MORE flaws.

We have fun playing it, you have fun criticizing it, and everybody's happy.

Glad I could offer you an opportunity to speak the Truth as you perceive it.

[xxgdkxx]

sounds like shit

[BanjoMikeGregory]

@xxgdkxx @xxgdkxx Compared to the one you made? Please post a link to your work. I'm not trying to sell it to you; just showing what a person can do, with a few simple tools and a little imagination.

Perhaps a better microphone on the recording would make it sound better, OR perhaps a better microphone would reveal even MORE flaws.

We have fun playing it, you have fun criticizing it, and everybody's happy.

Glad I could offer you an opportunity to speak the Truth as you perceive it.

[xxgdkxx]

@BanjoMikeGregory i dont have a shitty sounding "bassjo" so i cant upload it, i wouldnt try to show somthing off that sucks, i dont really care why it sounds bad it just does, and it is cool to make your own instruments even if they sound like shit like yours, so you dont have to cry about someone saying it sounds bad when you even know it does, p.s. pretty shitty playing

[BanjoMikeGregory]

@xxgdkxx You & I do AGREE then, that it is cool to make your own instruments. Making something requires doing the best we can, with the materials & skills we have. Asking you to show that you've done better does not equal "crying". My brother and I have been paid more to perform, with that bass banjo, than you have been paid to tell me how shitty we are, in your opinion. WE are happy to be paid to do what we like to do, and YOU are happy to say it's shitty. Everybody's happy, nobody's crying.

[Brian19451]

Cool Mustach!

[PennybagDarrell]

homade instruments kick ass.

[1MartinD28]

"mother-huge" I like it

[MyAndres31]

goood job

[Patrick121789]

Epic mustache! Great music too.

[mmmmudd]

Hail ya!!! what a great sound out of that !!!!!

[BanjoMikeGregory]

Since it's a banjo, rumor has it that it can NOT be tuned!

Really, it's the same as a bass guitar.

Though, if an individual wanted to experiment, it could be tuned two octaves below a tenor, two octaves below a plectrum, or, gee I dunno, three octaves below a banjo-uke.

"Steroid Tenor" might get a lot more attention, as a Youtube title.

[synth77]

whats the tuning

[steveisler]

OMG This is sooooooooooo bad

[dagger86]

Need it be said? Creedence Clearwater Revival FTW!

[gregzamby]

Super Legit.

[deaucey]

down on the corner, credence

[MorkaGraven]

I just love how your work is rather primitive yet successful. Why spend thousands on nice woods when you can use someone elses trash?

[BanjoMikeGregory]

Glad to see that you get the whole point, MorkaGraven. The "First Banjo" was probably not much more than a gourd from the garden, a stick from the jungle, and the skin off last week's lunch.

Using whatever is available is the most ancient tradition of the craft.

[meehalee21]

its wilford brimley!!!! diabeetus!

[BanjoMikeGregory]

Yes,I have.

But, it does what we need it to do, as is, so I never got around to trying it.

[brainwipe]

My bass banjo has a resonator on it (albeit a huge one) which makes it brilliant acoustically. Have you thought of putting on a resonator?

[dohead]

wooooh! down on the corner!!!! yeeeaaah!!!!

[YoppyKyabetsu]

Brilliant, Mr. Gregory. That bass sounds great.

[remoalan]

priceless you guys are amazing