Arm rests Ron Coleman submitted 11/8/2008 Submitter andrewsan Where Purchased From Ron Coleman directly Overall Comments A well-made arm rest nicely finished and stable when attached. Mine is flamed walnut and a very rich, dark brown matte finish. Ron cuts and finishes a wooden 'rest that sits on top of your own metal arm rest. You send him a tracing of your arm rest and he does the rest. Ron has many different woods to choose from and is very easy to deal with by phone or e-mail. While I have never had a Nechville "comfort bevel" arm rest, I think Ron's is comparable in quality. Highly recommended. Overall Rating 9

Hugh Hunter 5-string Walnut Resonator submitted 11/8/2008 Submitter andrewsan Where Purchased Directly from Hugh Hunter Year Purchased 2008 Price Paid 1,900 ($US) Sound I'm an amateur player, so my "sound vocabulary" is limited. But my Hugh Hunter is a great-sounding bluegrass banjo. I would describe it as "bright, clear, with some 'thump' in the 4th string." I love it. Sound Rating 9 Setup The banjo arrived snugly tucked away in a TKL case and securely boxed up for the journey. The position of the bridge was marked on the head. The strings were loosely tuned. I had no trouble setting the instrument up and tuning it. I may take it to luthier Rob Zwally (www.stringdoc.com) for a check-up later this fall. But Hugh did a fine job of setting it up. Setup Rating 9 Appearance This is a beautiful instrument! Hugh works directly with you when you commission a banjo. The finished banjo had all of the features that he and I agreed to a year earlier. Hugh crafted a block-construction pot with alternating blocks of hard maple and walnut, a three-layer neck of walnut-maple-walnut, a stunning walnut resonator by Steve Gill, and a Bill Rickard tone ring. The fretboard is inlaid with maple leaves that I ordered from Luthiers Supply. The neck is bound in maple, as is the resonator. If you want to know more, e-mail me via the 'Hut and I'll share pictures. They're worth a thousand words, for sure. Appearance Rating 10 Reliability The tuners are Ping guitar-style tuners (my specification), with a 16:1 ratio, I believe. Hugh used a Price SL-5 tailpiece that I ordered from Dr. Price. The nut is bone. The finish is matte and smooth as a baby's bottom. Hugh included a set of "Stay Tuned" strings for no extra charge, urging me to try them out and let him know if they worked well. I think he and Bill Rickard are going to use "Stay Tuned" as their standard strings. This should be a completely reliable banjo and I will keep it the rest of my banjo-playing days. I'm rating Reliability a "9" only because I have had the banjo only a month. I'll update in a year. Reliability Rating 9 Customer Service This is my first time dealing with Hugh, but I hope it will not be my last...budget permitting! He is very good at maintaining contact, replies promptly to my questions or comments, and helped me think my through all the technical and aesthetic judgments one makes when ordering a custom-made banjo. He included a CD with pictures of the banjo in various stages of development and sends them to you as he goes along as well. The TKL case came with my name engraved on the faceplate. Very classy touch, Hugh! Customer Service 10 Components All the components were top-notch. Hugh and I agreed on every aspect of the banjo in advance. The Rickard tone ring is impressive, as is the laser-cut, single piece flange Bill crafted. Hugh also cut and shaped a piece of ebony to overlay on the arm rest, giving it a little more personality than the standard, nickel plated issue. The Price Straight Line-5 tailpiece seems a good match with the rest of the instrument. I love the Ping tuners! They're black chrome and compliment the peghead design -- a custom shape that Hugh and I worked out. One stand-out feature of my "Hugh Hunter" is the tunneled 5th string, which he executed very well. My only other point of comparison on this design element is my 1960s J.A. Sloan open-back, which also has a tunneled 5th string...just not as well placed, in my opinion. Components Rating 10 Overall Comments Hugh makes high-quality instrument to your exact specifications. Mine was worth the $1,900 I paid for it...and probably more. This is a banjo I expect to grow into, since I'm just starting out. It's solid, the work of a dedicated craftsman (or "men," since Hugh relied on Bill Rickard for the tone ring and flange, and another colleague for the resonator). One thing I particularly love is the way the banjo SMELLS. Strange, I guess, but it's got its own scent. Another feature that endears it to me is the binding on the neck and resonator. I really like wood as a binding choice. The MOP inlays on the fretboard and peghead are flawless. Again, contact me if you want pictures. I'll even send you the spec sheet that Hugh uses to make sure he and you have covered every conceivable element of the design and hardware. Oh yeah, one last piece of advice: check out his website, Midnight Special Banjos. He's listed in the Banjo Hangout's "Links" section. The sample banjos on the site are only a few of the ones he's created and maybe not the best ones to show off his talents, in my humble opinion. I don't plan on needing another bluegrass banjo for a very long time. Hugh builds instruments that grow on you. Overall Rating 10

Rob Zwally submitted 6/21/2008 Submitter andrewsan Overall Comments Rob has 30+ years of experience as a luthier and speaks with quiet sincerity about what he can do with any banjo you entrust to his care. His diagnosis is thorough and his estimates accurate. He takes time to make sure that you understand the work that he will do and the results that you can reasonably expect. He did an outstanding job taking a mediocre, homemade open-back to sound better than I had a right to expect. He is honest, direct, and obviously cares deeply about the quality of his work. I recommend him without hesitation. Check his qualifications and philosophy at his website, www.stringdoc. com. Overall Rating 10

Tim Smith submitted 6/21/2008 Submitter andrewsan Overall Comments Tim Smith of Mt. Wolf, Pennsylvania is an unusual luthier. His website is a statement of his working philosophy in a nutshell: www.savethebanjos.com. Tim's passion to reviving older, medium-grade banjos and finding homes for them. I purchased a circa 1900 no-name open-back with Cannonball nylon strings from Tim for a very reasonable price and was completely happy with. So happy, in fact, that I sent him my Deering Goodtime open-back awhile later and asked him to customize it by doubling the number of hooks, adding an ebony fingerboard, ebony heel cap, and re-styling the Gumby-like peghead. He did excellent work at a reasonable price. Tim represents his work fairly and his website contains step-by-step, illustrated case histories of many of the banjos he has brought back to like. Check with Tim if you're interested in an economical, turn-of-the-century instrument that shows its history -- Tim doesn't restore banjos to a like-new state; that's not his thing. But he definitely gives them a new lease on life. Overall Rating 9

Musicmakers Riverboat submitted 3/7/2008 Submitter andrewsan Where Purchased Music Makers, Inc. Year Purchased 2008 Price Paid 450 ($US) Sound "Riverboat" is a kit banjo that Music Makers no longer stocks. They had one finished model on the shelf and agreed to sell it to me. It's an all-wood, open-back banjo with a spruce tone ring, cherry pot, cherry neck, and paduak fretboard. When played, it's got a rich voice with some nice base notes. Play it down by the bridge and it's got the punch of a standard bluegrass resonator. Play it up by the neck and it's a little mellower. You could frail it pretty well, I imagine, but I'm not a clawhammer or frailer myself. I like the sound very much. It's loud enough for ensemble playing. Sound Rating 8 Setup Matt at Music Makers checked the banjo out before sending it off to me. He put new strings (medium gauge) on, tested it, and shipped it out. The action is low. There is no buzz anywhere down the neck. I haven't made any changes to the set-up. All I had to do was unpack it; set up the bridge; tune 'er up; and Riverboat was good to go! Setup Rating 9 Appearance If you appreciate fine woods, you'll like a Riverboat. The pot is block construction, lightly stained, with a matte finish. The staining and finish bring out the grain in the wood and it has a very warm appearance. The neck is equally well done: slim, with substantial heft at the base where it joins the pot. The padauk fretboard is about 1/4" thick and well bonded to the cherry neck. I love the shape of the peg head. I can't really place it, but I know I've seen the design on other, higher-end resonators. It looks a little like the "maple leaf" design you can find on some older Deerings...or is it Nechvilles? Anyway, it's pretty. There are no finishing flaws in the instrument that I could detect. An occasional rough spot on the inside of the pot but nothing that constitutes a "flaw," in my opinion. I'm impressed with the quality of the materials and the assembly. The fretboard is unbound; there are no side-markers, but there are MOP dots down the 'board in the usual positions. The frets are well-seated and smoothly finished at the sides...you won't scratch a finger while playing. Appearance Rating 9 Reliability I'm not much judge of hardware. But I think the quality is high. Since it's an all-wood banjo, the only metal components are the tuners, strap buttons, and screws holding the ring on the rim. The tuners are nickel or chrom-plated friction tuners, I think. The 5th-string tuner is geared and also plated the same. I think all the hardware will last until you decide you want to upgrade the tuners...but it won't be because they failed. If you're playing in gigs, you will probably want to bring a back-up, especially if you're playing bluegrass and your pals expect a resonator. Riverboat comes with a frosted head. Reliability Rating 9 Customer Service I will use Music Makers again. Matt was the customer service person I dealt with on the purchase and he was very helpful. Orders are processed promptly and correctly the first time. Riverboat came in one of the best shipping containers I've seen (and I've shipped 5-6 banjos in the last two years). There's been no need to send it back for adjustment or repairs. It came without a warranty, but that's not an issue for me. Music Makers stocks all the parts for a Riverboat, and the plans for building one, so if you're determined to acquire one, contact Matt and ask him to help you pull all the pieces together. There's even a brass (I think it's brass!) tone ring available through Music Makers, so you could upgrade for a brighter sound with a little more "bite" for under $100. Customer Service 10 Components The woods used and the overall design of Riverboat are its best features. This is a big banjo -- about 17" across with a substantial pot that's about 3" thick. It looks like it would be heavy, but it's surprisingly light -- I weighed it in at 7 lbs., give or take an ounce or two. The fretboard might have been a little smoother, that's the only reason I give it an "8." Oh yes, the tailpiece is also wood, very well made, and firmly attached. A Riverboard takes ball-end strings. Music Makers sells extra sets. Components Rating 8 Overall Comments Music Maker's Riverboat model was originally advertized at $699 for a finished instrument. Since mine had been sitting in inventory for quite some time, I purchased it for considerably less. It's definitely worth the price. It's got a deeper voice than my Deering Goodtime open-back and it's not as punchy as the Morgan-Monroe Rocky Top I used to have, but it's got its own character and no "identity crisis." I really enjoy playing it. Overall Rating 9