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heads on fire « Extremely bad. »
Published on 03/03/12 at 06:25This is a six string banjo which is tuned E A D G B E, like a standard guitar. It is designed for guitar players who like the sound of a banjo but don't want to go through learning how to play in the different tuning. This banjo has a mahogany neck with 25 inch scale, a mahogany body, an 11 inch head, 22 frets, and Grover tuners.
UTILIZATION
I wish I had good things to say about this "guitanjo", but I just don't. It was a nice idea on paper - after all, the guitar and banjo are two fretted, stringed instruments, right? How different can they be? Well, any guitarist who has tried to pick a banjo (or vice versa) has discovered right away that the answer is "extremely different".
So getting the banjo sound into a guitar configuration is a good idea, but this Backwoods Banjo is just poorly made, all around. The neck had a huge bow in it, the fret edges were sharp, and the nut slots were improperly carved. All these problems mean that the guitar was just not fun to play or tune.
SOUNDS
It sounds fairly banjo-like. But the sound is of a cheap banjo. I am by no means a good banjo player, but I do teach in a store with one of the world's top banjo players, and I hear his instrument, and his many student's instruments, and I can tell a great difference in their tonal qualities. This Dean was on the low end of the ladder in sound quality, unfortunately.
OVERALL OPINION
Bottom line - this is just not a good instrument. If the craftsmanship had more attention to detail, and the woods were made of a higher quality, I'm sure the story I'd be telling right now would be different. But this is about as good as an abused pawn shop special that's been sitting in the shop for years - that is to say, bad! This instrument is so terrible that I am actually recommending anyone to check it out, just to have a gauge on the lower end of the scale.
UTILIZATION
I wish I had good things to say about this "guitanjo", but I just don't. It was a nice idea on paper - after all, the guitar and banjo are two fretted, stringed instruments, right? How different can they be? Well, any guitarist who has tried to pick a banjo (or vice versa) has discovered right away that the answer is "extremely different".
So getting the banjo sound into a guitar configuration is a good idea, but this Backwoods Banjo is just poorly made, all around. The neck had a huge bow in it, the fret edges were sharp, and the nut slots were improperly carved. All these problems mean that the guitar was just not fun to play or tune.
SOUNDS
It sounds fairly banjo-like. But the sound is of a cheap banjo. I am by no means a good banjo player, but I do teach in a store with one of the world's top banjo players, and I hear his instrument, and his many student's instruments, and I can tell a great difference in their tonal qualities. This Dean was on the low end of the ladder in sound quality, unfortunately.
OVERALL OPINION
Bottom line - this is just not a good instrument. If the craftsmanship had more attention to detail, and the woods were made of a higher quality, I'm sure the story I'd be telling right now would be different. But this is about as good as an abused pawn shop special that's been sitting in the shop for years - that is to say, bad! This instrument is so terrible that I am actually recommending anyone to check it out, just to have a gauge on the lower end of the scale.