Little Bear Banjo Hospital: Back On The Job

Little Bear Banjo Hospital is reorganized, slimmed down, focused and ready to do business again. Taking new "patients," and ready to teach clawhammer banjo once more, this time in our new location, Staunton, VA, in the embrace of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We are still planning and designing a new workshop, but for now a modest two table operating room has been set up in the basement of our new cabin cottage near Augusta Avenue and Grasty, on Overlook Road, which indeed overlooks this great city and its surrounding mountain tops. LBBH repairs traumatic neck stress and dramatic peghead breaks. We can mount a new skinhead, refinish a neck and pot using old tried and true tung and oil finishing techniques. We can rejuvenate spun over pots and oxidized hardware. LBBH can do basic setup, vintage case repair, fret repair, fretless fingerboard replacement, customized wooden tailpiece carving, upgrading peghead and fifth string tuners, among other things. Looking forward to doing business locally as your one stop vintage banjo repair and rejuvenation spa. Thanks.

Clawhammer Lessons with the Chief Surgeon

• I'd be delighted to work banjo lessons with you.

• I teach clawhammer, the rhythmic West Virginia variety in particular.

• I focus on basics. I aim at equipping the student with firm grounding in fundamentals and the capacity to develop independently.

• I do not use tab, though I'm not religiously against it.

• I try to focus on enabling students to grasp tunes by ear.

• I charge 35 dollars for an hour of lessons.

• I'm prepared to accommodate your schedule, as mine allows.

• Weekends are best.

• However, I do offer evening lessons during the week.

• I am flexible, or try to be.

• Let's see what we can work out.

Tips on Packing Banjos for Long Distance Customers

Packing the banjos for shipping can be tricky.

The banjo itself should be swathed in bubble wrap, and placed in a carboard box that is then filled to capacity with packing peanuts, or wadded up newspapers.

In the end, though old newspapers are plentiful, the box will weigh more and cost more to ship. It might be worth your while to buy the peanuts. They box could be reused to ship 'em back to you.

The trick is to make absolutely certain that the banjo is essentially suspended in a total bed of peanuts, packed tightly, and that there is no movement in the box once sealed.

The most costly damage to a banjo in shipping comes when the package is jostled and the banjo moves in a way that whiplashes the neck, so that the peghead is strained. The most vulnerable part of the banjo is the juncture between the peghead and the nut. It's not impossible to repair a break at that point, but it is difficult and can cost a lot since it involves some strategic pinning and usually an entire neck refinishing.

Peanuts settle, so you'll have to tamp them down.

I usually use a box that is two inches taller than the banjo -- one inch one each end. The box should allow one or two inches in the front and the back of the banjo.

I also use brown packing tape, the kind you cut to length, wet, and apply. Scotch-tape like packing tape is sufficient, but it doesn’t lend that strapping reinforcement to the outside of the package.

My own view of commercial packing services is that they never get it right. Further, music stores rarely get it right. I think you'd be better off packing the thing yourself.

I would recommend insuring the banjo for an amount that represents the minimum it might take to replace yours with banjos of similar make and period of manufacture.

Make certain you have plenty of detailed photos for insurance purposes, just in case.

I use the U.S. Post Office. UPS can be costly for a heavier banjo, unless you have a corporate or business account with them. They charge a princely sum for packing. I'm not convinced they do a job sufficient to make certain that the banjo won't suffer whiplash.

Note: John Bernunzio of Bernunzio instruments has a good explanation of how to pack a banjo on his website.

eBay Auctions Services by LBBH Enterprises

Little Bear Banjo Hospital will organize, manage and complete eBay auctions of musical instruments in a consignment type arrangement.

LBBH will:

• Receive and issue a receipt for the instrument.
• Offer a LBBH assessment of the instrument.
• Clean and ready the instrument for auction.
• Photograph the instrument.
• Research the market price and make recommendations on reserve levels.
• Compose the instrument description.
• Utilize the existing LBBH eBay account for the auction.
• Monitor the auction, answer bidder questions, keep seller informed.
• Communicate with winning bidder, conduct all post-auction business.
• Establish the shipping and handling arrangements.
• Wrap and pack the instrument for mailing.
• Insure and post the instrument.


The instrument owner will:

• Deliver the instrument to LBBH Corporate HQ in Arlington, VA.
• Agree to pay the eBay insertion cost to run the auction, the "listing fee".
• Agree to pay the eBay final value fee post auction, the "final value fee".
• Pay LBBH 12 % of the auction price, in addition to the two eBay admin fees described above.

LBBH has been an eBay seller for nearly five years now, and has compiled a perfect feedback record. LBBH is expert at packing and shipping sensitive, delicate instruments. And LBBH eBay auctions pages are well written, compellingly photographed, and fully articulate the terms and conditions that are the basis for effective and efficient auctions.

For references, contact recent satisfied customers:

betsy.omalley@verizon.net
debloispowers@verizon.net

In the Words of Past LBBH Patients

"I finally got a chance to play the fretless you built for me and I am happy to report how pleased I am with it. The sound is so rich and resonant that I'm reluctant to adjust or replace anything. It's certainly an example of the whole being more than the sum of the parts. It must be the masterful setup job that tied everything together."

Paul Deblois, Alexandria, VA, September 2005 "I have been singing your praises to anyone that will listen. Thanks again for the quick turn around and great job on that tenor. I can hardly keep my hands off of it (much to my family's chagrin).

Steve Barrett, Alexandria, VA, April 2007 "Lew Stern is the only repair man I let work on my vintage banjos. His attention to detail and customer service are unmatched.

I thought I had a great sounding Vega Tubaphone until I took it to the Little Bear Banjo Hospital for some minor surgery. Lew kept me updated every step of the way, sending me pictures and detailed descriptions of the work he was to preform, all the while making sure the end result would be what I was hoping for. The day I picked my Vega up form Hospital, Lew handed it to me and upon frailing the first note I was thrilled!!! Finally, my banjo had "that" Tubaphone sound I had been searching after for years. The setup was perfect, the action was perfect, and it played like a dream. The skin head me mounted was beautiful, and the delicate repairs he made ensured that I can play and enjoy my banjo for many years to come. I owe this all to the Little Bear Banjo Hospital and Chief Surgeon Lew Stern.

Thanks Lew! "

-Mike Monseur, Chantilly, VA< 12 September 2007 "Regarding my Walter Burke with a broken peghead, you reattached the peghead, pinning it in place with dowels and adhesives, replaced missing neck inlays, filled and sanded the scar. You applied a strong aesthetic sense, careful attention to detail and meticulous craftsmanship to my project. The completed banjo is a pleasure to look at, with a uniform color and warm finish. Its light weight and soft mellow tone make it an absolute delight to play. I am extremely pleased with this instrument."

Dave Davidson, Reston, VA, February 2002 "Your French polishing finish restored my A.C. Fairbanks that is worth approximately $5,000. The prior owner had put on a plastic exterior coat over the beautiful neck with fancy carving and backstrap. You did an excellent job painstakingly removing the first owner's shellac job, carefully cleaning the intricate carving, and refinishing it in a way that showed off the delicate design work and the beauty of the original wood."

John Huerta, Arlington, VA, November 2001 "The banjo uke arrived today -- very fast delivery. You did a wonderful job of restoring the instrument. It is beautiful! The finish is lovely, the wood in excellent condition. I love the warm color and subdued finish. You really did a great job. I've strung it up and it sounds just super. My expectations have been exceeded! I will play this with pride. My deepest thanks for putting this together. You did a great job in every way."

Bill Montague, Chatham, MA, August 2001 "I want to thank you for your work on the Buckbee. It feels, functions and sounds wonderful. I am so happy to be able to pick it up and play it without re-tuning every five seconds. I don't know why, but I just like the way it sounds."

Mike Monsour, Chantilly, VA, July 2007

Hi Lew,

Yes - your repairs to my truly busted Bohmann Military banjeaurine neck were much appreciated. Its history was that it had previously been bought on ebay as an instrument in good condition but was found to be damaged on receipt by the winner. That wasn't the sellers fault. UPS had routed it via Japan I believe, for reasons of their own, and when it arrived some weeks later either or both of the peg head and heel had been broken. It was dispatched back to the seller and got lost again. Whatever - when it arrived both the peg head and heel were definitely broken. Seller claimed insurance and then relisted at a later date when I bought it as it clearly was - busted up..

I had two concerns. The dowel stick on most JB Schall variants isn't a loose item dowelled into the heel - its part of the heel itself. I knew that if the distance between the lower face of the heel and the lower face of the overhung fingerboard were to change I wouldn't be able to refit the repaired neck to the body without modifying the entry hole for the stick. The other issue was that the peg head break at the nut had bent the typical large Schall German silver perimeter decoration which is soldered in place onto silvered flush brads.

You successfully managed both concerns. The neck fits as it did originally and you refinished in a soft flat black as per original making the repairs almost invisible. The peg head decoration lies true as when new. Your efforts have been much appreciated - guess I'd better find some more work for you :)

Best

Richard Evans
London, England
24 December 2007 Hello Lew,

I want to thank you again for selling my old Fender Stratocaster on Ebay for me. I dropped it off at the Little Bear Banjo Hospital and you did all the rest. Your extensive research on an unfamiliar subject paid off with a very effective and informative auction listing. The many photos you took showed the instrument off to good advantage (thanks, Lily). Best of all, you fielded all questions and requests for further details from guitar fanatics worldwide with your usual diplomacy. When the smoke cleared at the end of the auction, I was very pleased with the winning bid.

You then took on the formidable task of shipping a large, heavy guitar and case to Australia. I really appreciate the hard work and expertise that went into such a successful auction. Now about that old cappucino machine in the attic...

Another satisfied customer,

Paul DeBlois
7 January 2008

The Evolution of the LBBH Logo

Admissions Policies and Practices

1. Call Lew Stern for appointments: 703-920-8511. Emergency consultations
and immediate patient care is one of our specialties. Email contact:
brooklynbanjoboy@yahoo.com.

2. Patient evaluations and assessments/recommendations carry a service fee of
25 dollars. That fee is forgiven if the banjo enters into treatment at the Little
Bear Banjo Hospital.

3. Following a preliminary examination, and a mutual decision to commit the
patient for overnight observation, Little Bear Banjo Hospital will undertake a
vigorous examination of the banjo. The hospital will provide a receipt containing
an inventory of parts, an appraisal of the banjo's health problem, and several
alternative treatments plus a recommended course of action.

4. The recommended course of action will include estimates for the procedure(s)
to be undertaken by The Hospital, and the costs of parts and labor.

5. We will be frank and direct in offering our prognosis. We will be prepared to
offer access to case histories of similar banjo health situations, and before and
after photographs of prior patients (within the parameters of patients' right to
confidentiality).

6. The Little Bear Banjo Hospital will provide an estimated date of completion of
the recommended course of action, and commit to keeping the next of kin
updated regularly. No additional procedures will be undertaken without prior
consultation.

7. The Little Bear Banjo Hospital aggressively pursues after care evaluations and
will contact the banjo owner within a week following discharge to seek a report
on the health and well being of the banjo.

Banjo Boxing: The Emergence of a New Collecting Interest

Prepared for the Banjo Collectors Gathering
8 - 11 December 2005
Arlington, VA

I have long been captivated by the extent to which full immersion collectors have one or more collateral collection interests: banjo statuary, catalogues, vintage photographs, calling cards, banjo lawn jockeys, tailpieces, banjo jewelry, and so forth. Many of those subsidiary collecting interests are equally as expensive as the main focus of this group's attention, and the trafficking in these items can be just as competitive and intense.

I believe I have discovered a new subsidiary collecting interest, and identified the next high profile banjo related collectible: banjo boxes, those stout cardboard containers delivered by FedEx and US Postal Service employees to our front porches that are the portal to this group's main collecting interest, the cocoon that conceals the butterfly, the delivery system long neglected as an art form itself.

Boxing, as we should call it, is an acquired skill, long the domain of dealers, but increasingly a folk form as more and more people delve into eBay inspired banjo capitalism, selling their grandfather's attic dwelling instrument, and wrapping and posting their own banjos to keep overhead down.

As is the case with any aspect of banjo collecting, there are long running disputes, cannonical arguments, over methods for packing banjos. A body of literature has developed that helps preserve these disputes. The adherents sustain the level of debate in the electronic pages of BANJO-L, reviving with almost predictable periodicity the core disputes of that argument: UPS, FedEx, or USPS? Scotch or packing tape? Crumpled newspapers or peanuts? Paper or plastic? Detuned strings and collapsed bridge or full setup? Bubblewrap or Styrofoam blocks?

It is precisely this debate that help structure a typology of banjo boxes, although it is less the methodology than the overall aesthetic product that establishes this aspect of banjoing as an independent art form.

I see three types of banjo boxes, categorized according to packing principles and practice.

First, a method I call Block Packing. Angular, top-tensioned and packed using large brick-like Styrofoam squares as the foundation of the system, the approach is unique and individual, rather than local in character and reflecting regional resources and commercial packing practices. It does incorporate the use of peanuts, a widespread practice, but it utilizes a clever and artful combination of colors and shapes that is again an individual signature. (See photo number 1).

Second, a packing style best described as Neo Gothic Anarchy. Anarchy Packing is extremely individualistic in the area of the address line and box markings, especially handling instructions. However, it tends to be very conventional in box choice, and very traditional in the selection of internal cushioning. One unique contribution to this art form may very well be the use of all local resources in packing and bracing technology, a recipe the sometimes incorporates odd and suspect items. (See photos number 2 and 3).

The third model I call Faux Boxing. It represents an imitation of elements of the classics that is boxy in shape, bereft of individual signature and imagination, and is often characterized by a less than elegant "bigger is better" approach that yields a nondescript caricature of the highest forms of this art. It is less collectible and lacks utilitarian value in that it is not recyclable without time consuming modifications*. (See photo number 4).

This collecting niche has already begun to produce a number of competing Schools of Thought. One with which many subscribes should become familiar traces its origin to the Collected Thoughts of Julian Vincent, an experimentalist as well as a collector to whom the appearance of instruments is less relevant than the question of whether they make the right sound. On that basis, Mr. Vincent has speculated about the functional aspects of these boxes, with the goal of determining how well each of these types of packing protected the instruments, and the variables that help determine whether one box is more relevant to efforts to swaddle and protect classical, bluegrass or clawhammer banjos. He is in the throes of a theoretical breakthrough that will help guide us toward a Grand Theory of Banjo Boxing, focusing on variables determining the height from which instruments must be dropped to break individual parts, suggesting that the Grand Theory will argue that the parts exceed the value of the whole.

This is a new area of collecting. It may take time to develop. It will probably remain an acquired taste for the immediate future. Banjo boxes are not likely to develop into a specialty anytime soon. We will probably not see eBay auctions featuring boxes, though it is possible that an interest in small artifacts of the banjo packing process will attract attention in that electronic marketplace. The emergence of collectible replicas and miniatures may help propel interest in this art form.

But at some point in the future, we will see articles in Banjo Newsletter, perhaps a dedicated quarterly insert championed by a joint bluegrass-old time union of interests, because this is truly a collecting interest where crossover is possible. We could see dedicated vendors at festivals, and we may see sales of truly unique specimens and other farsighted banjo focused enterprises.

And we will see the emergence of a new generation of high stakes collectors focused on preserving this folk form, stockpiling examples, systematically cornering the market, and eventually producing a lavishly illustrated book that will legitimize this specialized collecting interest.



*Note: At least one box collecting colleague raises an interesting point in making the case that every box he has employed to convey banjos previously came from a banjo retailer (with an 85% probability). My colleague has never begun the cycle of use with an original box. That has led to some speculation that banjo boxes are neither created nor destroyed, and that Mr. John Bernunzio, Smakula International or Elderly Instruments is at the vortex of some major collecting force, the originator of all cardboard encasements for banjos, and conceivably for other stringed instruments. I intend to explore this theme in a forthcoming Banjo Newsletter article, embroidering on earlier discussions of the theory of banjo relativity.

Helping Young, Aspiring Banjo and Guitar Musicians

In mid-January a representative of The Theatre in Washington, VA, contacted Little Bear Banjo Hospital on behalf of Rappahannock High School's music program, which was looking for guitars and banjos for students who could not afford to purchase them.

Little Bear Banjo Hospital donated a Kimberly guitar (my first instrument), which had been in the shop waiting for a good reason to start the repairs and setup necessary to make this thing playable. And Little Bear Banjo Hospital put out the word to local Old Time musicians. An impressive number of local musicians, many affiliated with The Friends of Old Time Banjo (FOB), donated very respectable instruments (including their first instruments) or provided cash support for the purchase of cases, straps and parts.

*Dog was not included in the donation.*

My goal was to make them playable, not pretty. After a month or so of work, on 21 February I finally completed the repair and set up work, wrapped the assembled instruments in cases, bundled them into the car, and with Mary hauled them off to Warrenton (stopping first at a spectacular local clogging event, the Potomac Double Down) for a hand-off to teacher Ben Beasley. I turned over a total of eight playable guitars and three very good learning level banjos, four guitar stands, and cases for all the instruments.

The banjo and guitar community in northern Virginia committed some very positive acts of friendship with these young musicians and potential players in mind. Little Bear Banjo Hospital thanks those people heartily.

The kinds with their instruments.

My First Skin Head

Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001
Subject: skin head stuff
To: BANJO-L@ucdavis.edu

I just put my first skin head on a banjo.

I had been warned by many good friends that this is an awful task, but that it's also some kind of test of courage, a blood ritual which banjo players must endure.

So, I put off doing it as long as I could. I found other tasks to do. Actually spent time doing another job -- yardwork -- that I had managed to avoid like the plague. I went to school soccer games. I painted 3/4ths of the house. I stripped and refinished furniture. I asked endless esoteric questions about flesh hoops and brazing of BANJO-L experts, and spent hours studying responses to those questions. I hunted down websites.

Then, I ran out of excuses. I ran out of other jobs (though I volunteered to put linoleum on the floors of every kitchen in the neighborhood).

So, I got me a skin (the modern, urban way: hunting one down right to front door of Bob Smakula's store.)

I lined up my arsenal of pliers, exacto knives, long bolts, etc.

I soaked that skin until it felt workable. Cold water. Patience. I found it helped to rub the water into the skin rather than just let it soak. I'm sure that this could be explained scientifically. But I'm not going to go down that route. Rubbing the skin under running water gave me a sense that I had some control over this foreign substance.

As it turned out, that was the last time the skin was under my control. Trying to attach a wet skin to a wooden hoop is essentially the same experience as trying to rope and brand a live calf. Now I know there are some cowboys out there who will dispute this. And I have little interest in challenging the credentials of these real life cowboys. However, it strikes me that anyone who disputes my "calf skin/live calf" hypothesis has either never actually targeted a calf from horseback, or been wrestled to the ground by a dead, inert, but very wet calf skin.

I'd like to be able to say something to the effect that the next step -- which is placing the skin on the head, pressing the flesh hoop onto the rim just right, and setting the tension hoop into place -- is just a matter of science, physics, leverage, tactics, and so forth.

Unfortunately, all things rational count for nothing at this stage. For each step that makes sense, there's a follow-on part of the drill that defies logic, scoffs at gravity, or ignores the innate characteristics of wet hide.

There are several tricks I can recommend, some of which are mentioned in the useful articles and website discussions by people such as Bob Smakula. Others would not necessarily occur to individuals trained to think in linear, reasoned, logical ways:

1. Get a large enough piece of hide so that you have enough overlapping beyond the tension hoop so you can get a good grip and stretch the hide over the flesh hoop, into position behind the tension hoop, clear out the air bubbles by working to get the skin tight. Just have enough leeway to make it easy to grab onto the "threaded" hide with a pincer.

2. When wrestling with the hide, as you try to pull the skin through the tension hoop and into position, don't wrest your palm or any other part of the hand on the hide while looking for leverage over the skin. That defeats the purpose of this drill.

3. Be prepared to make at least one mistake, and to have several things beyond your control go wrong.

4. When trimming the excess skin at the end of assembly, use a blade over which one has perfect control. For some, including me, an exacto knife isn't always the most easily managed cutting tool. A sharpened surgical knife, or dissecting tool might work better.

5. Let it dry when you're in a position to keep an eye on it. loosen the tension as necessary, or pull the plug on a failed experiment. Leaving it to dry overnight eliminates the option of checking in on the top during the course of drying to regulate tension, etc.

6. Don't let your 120 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback drool on the thing, though recognize that dogs over 70 pounds drool where they please.

7. Make certain that you don't wait too long before putting a skin on another banjo. I plan to do another tomorrow.

Regards,
Lew

Keying a Paramount

28-29 January 2008


During the summer of 2003 I met Will Keys following one of his performances at the annual Smithsonian folk festival held on the mall in Washington, D.C. These are pretty informal sessions, so I strolled up to the stage when I saw him cradling his banjo, preparing to sheath it in its case, and told him that I though he did great music. I asked whether the banjo he had in hand was the plectrum he had converted into a 5 string, famed in song and story. Indeed it was, he told me, as he lifted it out the case, and handed it over to me in a supreme act of banjo generosity.

I cradled this banjo, inspected the fifth string peg he had fixed to the side of an old Paramount plectrum neck, admired the intriguing architecture of the Paramount pot, and gave it another once over with my eyes. I don't recall whether I strummed it or banged at the strings. I was less interested in the sound than the excavation on the side of the neck that accommodated a simple metal tuner. Unfortunately I don't recall much about the pip, though photos now mounted on BANJO HANGOUT homepage site belonging to Bill Keys, Will's son, show some perspective on both the fifth string peg and pip, and offer some views of the pot and the peghead, too.

Bill has posted some notes and recollections about his Dad that are readily available on his homepage, and are worth reading. Also worth reading is another web page labor of love by some friends of Will's: http://www.willkeys.com/html/about_will.html

In separate email correspondence in mid-2007, Bill told me that Will purchased his Paramount in 1971 at a music store in Bellflower, California while he was visiting his daughter, whose husband was stationed at the USN base in Long Beach. Will's daughter appears to have accompanied him to the music store. Imitating a modification he had seen on a banjo belonging to Carl McConnell, Will reconfigured the Paramount to accommodate the fifth string. Bill told me that his sister has the banjo, and that it remains at a family home in Gray, Tennesee.

It would be about 5 years before I developed a full blown case of Paramount banjo obsession, to the point of stockpiling parts and pieces, buying hulks off of eBay and keeping an inventory of projects, investing in some of the media and memorabilia and historical documentation about William Lange, amassing photos of banjos, seeking out like minded devotees, attempting to track serial numbers, and accumulating a record of his patents.

And it wasn't until late January 2008, about the time of my own 56th birthday, that I felt I knew Paramounts well enough to try this modification myself, and that I owed myself a birthday present.

Paramounts intrigued me first as architecturally unique banjos. The rims represent an evolution of innovations from the minds of William L. Lange and William P. Rettburg, patented acoustical experiments and shapes that emerged in the period from 1920 to late 1930. The tailpieces were uniquely cammed inventions themselves, and also emerged in an evolution of ideas from the late 1910 to the early 1930 period. The rims are weighty, sturdy structures built as archtops, configured so that metal pieces run in intervals across the top of the rim toward the metal tone ring, forming compartments that must have represented some great theoretical design intended to make clever use of space, air and the juncture of metal and wood to produce a unique sound.

I confess to having little of an engineers' or designer's understanding of what Lange and Rettburg intended in structural and scientific terms when they organized their thoughts and applied for their patent. If anything, I have more of an intuitive sense of what emerged from their experiments: an extremely bright sound that lends itself well to all sorts of playing styles, especially up picking, in my opinion.

So, after several practice runs on old maple necks that I keep around the shop for precisely such eventualities,, I took the simple Style One Paramount I won in auction, detached the copy plectrum neck, mounted it in the fangs of a well padded portable vice, squared it up with a level, secured it to the platform of my drill press, selected the right and pre-tested bit, and slowly cut into the neck to excavate the hole for the fifth string peg, right where the 4th fret meets the fifth, as close enough to the photo of Will's own work as possible.

I pre-tested seating several different kinds of fifth string pegs, looking to find something that might match the original Page tuners (not from the Style One, but painstakingly accumulated in my search for Paramount artifacts). I eventually settled on the simplest all metal peg, resembling what Will selected for his project, possibly because the part of the peg that would anchor into the neck was shaped cylindrically, could be seated by screwing the mechanism straight down into the neck instead of cutting a hole for a modern generic fifth string peg, wider at the mouth and narrower at the bottom of the shaft, which I thought would likely be harder to accomplish on a narrow plectrum neck.

I selected an old ivoroid pip, possibly off of an old Fairbanks, large enough to exceed the height of the fret alongside of which it would be anchored, mimicking what I could figure out was the specs for Will's banjo. I had to cant it slightly to the left side of the fingerboard, and drill the hole close to the purfling, always a risky proposition, but the stem was thin enough so that I was able to seat the thing securely without doing structural damage to the fingerboard. The fifth string runs a bit close to the 4th, far enough away to allow good clawhammering and accurate downstroking in up-piacking patterns, but close enough to have to concentrate on getting finger positions right the first time.

This turned out to be a surprisingly playable banjo. There's basically enough room for right and left hand fingers to find their way around the flight deck without bumping into important things. The scale is right. I might experiment with a slightly lighter gauge, slap a calf skin on the thing. I've been reluctant to do so because the clear skin allows visual access to a very squared away interior, with all sorts of intriguing angles and structural contrasts between distinguished old bolts and rim wood, the gleam of the nickel plated tone rim and the metal pieces that create those air chambers that characterize the Paramount rim.

I suppose I attempted these modifications largely to see whether they were possible, and would yield a playable, serviceable banjo. I did not have to engage in prolonged agonizing over whether to cannibalize an antique, since the banjo came with both the original neck and a very reasonable facsimile of the plectrum neck that the original owner had apparently duplicated for a reason that is long buried in the recesses of banjo memory. I had thought about doing the job, and tossing it on eBay as a target of opportunity, but I think I'm going to be playing it for a while before it goes anywhere, if it goes anywhere.

It's given me the Will to play, so to speak.

Meet the LBBH Staff

Allow us to introduce ourselves:

Lily (left) and Rocky (right),
Our Primary Care Team

Ready to operate!

Pre-Op

Post-Op

Rocky fulfilling his duties as our resident Musical Therapist.

Explore the Little Bear Banjo Hospital

Indulge in a virtual tour of the LBBH grounds:

The Tess D. Stern Surgery Center

Our Operating Equipment

Special Surgeries

Elective Surgery Center

The Preliminary Evaluation Desk

The Casey J. Stern Operating Room

This concludes our tour. For more information, please contact Chief Surgeon, Dr. Lew Stern.

Banjo Health Care at LBBH

Little Bear Banjo Hospital (LBBH) is a full service "Banjo Wellness Center." LBBH undertakes a vigorous examination of the banjo. The hospital offers an appraisal of the banjo's health problem, and several alternative treatments plus a recommended course of action. The recommended course of action will include estimates for the procedures to be undertaken by The Hospital, and the costs of parts and labor. We have excellent recovery accommodations, and a devoted after care service.