Buckeye Custom 12" WL submitted 7/15/2008 Submitter tridentum Where Purchased Directly from Greg Year Purchased 2008 Price Paid 1550 ($US) Sound Every banjo lives and dies by the set up. I swapped Greg's proprietary bridge for a light Moon. Tightened the head gently over the course of a few days and the banjo found its voice. It's a boomer with a great WL sound. Skin head combined with the Moon bridge provides a really nice balance of treble and bass. Very good clarity and punch. Fourth string booms. Excellent sound that will improve over time. Sound Rating 9 Setup Action was set up perfectly and this banjo is a joy to play. I made some significant changes to set up to suit my personal taste and the skin head is still settling in. Greg sets them up nicely but with a skin head you're going to spend some time in the first few days tweaking. I did swap out his bridge as it appeared to choke off some of the sound. and response - at least to my ear. Went with a light Moon bridge but might experiment with a medium version. Anyway, I didn't need to change much to move it along - new bridge, some head adjustment and I ditched the light gauge strings for Ome heavies. Any banjo needs set up adjustments after a trip in the mail and especially one with a skin head. Greg had it set up well but my adjustments brought it in line with the sound I was looking for. Rating set up is almost pointless. Most banjo players prefer to do their own set up. Setup Rating 5 Appearance An absolute beauty. We went with dark-stained walnut no inlay (by the way, Greg does some beautiful inlay work). Square headstock with routed corners, walnut verneer on the rim and a beautifull ogee at the 5th string; black knobbed tuners. All of the work is flawless. Can't say enough about the neck. Greg's stuff really reminds one of the classic open backs of the late 19th and early 20th century. Appearance Rating 10 Reliability Solid banjo, built well, with good components. Should be a horse. Reliability Rating 10 Customer Service Greg is a fine banjo maker and a swell guy. Communicates well and understands what you want. Plus he tosses in a free t-shirt with your banjo. Customer Service 10 Components All comnponents are of the highest quality. Love the Gotoh tuners. Components Rating 10 Overall Comments Another small-shop banjo maker who is really making a name for himself. This must be the golden age of old time banjo making because there are a host of these guys out there. What separates Greg is his customer service and price range. A custom 12" WL for under $2K is unheard of among the established makers, and Greg's work is outstanding. Do yourself a favor - check out his website and see what he is doing. You cannot go wrong with a Buckeye banjo. Excellent workmanship, great sound at an outstanding price. Well done, Greg! Overall Rating 10

Jeff Menzies Gourd Banjo submitted 1/12/2008 Submitter tridentum Where Purchased Straight from Jeff Year Purchased 2008 Price Paid 600+ ($US) Sound Typical deep gourd sound. Jeff routed a sound hole in the gourd and it really opens it up. You can actually vary the sound by moving the gourd position. Love the deep resonant tone. Sound Rating 10 Setup It's a gourd not a Mastertone. Jeff made a nifty little antique heart of pine bridge that works really well. Action is perfect - high enough over the neck to play off the head. No need to monkey with this one. Nylgut strings with a really nifty bone tailpiece. Setup Rating 10 Appearance I chose the Jacobs style neck. Jeff used maple with a dark natural stain. Very attractive yet simple. The neck is perfect. Got lucky with a gourd that is close to being perfectly round. Appearance Rating 10 Reliability It's a gourd. It should last forever unless I sit on it. Reliability Rating 10 Customer Service Now here's the deal. There are a lot of great gourd banjo makers out there, so you can't go wrong with most of the established guys. The thing that might separate Jeff from the others is his personal touch. We were in constant communication during the process. He even went as far as to send photos of the banjo in process. Not many makers do that. He made this banjo in a little over ONE WEEK! Years ago I gave one well-known maker a deposit never got the banjo and had no communication during the ordeal. Jeff is the kind of guy that will bend over backwards to ensure your satisfaction. I'm certain that if anything went wrong he'd fix it in a timely manner. Customer Service 10 Components Nice ebony tuners. Not the cheapies from Stew Mac (which are fine tuners by the way). Nice carved bone tailpiece and the handcrafted bridge of pine. Everything works together to produce a solid banjo. Components Rating 10 Overall Comments Love the banjo. Jeff is a real artist and a great guy on top of it. Buy from him. You won't be disappointed. I'll have him do a custom tackhead for me someday. Overall Rating 10

Ramsey Amish submitted 4/17/2006 Submitter tridentum Where Purchased Zepp Country Music Year Purchased 2001 Price Paid 664.50 ($US) Sound Wonderfully full and dark with enough clarity to cut through in any band situation. Excellent volume and tone. Good quick response for an open-back. 12-inch pot with brass hoop tone ring makes smaller open-backs run away and hide. This bad boy is the perfect clawhammer banjo. It was a custom job that someone passed up. I'm glad that they did. Sound Rating 10 Setup Zepp had this thing set up perfectly with a Fiberskyn head. I put a 12" Renaissance head in its place. Made a slight difference for the better, but it sounded great with the Fiberskyn as well. Came with a 5/8 bridge that I promptly swapped out for a no-name 11/16 bridge. High action for playing over the scoop. It was custom ordered with guitar frets and they really do the trick. I'm sold on them. Has a wider neck than most banjos out there and the extra width really makes a difference in playability. Gives you a little extra separation between the strings. Tough to describe but it translates to a really nice feel. Setup Rating 10 Appearance Plain Jane banjo with simple MOP dot inlays. Dark stained two-piece maple neck with Martin style tenor guitar headstock. The rim is painted black. Nothing fancy but not ugly. It ain't called the Amish model for nothing. Finish and fit are typical of Mike Ramsey's banjos - very good. Appearance Rating 10 Reliability Should last forever. Reliability Rating 10 Customer Service Ramsey gives you a 5 year warranty. Haven't used it. Customer Service 10 Components 5--star tuners, no-knot tailpiece - all good quality components. Hooks, brackets and tension hoop are top quality too. No need to upgrade. Components Rating 10 Overall Comments Great open-back banjo. It has beautiful tone and the larger guitar frets make it a joy to play. Really great feel. For the price, it was a steal. I'll die with this one. Overall Rating 10

Gold Star GF-85 submitted 4/19/2004 Submitter tridentum Where Purchased Elderly Instruments Year Purchased 2004 Price Paid 995.00 ($US) Sound Quintessential bluegrass sound; full-bodied low end with plenty of punch; juicy bell-like sound up the neck; outstanding balance across all strings with good sustain and quick response; no dead spots. Ample volume Sound Rating 10 Setup Set up by Elderly Instruments; medium low action with light gauge strings and standard 5/8 bridge. I may try an 11/16 bridge but this banjo is happy with the set up as is. Setup Rating 10 Appearance Attractive late 1930s Gibson RB-75 style; flawless mahogany with excellent finish; rosewood fretboard; inlay work is well done; little or no filler. Flange is less refined; some casting flaws. Would rate 10 otherwise. Appearance Rating 9 Reliability Dependable banjo; professional quality. Should stand up to the rigors of performance. Reliability Rating 10 Customer Service One year manufacturer's warranty and one year from Elderly. Don't anticipate any problems. Customer Service 9 Components 20 hole flathead tone ring with long skirt - very nice; Presto tail piece and armrest are adequate. Tuners have a little extra play in them but keep it in tune. Should be upgraded to Waverlys or 5-Stars. Would rate higher with better tuners. Components Rating 8 Overall Comments Competes favorably with banjos in the $2K range. This is NOT an intermediate instrument but rather a professional axe. As good or better than vintage Gold Stars. Best deal on the market. Overall Rating 9