3 cheers!
The version of Shenandoah brought a tear to my eye - stunningly beautiful.
 
I agree Edwin, I have off of work, awoke at 03:00, got a cup of coffee, crawled back in bed and tuned in.
Good lord this thread is brilliant.
:-D

3 cheers!
The version of Shenandoah brought a tear to my eye - stunningly beautiful.
 
I agree Edwin, I have off of work, awoke at 03:00, got a cup of coffee, crawled back in bed with the snow still falling outside and tuned in.
Good lord this thread is brilliant.
:-D

The girl that plays banjo in our neo-oldtyme band New River Bound is shopping for a new banjo... or rather, thinking of commissioning a new build based on a very old design. (sound familiar?) =)
 
Anyway, she very much likes this fella's work... this first demo is a strange one - a half-fretless banjo, meaning it's fretless down to the 7-1/2th fret, (?! yeah, you read that right) and fretted from there on to the end.  
 

 
And this is a similar model, but with all the frets. Jess really likes this tone, and it suits her playing style well. I like the simple retro design, especially the brass-plated frailing scoop at the end of the fingerboard.
 

I like the tone too; but then I know nothing about banjo tone.  

What's the purpose of the scoop plate?  Other banjos appear to have more frets there.

The plate over the scoop I guess is mostly just decorative, although it could be functional in the same way as a pickguard. These banjos are made specifically for the melodic frailed-style players, many of which play right over the end of the fingerboard (very much like we do with our basses to get a more mellow tone) so the makers will offer a scooped fingerboard to facilitate that style. I'm guessing they found an interesting way to dress it up.  
 
The half-fretless is an idea I had considered have Alembic try on my bass.

Hmmmmm,  half-fretless at which end of the neck on a bass?
 
I liked the sound of the fretless banjo, made it a little greasier.

Supergroup.
Stumbled upon this while cruising through YouTube, from punk to this amazing collaboration of epic performers.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=oDs2Bkq6UU4

Supergroup indeed. ^ Is that a JayDee bass Mark King is playing? I just assumed it was an Alembic until the screen froze for a second, and nope, definitely not.  
 
I really enjoyed what these folks were doing about ten years ago. Robert Johnson and J.S. Bach would both have loved this band.  
 

 

 
ps @ pauldo - regarding the half-fretless bass, I had in mind for a similar brass plate to go from the nut down to the 12-1/2 fret, and be fretted from there to the 24th fret. It would work, but would be unspeakably heavy since that brass fingerboard overlay would have to be as thick as a fret is tall. Think of it as literally a single continuous fret. (like Ms. W. said about McVie's stainless steel fingerboard) See, I'm completely comfortable playing fretless bass until I get in to the 2nd octave. (where I really ain't got any business anyway) At that point, having some frets there to clean up my questionable intonation seemed like a good idea, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like training wheels. I just decided instead to go with a fretless ebony board with sidelines, and practice harder. =)

One of the guys who works at the other end of our building is a gifted guitar player, and often brings me something interesting to listen to. It was Danny Gatton last month, but lately he's been on a Bill Frisell kick...
 

 
What grabs me about this musical collaboration is the bassist, Viktor Krauss -the name isn't a coincidence- he's Alison Krauss' brother. Anyway, I've studied and tried to emulate his tone since the first time I ever heard him play. (like probably 25 years or so)

with Jerry Douglas!
 
:-D

Morph the cat by Donald Fagen.

Bela Fleck and Chick Corea, Enchantment
Lubos Malina: Piece of Cake with Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck & Peter Rowan

I love Bela's playing. I've been lucky to see the Flecktones twice in Glasgow, once with Jeff Coffin and the second time after Howard Levy had re-joined the band. Both great shows.  
 
Graeme

Going to see Corea and Fleck in Minneapolis in a few weeks and needed some time to reacquaint myself with their music.