I have a 1980 Stelling Bellflower that is in mint shape: a beautiful banjo. I have had if for many years. The problem is that it has been messed with too often with people (like me) that weren’t good at doing this. The result was that the banjo was sick and I was not happy with the way it sounded or played. When I looked at that beautiful banjo and knew what it was doing: it was an aggravation. I had it to several good named luthiers with no improvements.
Within the last 2 years I had gotten the sound to come good thanks to 2 people. First I visited Arthur looking at an archtop of his and showed him the Stelling. It sounded muffled and Stellings are supposed to boom. Arthur fixed that with a truss rod adjustment. Geoff later told me if the neck is too flat it will kill the tone. The tone had been killed with an attempt to get the action up the neck lower to accommodate my poor technique.
But even after Arthur’s adjustments and me trying new heads and bridges etc., I was not getting the pleasing tone I wanted. Plus with some of the bridges I was getting bad buzzing. Dick Guggenheim sent me a Five Star frosted head with the frosting removed and I got 2 bridges: a Sosebee and a Davis. When I put them on the banjo’s tone really came back. Unfortunately I was still stuck with a very high action in frets 7 and up and a very low action (hard to get under for pull-offs in the 1-5 fret range). It was hard to play and I got various advice. Do I need a new nut? Has this one been worn out as was suggested to me? Do I need a new fret job? – another suggestion. Do I shim the bridge and make it higher. Is my neck attached properly to the neck? Do I need a truss rod adjustment for the neck bow? Does the neck need heated and reshaped? Is it the banjo or is it me – better look up the word neurotic because maybe I am getting there. I felt like a 16 year old cheerleader talking auto transmissions.
So I thought I better get with someone good and get it fixed. A call to Arthur and we set a time and I went down. We have a great visit. Arthur checks the banjo out, takes time and plays it (don’t try talking when he is playing because he is doing some serious listening), tries various bridges and placements (my placement was off), makes some adjustments, shims the nut, tries it for sound, and the banjo has come together. I know if I had tried to do what he did I would have been like a blind man walking through a minefield. I never would have felt comfortable and never would have gotten this banjo where it is. Now I look forward to paying it without reservation. The tone is great and rich and it is bell clear up the neck and the action is comfortable. The 4 hour ride home was longer than coming down as I was wanting to play my banjo all the time I was driving.
While I was there in Arthur’s shop he and I visited. When he tested the banjo with each adjustment he sometime would play a little Eddie Adcock one time, Sonny another, Reno another, and some JD. He would be talking about different things he has learned from different people. You could tell the interest and love he has for the banjo and the music is still there even after all these years and hours working at it.
When Arthurs work was done and I was about to leave, I mentioned playing back-up to Arthur (Arthur is a big Scruggs devotee on this) and I told him I had trouble hearing all of Scruggs back-up. The old Mercury recordings were very hard to hear what I wanted to hear. I asked him if he would ever consider making a teaching CD with the Scruggs back-up out in front. I have mentioned this to several prominent teachers and they couldn’t do it. Arthur said he had already done that and had it on a DVD! So I got his DVD for only $15 and he plays Scruggs backup out in front of a guitar and a lead singer. It has great camera shots and you can see the right and left hand and where he goes on the neck. I am now enjoying that along with the banjo.
I have to say, Arthur makes you feel as comfortable there as you can be – great hospitality. What a great day for a banjo lover. Pretty drive to the hills of KY listening to Flatt and Scruggs and JD, get my banjo fixed by one of the best there is, and get to visit and talk banjo and bluegrass with a true pro and a very nice guy. I am fortunate. Thanks Arthur.
Ken