Very few. We have probably made a dozen fretless scooped Goodtime
Banjos so far. We offer them on our website but they are not yet in the catalog. They are essentially a custom instrument that is ordered directly from us and can be featured only in 5-string Goodtime models.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Janet Deering

Very few. We have probably made a dozen fretless scooped Goodtime
Banjos so far. We offer them on our website but they are not yet in the catalog. They are essentially a custom instrument that is ordered directly from us and can be featured only in 5-string Goodtime models.

---

I am surprised at that to be honest. I can say I am so pleased with both my Goodtime Crow and also my Scooped Neck Classic Goodtime...I have them both set-up perfectly now...I recently put custom bridges on both of mine...handcrafted by Tim Purcell of North Carolina...bridges made from some curly maple blanks harvested from an old "turn of the century" piano...these already fantastic banjos are now even better! I have also recently purchased some 5 star planetary tuners for my Crow...just to kind of personalize it a little more. I am thinking about a fretless banjo for my next purchase...that way each of my banjos gives me something a little different...I have considered a hand crafted luthier banjo...but I am afraid I will invest money in one...and end up playing my Goodtimes still the most like I know alot of the guys here do on the BHO!

Even so if I order a Goodtime Fretless as my next banjo..I will probably change the bridge and the tuners like on the two I have now...and I may put a brass plate over the fingerboard. There is a guy that did that with his Goodtime banjo in Denmark and it sounds fantastic!! Some guys have really tinkered with their Goodtimes to great lengths..others not...but that is the magic of the Goodtime banjo in my opinion.

I really appreciate the simplicity and elegance of the Goodtime banjos...they truly are a "Goodtime"!!

Edited by - erikforgod on 03/24/2012 15:09:23

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paulf

Hi Janet.

                  Looking at buying a Goodtime in hopefully a few more weeks and will be getting it shipped to Australia but noticed on your site that the only hard case available is the $268 which I would not buy for a $500 banjo but I would feel better if the banjo was shipped in a case.  A few companies and shops offer a budget hard case when buying a banjo and was wondering if Deering would ever consider that for the Goodtime banjos.  I realize that you have sent so many banjos out in just the cardboard box and not had any problems but I would feel more relaxed if I knew it was better protected.

Cheers,  Paul

 

---

 Hi Janet, still waiting for your opinion regarding this post please.

Paul

Edited by - Paulf on 03/24/2012 17:52:48

Yes we would consider it if more customers wanted them. However you are the first to request it for protection. We often ship Goodtime. Banjos in gig bags which offer more protection and have found these protect the banjos just fine. We have shipped more than 50,000 Goodtime banjos in the last 15 years and I don't recall hardly any that have actually broken in shipping. So this has not been a problem that needs a solution.

I just want you to know how much I love my new Deering Classic Goodtime Special. It has such a rich tone. And it's beautifully made. I'm a Deering fan for life now.

I have a few questions about a couple of your other banjos.  Other than the obvious two-frets, what is the main difference between the Classic Goodtime 2 17-Fret Tenor and the Classic Goodtime Two 19-Fret Tenor Banjo? How does the sound differ? What about ease of playing? I have heard that 17-Fret were originally made for younger folks and women, i.e. people with smaller hands. Is the neck on the 17-Fret smaller than the 19-Fret?

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley

Thanks for the email - I had to include your ending quote. Because it is such a good one.
The difference is that the 17 fret neck has a scale length of 21 inches so the frets are closer together then the 19 fret tenor with the scale length of 23 inches. The 17 fret is made for musicians who come from the violin family so that the finger positions are similar, it is still a bit of a reach for a violinist but it is much easier than the 19 fret neck. The purpose was not originally for women and children. The shorter string of the 17 fret has less tension than the longer string of the 19 fret neck and so it has a bit softer sound. But the difference is slight and most listeners would not notice when the two are played side by side. The 17 fret is predominantly used for Irish fiddle music and most of our 17's are sold to people playing Irish music. But it is a contradiction that nearly all the top Irish performers play 19's. In Dixieland jazz the predominant instrument is the longer 22 fret plectrum
Banjo but there are significant players who use the tenor banjo in Dixieland jazz and it is always the 19 fret tenor banjo. The 17 fret isn't used in the jazz world.

I hope this is of help and I'm sorry it took me so long to answer your questions.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Janet Deering

Yes we would consider it if more customers wanted them. However you are the first to request it for protection. We often ship Goodtime. Banjos in gig bags which offer more protection and have found these protect the banjos just fine. We have shipped more than 50,000 Goodtime banjos in the last 15 years and I don't recall hardly any that have actually broken in shipping. So this has not been a problem that needs a solution.

---

 Thanks Janet, appreciate the answer.  If 50,000 survived then I should be ok and it should only be a few more weeks now before you get my order.

Paul

quote:

---

Originally posted by Paulf

quote:

---

Originally posted by Janet Deering

Yes we would consider it if more customers wanted them. However you are the first to request it for protection. We often ship Goodtime. Banjos in gig bags which offer more protection and have found these protect the banjos just fine. We have shipped more than 50,000 Goodtime banjos in the last 15 years and I don't recall hardly any that have actually broken in shipping. So this has not been a problem that needs a solution.

---

 Thanks Janet, appreciate the answer.  If 50,000 survived then I should be ok and it should only be a few more weeks now before you get my order.

Paul

---

Paul I purchased my Goodtime Crow from Amazon.com. The banjo came in the standard Deering box, and on the inside were two styrofoam supports, and the banjo was inside the gig bag supported and suspended within the box by this styrofoam casing. Around that was a plastic bag of sorts. My Crow didnt have so much as a scratch" The Deering gig.bag is extra nice and has a beautiful Deering Eagle logo embroidered on the front. The straps are padded and real comfortable for carrying...neither of Goodtimes ( my classic was shipped directly from Deering ) neither of them had so much as a blemish!

Paul I do recommend one thing though and I know Janet will agree. The Deering gig-bag is nicely padded but I purchased some cheapy cotton towels at a local dollar store in the states before I headed back to Argentina. I lined the bottom, round part of both my gig bags with one of the cloths to protect the tension hoop and j-hooks of my banjos from any unexpected bumps. Also I have wrapped the 5th-string pegs and the pegheads and necks of both of my Goodtimes in some thick towels. This gave my banjos some added protection and its very sufficient. The weakest part...or maybe better said...the area where a banjo is most apt to break ( any banjo ) is between the 5th string peg and the finger-joint on that peghead. Other than that as DeanT says "Goodtime banjos are built like tanks" you will have zero problems with it! Both my banjos are stored in their respective gig-bags this way...and I always return them to their gig-bags and store them nicely when not in use.

Edited by - erikforgod on 03/25/2012 07:09:24

Janet, the next time you talk to Taylor Swift, see if you can get her to join the Hangout 

quote:

---

Originally posted by DeanT

Janet, the next time you talk to Taylor Swift, see if you can get her to join the Hangout 

---

Yes, I'm sure she would love to see what some of the old men on here have said about her.

Erikforgod,   I like the idea of the stryofoam inserts and reckon they would do a great job.  I have already purchased a really good gig bag off ebay so don't really need the Deering one and for the cost of the Deering gig bag I could purchase a cheap case instead.  Would have bought the Goodtime by now except for work hassles but hopefully will be back on track soon.

Cheers, Paul

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GREAT-NEW-FAT-BOY-MODEL-GBE40J-NYLON-BANJO-GIG-BAG-16MM-INTERNAL-PADDING-/390400362523?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae5acc81b 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Janet Deering

I just want you to know how much I love my new Deering Classic Goodtime Special. It has such a rich tone. And it's beautifully made. I'm a Deering fan for life now.

I have a few questions about a couple of your other banjos.  Other than the obvious two-frets, what is the main difference between the Classic Goodtime 2 17-Fret Tenor and the Classic Goodtime Two 19-Fret Tenor Banjo? How does the sound differ? What about ease of playing? I have heard that 17-Fret were originally made for younger folks and women, i.e. people with smaller hands. Is the neck on the 17-Fret smaller than the 19-Fret?

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley

Thanks for the email - I had to include your ending quote. Because it is such a good one.
The difference is that the 17 fret neck has a scale length of 21 inches so the frets are closer together then the 19 fret tenor with the scale length of 23 inches. The 17 fret is made for musicians who come from the violin family so that the finger positions are similar, it is still a bit of a reach for a violinist but it is much easier than the 19 fret neck. The purpose was not originally for women and children. The shorter string of the 17 fret has less tension than the longer string of the 19 fret neck and so it has a bit softer sound. But the difference is slight and most listeners would not notice when the two are played side by side. The 17 fret is predominantly used for Irish fiddle music and most of our 17's are sold to people playing Irish music. But it is a contradiction that nearly all the top Irish performers play 19's. In Dixieland jazz the predominant instrument is the longer 22 fret plectrum
Banjo but there are significant players who use the tenor banjo in Dixieland jazz and it is always the 19 fret tenor banjo. The 17 fret isn't used in the jazz world.

I hope this is of help and I'm sorry it took me so long to answer your questions.

---

 Janet,

Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly.  Also, thanks for your insights on the 17 and 19 fret banjos.  I appreciate all that you do for the banjo world.

Steve

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gymbal31

quote:

---

Originally posted by DeanT

Janet, the next time you talk to Taylor Swift, see if you can get her to join the Hangout 

---

 

Yes, I'm sure she would love to see what some of the old men on here have said about her.

---

Yeah the same old men that would probably choke on their own slobbering tongue and trip over their own feet if they actually encountered her. I'm sure she's heard a lot worse. Taylor has a lot of fans here, and to heck with the negative nelly nonesense.

Well said Dean. She is a great performer and musician.

Am considering trading one of my mandolins in and purchasing a Dropkick Murphy's Goodtime Tenor Banjo as my first banjo. 

What do folks think?

Great idea. You will have a lot of fun with it.

Sure, I'll tell Taylor about the banjo hangout, I'm sure she has all kinds of time to hang out on the web!
:)

You know, I went over to the home of my instructor ARAU the invincible this last night for a legacy lesson of sorts. I picked up his Hartford after playing on my tenbrooks for the last year or more.  I sold my Hartford a while back in order to make the change and now I am sorry that I did. I have said that nothing can beat the sound of my tenbrooks, but I think that my Hartford was just a different kind of better than most. It is different in sound and playability that you start to take for granted after a couple of years with it. I am thinking there might be a new Hartford in the near future.

Hi Janet!

I hope you and Greg are doing well...I imagine with Merlefest and everything coming up you wont be logging into the Deering thread as much as usual. Janet I am loving my Goodtime Crow and my Goodtime classic scooped neck Goodtime. Lately I have been doing a little tinkering. I replaced the Deering tailpieces with No-Knot tailpieces on both of my Goodtimes and I really like them alot. I think it has given my banjos a bit mellower of a sound..which was what I was wanting. I also added some 5-star planetary tuners to my Goodtime Crow. The only sort of issue I am having is with my Crow. It seems that when I strung up the banjo and set the bridge with the new tailpiece on, the action seems noticably higher. Is it possible I might have accidentally turned the co rod while installing the "L-Bracket" and then the No-Knot? Its not super high...and its playable so I might actually could get used to it, but I was just curious because it looks as if the co-rod didnt move as I watched it while I was loosening up the nut to take the Deering tailpiece off. I loosened the head a bit and it seemed to help just a bit. What is your opinion? Nobody knows these banjos better than you. My Crow is very sentimental to me...its like one of my kids.

Edited by - erikforgod on 04/30/2012 17:17:18

Janet and Greg, came by last Friday to do the "tour", Carolina was very nice and the tour was great!! Missed meeting you guys, wanted to get you to sign my head, but oh well, there is always a next time. My daughter and SIL live in San Diego, so we will be back.