Electric Banjo

[Alex Cattaneo]

In many of the country bands I play in, I double on banjo, and the volume situation is such that I feel I have to go the electric route. I'm looking for something like the Goldtone EBM or EBT-5. I can't afford a Nechville so don't ask, ha ha ha! Even if I could I wouldn't spend that kind of money on an electric banjo anyhow. Cheers!

[Rick Cantrell]

Hey Alex,sent e-mail

[Jerry Hayes]

Hey Alex, I double on banjo occasionally along with other electric instruments and what I did was get a Barcus/Berry banjo pickup which I attached to the inside of the head parallel to the bridge between the bridge and tailpiece. I ran the wire to one of the holes in the resonator and attached the jack there. I then filled the resonator with old rags. I also in the past filled one with foam rubber which worked just as well. You need to then run it to a preamp of some kind. I use a Fishman, their lowest priced one and then you can crank that sucker up as loud as any electric guitar and get a good acoustic tone with a lot of volume. The good thing is that if you get an acoustic gig, all you have to do is pull off the resonator and take out the rags or foam rubber and it's back to "normal". The pickup touching the inside of the head doesn't diminish any of the acoustic sound or volume......JH in Va.

[Alex Cattaneo]

Thanks for the tips Jerry. Still looking though, as I'd rather leave my acoustic banjo as it is and not have to change it back and forth wether it's an electric or acoustic gig.

[Michael Hartz]

Use a piezo type pickup ( I love the Schatten) and run it into Fishman Aura Spectrum DI with the bluegrass tone set and using the fiddle blend model. Set the blend knob to around 2:00. I play in a top 40 cover band with a big PA and after trying EVERTHING , this is the only way I could get loud enough and actually sound like an acoustic banjo. It actually sounds awesome.

[Erv Niehaus]

I used to play some banjo in my youth and I used one of those little DeArmond contact pickups held in place by a large rubbber band. It just rested against the banjo skin and worked out great. I see those pickups for sale every once in a while. No modifications necessary.

[Bill Moran]

Electricbanjoman@aol.com
The guy's name is Danny. He built electric banjos for Buck Trent years ago. He also plays one. Smart guy when it comes to banjos. Other instruments also other than pedal steel.
Not sure if the first letter in the email address is a cap. or not. That is the way it came up in my address book.
Let us know when you make contact. I'm not sure if he is working now days but he might put you on the right track.

Also. Danny did some shows with Buck in his younger days. He's a good picker.

[Dennis Russell]

I second the Schatten banjo pickup. Except for the jack mounted on the tuning rods, you can't visually tell that it's electrified. I run it through a Baggs Para DI set to flat, then if need be I'll cut any frequencies that feed back (which, surprisingly, isn't that often). I feel that it completely maintains the original tone of my acoustic banjo, at loud or softer volumes.