perfect Harmony

Got the Harmony back from Bruce Dowd last night – wow! The work he did on it was amazing, and the price very reasonable. The sound is beautiful – plunky and warm – and the Aquila nylon strings are stiff enough to make it easy to play.

I had difficulty keeping Nichol away from it last night. Looks like he’s got the nylon-strung bug too.

STEEL REINFORCED NECK

My Harmony banjo arrived today. For something essentially made of plastic, with a brown-painted neck, it sounds great.

more banjo

Got another banjo last night: an old Harmony Reso-Tone. These were the volksbanjos of the sixties, and though cheap, have a pleasant mellow tone.

The one thing I will have to get used to is its very narrow neck. But hey, if a “Steel Reinforced Neck” Reso-Tone was good enough for Lee Hammons …

I’m planning to put nylon strings on it for that backwoods tone.