For banjo devotees

Thanks to Conor Daly, banjoist and set-up master, who writes:

I received my Purcell bridges a few weeks ago from Tim Purcell in North Carolina. He sources both new and old woods to craft a very fine line of banjo bridges. I ordered two, one called 'Old Shop Maple Nr 1' and another called 'Old Gym Floor Maple'; of those, the second one seemed to bring out the best of my Prucha Pioneer, which I received late last year.

The stock bridge was doing a super job but I felt that the instrument had more to offer, so I took the plunge and after reading the descriptions of all the products on offer on his website, I narrowed it down to those two. It's really got everything a player is looking for: great responsiveness, volume to spare, and just the right balance of note separation and sustain. Here's a short clip of it on my Prucha [above]. If you're in the market for a bridge upgrade, you could do worse than checking out the website http://www.purcell-banjo-bridges.com/

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On the Deering Banjo Company blog, David Bandrowski interviews US banjo maestro Hank Smith of Hank, Pattie & the Current and Billie Feather, the Current's guitarist (both of whom took part in the first Dublin Bluegrass Collective jam session of 2023 - see the BIB for 3 Jan.). David Bandrowski writes that they:

... worked together to arrange the traditional fiddle tune 'Blackberry blossom' using classical arrangement techniques. This arrangement was originally made for 5-string banjo and classical guitar but here guitarist Billie Feather is using a Deering Solana Six 6-string banjo.* We asked the pair questions on how they went about arranging this tune in this style. Read the interview and get some ideas for your playing!

* Or 'banjo-guitar', as it was once called. A four-minute video of them playing the arrangement is on YouTube. The Solana is strung with classical guitar strings; on another video (three minutes), they play a similar arrangement with Billie on a regular classical guitar.

© Richard Hawkins