Amena 5-String Banjo.

Hey Everyone,

It's not very often I get to do some restoration/repair work on one of these, but I was recently asked by a nice lady to do some work on an Amena 5-String Banjo so it can be made playable again, what a cool project, eh?

Here's a pic of the Banjo in it's current state:

Attachment 31484


It needs a new nut, set of tuners, new bridge, and a general clean-up as well as a set of new strings, which the lady has supplied.

Should be a cool learning experience for me as I've never worked on one before but I'm assuming it's just like working on a guitar, the Banjo is a member of the stringed-instruments family after all.

Good luck with that Doc. Those banjos are surprisingly heavy.

Actually, banjos are almost a percussion instrument with that skin and a resonator!! Love me some bluegrass banjo but could never get the finger rolls working properly and eventually sold mine on.
Are you re-skinning it, doc?

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Originally Posted by corsair

Actually, banjos are almost a percussion instrument with that skin and a resonator!! Love me some bluegrass banjo but could never get the finger rolls working properly and eventually sold mine on.
Are you re-skinning it, doc?

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Nah, just installing a new nut, bridge, and a set of new tuners on it so I can put new strings on it, the rest of it looks okay enough, I might need to buy some steel wool from my local Bunnings store to give the frets a burnish, and remove some rust from some sheet metal parts though.

I'm thinking of going with a new ZerO Glide Zero-Fret nut as a replacement for the original one which is missing, the skin seems to be okay although a bit grubby so I'll give it a bit of a clean.

Since I quite like the sound of a Banjo, wouldn't mind getting one so I can learn how to play it, and yeah that's true although the Banjo does have strings on it, I guess it's a kind-of hybrid between a percussive and stringed instrument, they are cool though, I remember seeing a photo of the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia playing one while sitting on a stool in front of an American flag, Bluegrass is cool, the Banjo was also used in Dixieland Jazz music too.


The whole idea is to get it up and running so it's in a playable condition so it can be played at the Nirvana club, a small live music venue that's literally about 100m or so down the street where I live, hopefully it'll go well.



I need to have a yarn with the lady who asked me to fix it for her, since she wants to know how much it'll cost her, I've done a price breakdown how much it'll cost all up, I'll have to see what she reckons.


How's this for giggles, but it's so cool cause he does a really good job of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7cY5hwmvX0

Do you know the difference between a four string banjo and a five string banjo?



























It takes about a minute longer to burn a five string...

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Originally Posted by Rabbitz

Do you know the difference between a four string banjo and a five string banjo?



























It takes about a minute longer to burn a five string...

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The three stores frequent keep them in the very back of the shop, the standard jokes from staff run as follows:

"We did have a beaded curtain, but it snagged on the tuners"
"They're way out in back, because we often have children in the store and we don't want to expose them to something like that"
"That's where XXXXX keeps his rocking chair and chewing tobacco"
"They're in the back, that way we can slip them in to their brown paper bags, out of sight, so as not to offend the public"

There...I've got that out of my system now....I'll show myself out now.

I left one sitting on the back seat of my car.

When I returned there was two of them.

cheers, Mark.

@ Rabbitz Lol....good one.


Once it's fixed I'll have to learn how to tune it up to pitch.

That it was a lady that asked you to restore it is obvious.

A gentleman wouldn't own a banjo.

Perhaps she wants it restored so she can take full satisfaction destroying it with a hammer.

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Perhaps she wants it restored so she can take full satisfaction destroying it with a hammer.

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Nah, the real reason is that there's a small club, called the Nirvana Club, that's literally about 100m down the street I live on, anyway on Tuesday and Thursday nights there's a live jam event where local Darwin musicians can get up onstage and jam with other musicians on songs, afterwards each musician gets a complimentary drinks voucher card which they can use at the bar, she wants me to fix the banjo so that it is available if someone wants to play it.

Initially, she wanted me to put new strings on it, but it turned out that the original nut and bridge were missing so I need to get replacements before I can even begin putting the new strings on.

On go the lights and out comes the banjo....it's closing time.

cheers, Mark.

I hope Doc doesn’t mind me posting this here, but it seemed like the only relevant place for all you banjo lovers out there.
Yesterday I was camping at Kwolyin, home of the...
Not the 1st (Uluru)
Not the 2nd (...Who cares?)
But the 3rd largest monolith in Australia (Kokerbin Rock).
7km east is the town of Shackleton named after the Antarctic explorer and home of Australia’s smallest bank (4x3m) no longer in use. In the town hall I came across this poster.

What's the definition of a gentleman?

Someone who can play the banjo, but doesn't.

See also 'bagpipes'... ;)

I found this & thought it was worth posting. :cool:

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Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

I found this & thought it was worth posting. :cool:

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surely a recorder should feature in that quartet?

HAh saw that the other day as well. I second the recorder, prob in place of the bongos.

@ DarkMark Nah, don't mind at all, thanks for posting that.....cheers.



I had a bit of a yarn with the nice lady who asked me to sort out the banjo, and I gave her a price-breakdown for the parts and labor for fixing it, and she said that she would have a yarn with the owner of the banjo and let me know whether to go ahead or not, I'm still waiting to hear back from the lady.

There's probably a billion and one musician jokes involving banjos in some way or another.....lol.


Anyway, I'm going to try getting in contact with the lady to see if she still wants the banjo fixed, actually, I need to somehow get in contact with the banjo's owner to see if I can get the go-ahead to start ordering the needed parts.

I’ve actually been thinking of a 6 string guitar tuned banjo as a project.......what does that make me??!! I didn’t know banjos were that hated, never had one but always been curious, is it a dark art to play ?

Otis Taylor makes his banjo sound very bluesy and awesome. Seasick Steve also does some good banjo tunes. Doesn't always have to mean closing time!

I actually love a good bit of banjo, but don't let Simon Barden hear you talking them up... ;)

They're fine in their place.

And that place just happens to be a roaring fire on a cold day. ;)

Guess there's so much hate for the banjo, because it's such a challenging instrument to play. People always hate what kick their a$$. Have fun with it earl Scruggs book is a valuable resource for both the luthier an the player!

I enjoy teasing banjo players, but I also LOVE listening to it. Something about that twang that gets me every time

Any C.W. Stoneking fans here? Seems like he may have been teased away from the banjo :)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y4qmWF9TIM

Great band. Here is the Melbourne-based band that inspired me to buy a banjo! Not sure if they are still playing - they have been quiet of late unfortunately. Still trying to get my head around the banjo method! Love the sound thats for sure.


https://youtu.be/Pj6Q0xRW5bQ

While we are all busy confessing our guilty little banjo secrets.....


http://youtu.be/6CNB5OLUPM0  

Another one hahaha!!!

https://youtu.be/e4Ao-iNPPUc

Ah yeah, saw them play at Highway to Hell earlier this year! They were a lot of fun.

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Given the direction this thread is heading, I have to post my all-time favourite banjo track. It's not really the best, but it's the most nostalgic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdZKolMIl0

I've enjoyed that little sequence, cheers folks! Might have to pop a bit of Stoneking on. :)

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Originally Posted by DarkMatterResist

Another one hahaha!!!

https://youtu.be/e4Ao-iNPPUc

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Wow, this is actually really cool.

...and, of course, the coolest use of banjo ever....
http://youtu.be/ikdFUcWluyU

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

...and, of course, the coolest use of banjo ever....
http://youtu.be/ikdFUcWluyU

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I agree. It's also originally the Eagles track I posted above. I love how well a minor Eagles B-side works for quirky Sci fi space adventures!

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