Category Archives: Banjo Revolution

Presenting the Nechville Renaissance Vintage for Winfield

The Walnut Valley string instrument competitions in Winfield Kansas attract the world’s best pickers. The winner of the banjo contest will have his or her pick of banjos from three American builders. The first place winner’s choice will signify another competition between the banjo builders themselves, as the winning contestant chooses what he/she considers to be the best banjo of the bunch.

For their first year of sponsorship at Winfield, Nechville has created an irresistible prize banjo including all the features most commonly sought after in a modern made professional instrument. The result surprised even the makers.

The Renaissance Vintage restates the classic beauty of the “Golden Era” of banjos with refinements that have come to predominance only in recent times. Maintaining the essential ingredients of genuine old growth mahogany neck, authentic antique rosewood fingerboard, classic looks, pre-war formula tone ring and combining many of the advancements popularized by Nechville over the past 30 years, has given the world a new standard by which to judge banjo excellence.

The resulting combination is an example of refinement and aesthetics. The full width five string compound radius neck and Comfort Beveled armrest give effortless playability. The fifth string peg is repositioned on the peghead, so the neck is more sleek with better stability. The tonal character is complex, with warmth and volume attributed partly to the block style mahogany rim. The intonation is perfected by Nechville’s Enterprise radiused compensated bridge. The fullness and depth are characteristics of Nechville’s Helical Mounting construction. In every respect, and in every detail, the Renaissance Vintage welcomes the challenge.

Good luck in the competition!

Tom Nechville

Nechtology

While the benefits of our banjos have been presented in a variety of ways over the years, there are still those who are not aware. Some players are inspired to purchase a new instrument because of the beautiful sound that it makes. Others are motivated by popularity of certain brands.

A decision to purchase the best banjo involves more than its sound or its current popularity. In today’s banjo marketplace, there is one essential decision to ponder. Yet unfortunately, the vast majority of banjo buyers do not even know that this choice exists.

If you were to purchase an adding machine without knowledge of a calculator, or a typewriter without knowledge of a printer and computer, you would not be happy when you discovered the new way of doing things. It is our challenge to inform those of you banjo lovers what you have been missing for quite a few years now.

As a player, can you imagine a dream world where your sound is refined, your notes are articulate, distinct and yet full and saturated with tone? Maybe you play different styles of banjo and have several instruments set up accordingly. In our dream world, your perfect banjo can quickly adapt to different player preferences and will disassemble for easy transport and travel.

You may never have asked for your banjo to be constructed differently; to have one tone-harnessing helical thread that perfectly nests your tone chamber for perfect resonance. Your dream tone is even on every fret with your head automatically tightened perfectly evenly.

Set up is no longer a hassle. It becomes fun to modify your playing options and resulting sound.

We made this dream a reality. Were you aware that there are 60-80 fewer parts required in a Nechville banjo? The construction is permanent and foolproof.

Whatever sound your traditional banjo makes, it does so with its tone bell and mounting rim firmly fixed to the neck with metal hardware. Additionally you have dozens of hooks and nuts, lugs, hoops and other metal parts attached to the body that we would like to refer to as the “Tone Chamber”. What tone do you get from the tone ring and rim that is attached to all those metal parts? It is no surprise why the banjo is often called “tinny” , “brash” or “metallic”.

Did you know that Nechville makes a banjo whose neck is attached to a one-piece hardware frame that holds your tone chamber without any interference from metal connections at all? Were you aware that there is only a single thread that presses the tone chamber up from behind to deliver you a palate of sound from dark and warm to excitingly brilliant?

If you have not been aware of these things, you are now. We invite you to become a member of the family of Nechville players by simply contacting us or inquiring with one of our dealers. We wish to assist you in finding the ultimate instrument for a lifetime of enjoyment.

Visit us at www.nechville.com to learn more. Or better yet, give us a call.

Rising From the Muddy Waters

Having played a lot of banjos in my day, when I have an instrument like this, I have to write about it. Well actually, there are no other banjos like this. Let me explain.

The Nashville flood of 2010 marked the end of the Gibson banjo era. Not only did Gibson lose their banjo shop, but countless instruments were caught underwater and lost. One such casualty was a nice Greg Rich replica of a pre-war RB3. When received as a down payment on a new banjo, I thought it was a total loss. But after scraping off the mud and wiping it down I found that the pot was salvageable. The neck connection was degraded badly by water damage and the neck angle was unsuitable.

Flux Capacitor comes to the rescue. It is possible to re-cut an existing banjo neck to accommodate the patented Flux connection. That’s what we did. Within a few hours with a bit of fret dressing and cleaning up, the banjo was back in playing shape again with perfect action. The swelling and subsequent drying of the rim did not hurt the tone. In fact I was surprised from the outset how nice it sounded. Besides the addition of the Flux Capacitor, I decided to keep all the original parts including the bridge that came with it, until recently. I expected the RB 3 to sell quickly in a consignment shop but after a year or two of not selling, I got it back and brought it to Rockygrass this year.

What a great festival to meet with and jam with top level pros. The Nechville demo session display is a natural gathering place for the festival’s finest pickers. That is where a banjo that looks and sounds like a pre-war Gibson gets plenty of attention. I admit it was fun on two occasions telling the player that it was an original flathead, to which both players responded, “Yup, you can tell, it has that special pop when you hit it.”

I eventually told the truth and offered the banjo at my quick sale price, only to pop the bubble they were floating in.

With all the attention that banjo was getting, I began wondering how good it might sound with a compensated Enterprise Bridge. Let me tell you, no matter how good you think your banjo sounds, you owe it to yourself to try a well crafted compensated bridge like this on your banjo. Before the Gibson sounded traditionally great with that slight gnarly sound typical of Gibson Banjos. No one would complain but I much prefer the purity of sound offered by the Helical mount banjos.

The bridge changed everything. With a tad more mass and slightly higher third and fourth strings and perfect compensation on each fret, the tone seemed to clarify instantly. All the twang and snarly sound disappeared. It sounded pure like a Heli-Mount with a slight sparkle and lots of depth.

This got me thinking about what I really had in my hands. I realized that this is a banjo with a story that you could write a book or

movie about. Once belonging to Nashville Picker Billy Robertson, you can only imagine the pre-flood scenes that banjo has experienced. The resurrected version of this banjo came back as a pre-war clone. The perfect finish aging marks on the peghead, the finish cracks and missing lacquer on the rim, the perfectly shaped comfy neck, the rosewood fingerboard and antique style pearl inlay all spoke from antiquity of its desire to play again. And the voice of this banjo is the real convincing element. Of the numerous Flux conversions we have done at Nechville, this one ranks as the most dramatic and I think my favorite as to sound.

As a side note for those unfamiliar with the Flux system, this modification gives the neck a much more stable anchor point, increases the surface area of the connection and provides an easy way to adjust the angle of the neck for successful use of any height bridge or any string action preference without causing undue stress to the pot. This stabilizes the pot and allows a fuller tone. Another big advantage is that the Flux makes the neck instantly removable for travel or easy transport.

The only banjo of its kind to have been resurrected from the 1000 year flood of 2010 symbolizes a historic convergence of Nechville technology (Nechtology) with the tine honored role of the traditional banjo.

Inquiries about ownership of this collector piece can be directed to me [email protected] or call 612-275-6602. The banjo comes in an antique case and written certification as an official historic Nechville re-creation.

The Banjo Revolution

Nechville has coined the term Banjo Revolution as a slogan to bring attention to our revolutionary designs. It is now time to think of the Banjo Revolution as a recent historical accomplishment.

The term “revolution” implies a conflict of some sort, but the Banjo Revolution has taken place without bloodshed or conflict whatsoever. In fact it has taken place without adversely affecting the former regime at all. Now the traditional banjo players are playing right alongside the happy rebels who have taken the “Nech” step. While their ranks are growing, no one is finding fault with their pure tone that works like musical glue in any jam setting.

The Nechville Heli-Mount

As a thirty year effort we can now pronounce victory, but no one is the loser. The music world now has another voice with the Helically mounted sound of the new banjo. It is a subtle change sonically but immediately noticed by experienced players. The new banjo tone is pure and even with as much brilliance and volume as you would like and vastly more controllable than its predecessor. For a traveling entertainer like Steve Martin, it is a road warrior that is always stable under the demands of the tour.

I believe humankind is entering a new era of truth-seeking, and I predict we will find it. We will understand and practice the secret of pure thought in creating our own futures. Time, money and resources will become more universally available as we wisely employ our technology and know-how. This means improved quality of life and the opportunity for more music to be played by everyone.

This takes me to the title of this essay. The Banjo Renaissance has arrived as a result of the Banjo Revolution. You may still go through a Revolution of sorts in your mind as you go about understanding and digesting the new paradigm of Nechville, but our ship has come in. Nechville technology has made it to the Olympics, Country Music Awards, Hollywood Movies and into the hands of worldwide celebrities. It is time we all celebrate the new era of the Banjo Renaissance.

For more information on Nechville call us or visit nechville.com
747-222-6567 (Sales Office)
952-888-9710 (Shop)

Viva La Banjo Revolution

For All Ears and Earls

The past few years, although I have not been a regular band member, I have been playing a little more often on my own. The benefits of a regular set aside practice time are potentially great. If you are like me though, it’s tough to stick to such a schedule for long. Regardless of how regular your playing time is, I’ll just repeat my most common bit of advice; Play until you are well warmed up and then go a little longer. The extra time you commit is when you’ll actually improve. The next time you play, do it again and you’ll start noticing new things appearing in your playing.

Beyond the obvious benefit of impressing your picking pals, Your quest for improvement will certainly train your ear to be a better judge of sound. As you continue to play you will continually fine tune your sense of pitch so that tuning becomes easier. You may however find that as your ear develops pitch sensitivity, you are tuning more often or requesting that others recheck their tuning more frequently.

As a player of almost 50 years and a builder of more than 30, I still need to spend some serious time playing my creations, so that every nuance of the sound and feel becomes noticed, and ideas form about ways to improve it. I wonder how builders that don’t play are able to decipher the level of professionalism that it takes in today’s banjo world. I am impressed with the playing of banjo building buddies Rob Bishline, Jaroslav Prucha and Glenn Nelson. Geoff Stelling and Steve Huber have also long been been known as good pickers. Deep down I consider myself a player ahead of being a builder, but the building pays the bills for me in this universe. My obvious point is that the best players tend to build the best instruments due to their years of study of the sound of the instrument through playing in various settings. My intention is not to question anyone’s talents as player, listener or critic, but rather to stimulate awareness during your own playing that can refine your ears in the quest for sound perfection, and the perfect playing experience.

In an effort to make sense of this, let’s talk about the concept of satisfaction. Musical satisfaction is first and foremost dependent on the concept of perfect pitch. Each note of your instrument, both fretted and open must be aligned perfectly with the corresponding notes played and sung by the other musicians in the group. It takes considerable effort and time to achieve harmonious tuning in just one instrument, let alone a whole band. The instrument must be built with particular attention to its ability to come in tune with its own harmonics. In other words, the fret scale must be accurate, the bridge and nut must be placed precisely and compensated for discrepancies, the string heights and gauges must be taken into consideration, and the general construction of the instrument must be stable. You likely have experienced the satisfaction of a well- tuned instrument, and you know the amazing potentials that can be reached when 2 or more great instruments achieve matching pitches and are held by great players.

If satisfaction were only as simple as reaching perfect tuning, I think we would hear a lot more great music than we do now. It also requires a great deal of skill from the player to maintain cohesive tuning throughout a performance. Even slight variations or finger position or holding pressure can throw an instrument out of tune. Therefore we buy the best instruments we can afford, and practice until we have mastered the art and skill of perfect pitch, (also sometimes called tonality).

To complicate the picture a bit more I now introduce the concept of tone. Being completely different from tonality, our ears are so amazing that we can hear extremely minute changes not only on the pitch of notes but in the character of sound (tone) produced by an instrument. Yes, satisfaction first depends on great pitch tonality, but assuming we have fulfilled that challenge, we now must look toward our aesthetic sense to discover just what we imagine our perfect tone to be.

I think it is safe to say that most Bluegrass players, for example have developed their sense of tone by listening to their role models. The masters who inspired us to play are quite normally dictating to us what our tone should be like. With the vast popularity of Scruggs, his iconic banjo sound still echoes as the tone many of us want coming from our banjos. Likewise, you may have noticed that the general tone of much of Bela Fleck’s playing has a different and perhaps darker tone that his followers may wish to emulate.

If the total purpose of the banjo were to preserve and protect a pure form of music such as bluegrass, we would need nothing but old Mastertone copies set-up to sound just like Earl. We all know however, that is not the banjo’s purpose. It is a modern musical instrument known for its distinctive voice and suitability for playing complex fingerstyle melodies and patterns. Its sound is highly evocative and creatively inspiring for musicians in widely diverse forms of music. Happily for us creative types, the banjo exhibits a unique ability to produce an infinite number of subtle changes in tone. This touches on the greatest benefit of my own Nechville instruments. With just a small amount of training, you can learn to alter and transform your Heli-Mount sound to fit whatever artistic visions you carry in your head. It might be Scruggs, Fleck or Kruger. But more importantly, it might be you!

Please continue your exploration into the world of personalized banjo tone by exploring the Nechville website. Our site is undergoing some major changes, so you will want to check back often. There is always something new and interesting to discover and we invite you to subscribe to our free banjo info hotline with insider deals and special opportunities.

The Joy of Banjo

The banjo has a captivating sound and is fun to strum even without knowing the first thing about music. That is partly because it is normally tuned to an open chord. Plucking or strumming the strings makes a harmonious chiming sound that makes us happy. Just a few minutes of experimenting will often lead to a real experience of making music. It is not hard to play banjo. The strings are light and easy on the fingers. The chord positions are relatively easy, with only 4 strings to worry about.

I encourage beginning students to start with a focus on learning the basic chord shapes and first get comfortable with playing the changes in time to some favorite or familiar songs. You don’t need to worry about picking at first. That comes gradually and naturally when you are ready to add interest to your rhythmic playing to the chord structure. I think you can have fun with simple strumming until you just cannot resist the urge to put on the picks and incorporate those roll patterns.

I won’t say that the banjo is better than any other instrument, but I will say that there is is room in this world for a whole lot more banjo players. The sounds produced by banjos can be low and growly, bright and cheerful, deep and resonant, slow and mournful, or quick and lively. I believe there are techniques still to be discovered in playing and that the banjo is an excellent vehicle to express oneself.

What about the downside of banjo? People joke about the banjo, giving it the reputation of being hard to tune. Banjos can be very heavy; banjos are expensive; banjos can only play bluegrass. Lucky for the banjo, there are innovators of current times solving the problems that have been voiced about the instrument for decades.

Modern banjo construction, especially from Nechville minimizes tuning problems through innovations like the in-line tailpiece, finer tuners, compensated bridges, built in capos, and the teaching of techniques for proper string installation. Nechville also has openback and bluegrass banjos starting under five pounds in weight. While the Nechville brand is a premium, professional level instrument, you can still contact us for the very best deal on lesser expensive options like used instruments, and import models sold by some of our suppliers. We want to help you get started, and even help you acquire an affordable alternate brand starter instrument. After almost three decades in the business, the Nechville brand has become so established that there are always options available with used Nechvilles as well. This is great news for the majority of aspirants who recognize the advantages of high quality and easy playability on their progress.

If you have been thinking about becoming part of the fun of being a player, I encourage you to pick up the phone and call us at either 747-222-6567 or 952-888-9710. We are ready to be your personal banjo consultant in taking the “Nech” step into the world of banjo fun!

Banjo Bridges

Nechville Enterprise Bridge

THE BANJO BRIDGE…

is at the heart of making your banjo work and it is the real key to your banjo’s sound. No doubt you are aware of the vast differences that different bridges can make. Through my thirty plus years of building bridges, I still marvel at that fact.

Nechville makes bridges to the highest standard of care and professionalism. We consider every aspect of bridges imaginable, such as mass, shape, grain orientation, density and chemistry to arrive at the absolute best answers for most banjo players. While it is not always an easy or obvious choice, consultation with a Nechville rep often leads to a relatively inexpensive overhaul of your banjo’s sound and playability. It may be that something as simple as a bridge customized to your banjo is the best thing you can do for your money.

Before ordering any bridges from Nechville, you are advised to learn all you can about bridge selection and banjo setup. Through the storehouse of knowledge available through our website, you increase your chances of selecting the right bridge. You may learn just enough to finally make the perfect decision on what kind of whole new banjo might be in your future. Watch Nechville postings and website events calendar for upcoming events where our knowledgeable reps can help you in person.

THE ENTERPRISE BRIDGE…

is the result of many years of research and experimentation. When starting out, I had no clue how difficult it was to create a great banjo bridge. Happily, I persevered in my quest and today the compensated Enterprise Bridge has worked its way onto many of the world’s best banjos. Made from hand selected and properly dried Maple and ebony, it’s the only bridge made available in so many various weights and heights between 9/16 and 7/8″ and from 2-3 grams. Let’s take a close look at the bridge’s function and break down all the important features that we consider in making the Enterprise bridges for optimal performance.

HOW BRIDGES WORK

A bridge placed between vibrating strings and a banjo head transmits small pressure variations at the frequency of the note being played. If you imagine the movement of a string during just one cycle of vibration (which normally occurs hundreds of times a second), the down and forward pulling pressure of the bridge on the head is greatest as the string’s fundamental main swinging arc reaches its greatest distance away from the string’s still position. At the peak amplitude of the string, the head is pushed in and the air in front of the banjo is slightly stretched out.

We will call the string’s resting position zero. As the string passes by zero, the downward and forward pressure on the head is temporarily reduced, allowing it to raise slightly causing a compression wave in the air. The string swings to the other side to once again increase the pressure on the bridge, resulting in perpetuating waves of compressed and decompressed air that our ears hear as sound. When you consider that the bridge also rocks back and forth as well as riding up and down in reaction to a vibrating string, the motion of the head becomes more complex and is able to communicate much more sonic complexity.

All strings vibrate in the fundamental way mentioned, but simultaneously also in harmonic sections of 1/2. 1/3. 1/4. 1/5th and so on of the string’s length. You can actually find all the notes of a chord built from the main note of the string when you listen the harmonic content of a string’s vibration.

COMPOSITION

Obviously, a bridge can be made out of anything but through experience we have learned that medium density woods with a good stiffness ratio tend to work the best. The top edge of the bridge is normally made from ebony for creating a durable surface for the strings to rest upon. Too much ebony will increase weight and stiffness of a bridge, which tends to mute some of the high overtones, decrease volume, and add sustain.

In my opinion, weight of banjo bridges should always be between two and three grams. At the two gram end, you will find a “Grassy” tone with a quick staccato attack and swift decay. You will be able to hear a lot of harmonic content to the notes, and the sound will be bright to your ears. At the three gram end, the sound will be much richer, because of muted high harmonics less punchy attack but more sustain. The right weight for you will likely fall in the 2.5 area. The most common bridge wood is medium density maple. The wood must be well dried, and of sufficient density to arrive at the target weight without having to thin the bridge down too much.

WOOD GRAIN ORIENTATION

All wood has annual growth rings that affect the wood’s stiffness and also the resulting sound from a bridge. The first and probably most obvious specification is that the entire length of the bridge needs to run with the direction of the wood grain. That means that end grain will appear at each end of a bridge. When viewed from the end, you should be able to see the faint lines of growth rings.

The number of growth lines in not as important as their orientation in the finished bridge. These annual growth lines must run as closely as possible to parallel to the banjo head surface. You might imagine correctly that the resistance to a sagging motion might be optimized by having the growth rings in vertical (perpendicular) orientation to the head. This may be true, but the banjo likes the bridge to have some degree of flexibility across its length. The sound is noticeably better from a bridge with flat-sawn (parallel) grain orientation.

SHAPE IS CRITICAL

In my experience, I’ve learned that the size and shape of the bridge will greatly affect the resulting sound as well as playability.

Thin bridges are normally not ideal. They often sag and cause playability issues. Thin bridges will also dig into the head more, sit lower than a bridge with a wider footprint and generally have a harsher tone. I like having 1/4″ or so of width contacting the head. The bridge should taper up very gradually as to have a sufficiently sturdy top thickness.

Most bridges are exactly flat across the top and flat across the feet. You may notice that guitar bridges are made to allow a bit higher action on the bigger strings to avoid buzzing strings. For this reason, we can keep playability lowest on the strings that we often do lead playing on.

The resulting shape for ideal action on every string is a bridge top that bows upward toward the center, leaving the third and fourth strings a tad higher. For every change in height or thickness, you must remember the overall target weight between 2-3 grams and choose density of materials accordingly.

CORRECT FOR INTONATION

The next concern that crops up is the intonation issue. When you install a bridge with the previously mentioned arched top edge, the higher third string will gain noticeably extra sharpness since it must travel farther when being pushed down to the fret. Without a compensated scale on the 3rd string, it is impossible to find a spot on the head where every string frets in tune with its harmonic chime at the 12th and 19th fret. Even without the arched top shape, the third string is still prone to go sharp when fretted compared to the other strings due to its thickness.

The simple answer is compensation. A longer scale for just the third string needs to be shaped into the bridge by design, creating the compensated and radiused shape of the Enterprise bridge. The wound fourth string needs less help due to its thinner core.

SMILEY BRIDGES?

There is some talk about shaping the feet of the bridge to fit a along parabolic curve so that the down pressure on the bridge will cause less sagging. It is my finding that an optimally tightened head requires no such radius, but very slight relief sanded toward the outer parts of the feet is routinely done to even out the pressure on all three feet of the bridge.

What can and does happen with too much curvature of bridge feet is that it temporarily concentrates the pressure on the center foot, but does nothing to prevent further sagging and eventually causes a permanent sag in the head where the bridge sits which can diminish the potential amplitude of the banjo.

IN SUMMARY

I’d like to suggest that you use this information in your own bridge making adventure. We have successfully made bridges out of different woods and in totally different shapes with success. My recent experiments with wood roasting and use of rare exotics have produced some exciting new material possibilities, inspiring me to write this comprehensive article. We at Nechville continue to be there to serve your every banjo need.

Stay Tuned! Tom

The Road Home from SPBGMA

James McKinney and I…

Being in-person at these shows gives us a chance to show off the versatility of our product line. Our booth always displays something that raises questions from the curious pickers looming about. This year we had a tempered fret scale neck mounted on an open back Moonshine EX. We got constant questions about the weird crooked frets on that banjo.

Another curiosity was another Excelsior Heli-mount pot with a nice traditional looking neck and a wild Cocobolo Turbo module installed. That monster was tuned a full fifth low to open C tuning and vibrated the entire room when turned on. Sometimes we get tire kickers who sneak a pick on a Nechville and escape before learning how to tailor the tone to their liking. It is just as common however to have someone return a year or two later, pick up a similar banjo and be completely blown away because they never suspected the tone they were looking for could be hidden in there.

We congratulate our Friend Barry Waldrep as the new banjo guru at Banjo.com for picking up Nechville’s Vintage line. Congratulations also to Capo’s Music’s Gill Braswell and Emory Carty for adopting the Saturn line. We are excited to see the Banjo Revolution gaining ground.

We were happy to have spent the evening with Sonny Smith, super picker from Pigeon Forge. We outfitted Sonny with his latest “Diamond Joe” model now with fancier outlined binding, visible Turquoise side dots and nickel hardware.

SPBGMA weekend also gives us a chance to yuck it up with our friendly banjo rivals. Since it is all in good fun, we like to go visit each other’s displays and play each other’s banjos. Huber had a neighboring suite to our room and was a handy place to go for borrowing screw drivers. Ha ha. A trip to Arthur Hatfield’s Room is almost like a trip to his living room. You always feel welcome and a great jam is always imminent. Arthur played lots of guitar for all the drooling banjo players. I was one of them. We drool when we play because his ‘joes sound so sweet!

The best part of any festival is the good times with friends. Of course it is awesome to see my old friends Ian Perry, Jack Hatfield, and Tim Carter. It is also a treat to get better acquainted with friends and associates like John Lawless and Sean Dysinger from Bluegrass Today. We love having the entire banjo spectrum covered between the Nechville booth, the fine selection from Paul and David Hopkins and the forest of banjos displayed by Mitch Meadors and Dan Garrett.

Congratulations also to Katie Keller from the Bluegrass Museum in Owensboro KY. She took on the challenge of learning the banjo with her new Moonshine and help from Todd Fink of the Giving Tree Band.

Well it is time to go home and pack up for Wintergrass where we will be participating with Al Price for the 22nd time. We will again be a sponsor at Merlefest and we are participating in Banjo camp North in May. In June I will be traveling and doing workshops with monster picker from Toulouse France, Fred Simon. We have a demo June 11th at Down Home Guitars in Frankfort Illinois, an informal presence during the first weekend of Bean Blossom, A demo/jam at Brewskis in St Charles MO on June 15th, the same at Tejon Street Music on June 16th before we spend the weekend at Telluride Bluegrass Fest.

The Changing Bluegrass Sound

I was in a conversation with Sonny Smith the other day. He said the bluegrass banjo sound is changing and that the Nechville banjo fit that change perfectly. I thought that was interesting. I don’t know if I would say it the same way however. There is a complicated web of factors that influence what sound you might consider to be best. Let me say this at the risk of raising an argument. My view is that with the development of more varied styles and genres, it benefited the music to make modifications to the traditional set up in order to smooth and refine the sound. I think people are finding that the influence of jazz and other music on the banjo has indeed resulted in the banjo becoming a little more musical. Evidence of this long term trend can be heard during any bluegrass radio show that spans the 30’s to today. Players of traditional Bluegrass today are mostly aware that the “old banjo” is not the only sound that works. In fact, our obligation to honor the essence of Bluegrass does not mean we should use 1940’s technology to produce music that will thrive into the future.

I have succeeded for 30 years as a builder only because I have found customers with discerning ears. They have taken time to figure out why helical-mounting leads to enhanced tonal purity. I didn’t invent the modern banjo sound, but I initiated several sound design enhancements when I wasn’t getting what I needed from my old Mastertone. I realized in the early 80’s that for Bluegrass and acoustic to grow as it has, the banjo needed some refinement and variety, so that is what I dedicated my life to. (I sometimes wonder about myself)

Sonny is right. Banjo makers and set up specialists have learned to improve traditionally made banjos, with better tone and balance, which indeed has helped the Bluegrass sound evolve. Lucky for me, the even, pure tone inherent to all helical mounted designs fits in all musical situations and is adaptable as musical needs change. . . I’d simply say, Bluegrass continues to get better as musicians discover banjos that enhance but don’t distract, and blend but can still stand out when you want them to. What is holding you back from learning more about Nechville?

About Us

Functional design, comfort and playability make Nechvilles stand apart. and that’s why we are so popular with experienced players who usually already own nice regular banjos. Many have heard about Nechville, but they get more interesting the closer you look.

Originating in the mid 1980s, Nechville Musical Products has blossomed into a world leader of banjo innovation and design. As a fully integrated manufacturer of several styles of banjos, Nechville holds patents on Helical mounted or Heli-mount banjos. Nechville is also responsible for the newest trend in banjos known as Flex-Tones. This gives traditionally made hook and nut style banjo bodies a chance to live on, mounted to an adjustable Nechville neck via the patented “Flux Capacitor” neck connection. Nechville has not only advanced the modern banjo, but introduced new improvements to the Bluegrass, Old-time and Traditional worlds. FLUX-Mounted necks have given openback and traditional bluegrass players infinitely more control over their set up and playing style while adding the benefit of portability. With Nechville’s neck system, the action is easily adjustable and the neck pops off for easy packing and travel.

Every component of the banjo has been evaluated and optimized for top performance by Nechville. For example, The Enterprise Bridge is uniquely shaped, weighted and measured for repeatable in-tune performance. The Nechville Inline Tailpiece offers more efficient string vector pull with fewer parts and no need for fasteners. Nechville re-engineered the armrest for beveled comfort in gorgeous figured woods. Nechville necks are optimized for glitch free performance with perfect conical radius fingerboard and perfectly dressed frets. The many conveniences and sound freeing aspects of “Heli-mount-ing ” the tone ring and head as opposed to a banjo held together with 80 or more extra parts are truly “revolutionary” to anyone familiar with the old, heavy, standard banjos. Nechville’s Top-of-the-line offers his own patented “Capo-bility” system. A complete built-in capo that is always there and goes to every fret including the zero fret without retuning.

Nechville designed accessories are also available such as the all new dual pickup, three control, banjo amplification system called the Crescendo Acoustic Harness. The Nechville factory is now equipped with state-of -the-art turning and machining facilities for producing the world’s best precision tone rings. Distributor and builder inquiries are invited. Straps, caps, shirts, capos, expert service and parts, as well as Tom’s book, The Dynamics of Banjo Sound are all a part of Nechville’s offerings. If you are a collector of Gibsons or some other traditional name banjo, you may also want to inquire with Tom about his Vintage Collection.

Nechville fulfills the needs of all performers from the grass roots all the way to top entertainers with their high quality, thought-out and trouble-free designs. Steve Martin continues to expand the profile of the banjo with his custom Nechville Orion resonator banjo. New solutions developed by Nechville originally for Bela Fleck, Alison Brown and the Dixie Chicks have helped open doors to banjo popularity. Nechville has custom designed banjos for the hit Broadway musical, “Once”. The Meteor Electric Banjo continues to project the banjo’s sound into millions of ears through top country groups like Lady Antebellum, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Springsteen’s band, Zac Brown, The Hollies, Big & Rich and others.

Brief History

Nechville started in Tom’s home garage shop in the 1980’s. Early prototypes of the Heli-mount banjo were introduced in Nashville in 1989 and sales began slowly in the 90’s. Tom moved into an office/shop headquarters converted from a 1930’s farmhouse in 2001. The location served them well for a few years until the city purchased the Nechville building due to street widening in 2005, paving the way for an expansion into a more productive factory/warehouse and office.

The current home of Nechville Musical Products is a 13,000 sq foot industrial / office / retail building located at 9700 Humboldt Ave. S., Bloomington, MN 55431.

The latest Nechville expansion was the acquisition of Woodhaven Industries, The nation’s top tone ring producer. Now NMP is geared for OEM Tone ring production giving Nechville a firm vertical integration in the growing banjo market.

The goal of Nechville Musical Products is to innovate to meet the changing needs of modern musicians. Reducing nearly seventy parts of a traditional banjo to two has benefited thousands of Heli-Mount players with time saving and purer banjo sound. Tom’s electric banjos and pickups continue to find solutions and feed the evolution of the banjo. Nechville is eager to build the instrument you’ve been dreaming about.