Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

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Sierra hull has a dvd available on her website, that teaches the songs from her album, secrets.

This is something I’ve noticed it does, you just have to set you hand on the fifth interval string to mute it.

I’m fairly sure somewhere between 35% and 50% is safe but it’s always good to have a luthier’s opinion :joy:

Oh yeah, mandolin for dummies!

Awesome responses @K_G - THANKS for your input and all the specific answers for my points.

My intention was to open up ALL technology to ALL Forum participants… a “best tech practices” kind of approach… so thanks again for the direct responses.

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Your welcome. I’ll stop hogging now :blush:

Nope - I want all the info you (and everyone else) can offer!

I am (and other Forum members, I am sure… like @Maggie and her cut finger, for example) appreciative because it is based on direct personal experiences. Things tried… and worked… is powerful to share! Keep the ideas coming!

Back to Snark… is there another type or company that makes a “more accurate” tuner - even at a higher cost?

For the Mando Book, I was looking for something more… uh… with the instrument’s historical context too. Like “The Mandolin: A History” by Graham McDonald… although this seems less instructional and more Informational… a reading reference, if you will. I tried to put a link to Amazon’s page for this book using my iPhone - but could acquire the link as it didn’t show up in the Address Bar.

Or, I am too dumb to use this iPhone Technology properly… :smirk:

Oh, ok. I misunderstood your previous comment. I have no experience with tuners other than snark (with the exception of one similar cheaper tuner my dad had that made me break a string) so I can’t help there. As far as books, there’s a couple about bill Monroe that I’ve seen referenced on mandolin cafe. I’ll add a link in a minute.

That’s always a possibility, I have trouble too quite frequently (though I’m getting better) and I’m sure there’s several others here that have trouble too :thinking: :joy: :wink:

Here’s the link,
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/content.php?491-New-in-Print-Bill-Monroe-The-Life-and-Music-of-the-Blue-Grass-Man

My current favorite is the Planet Waves NS Micro. It is similar to the snark, but a bit better in my experience. I just checked and Ben does carry them. This looks like the right one:

BTW, try shifting your snark’s position. Sometimes that helps picking up fundamental tones.

We live in a golden age for little tuner doo-dads. They have improved so much in the past few years.

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Responding to myself… you asked specifically for a “Super-Tuner.” I think that would be a Peterson clip on. For my money/needs, it did not seem worth it. They are nice, but for the cost of one of those, I have a fleet of micros parked on various instruments and laying around the house.

I think Ben got a Peterson at some point. Any feedback on it Ben?

I have thought about going old school and getting an older Peterson mechanical tuner (with the big hypno-wheel). Would just be kind of cool.

I’ll be honest. I had one of the more expensive Peterson clip-on tuners. I don’t remember a lot about what I didn’t like, but it did not last long. I found the cheap D’Addario or Snark to work just fine.

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It has to be a snark, otherwise how are you gonna use this fancy gadget?

Tru - Dat Rance!

My hallowback Epiphone MB-100 Banjo has extremely little bracket clearance. I am not sure it will work :thinking:.

I’d say it is time for an upgrade to a nice resonator Banjo - for no other reason than to fit the tuner, right? :grimacing:

Although that mount will sure look funny duck-taped to my Mandolin - :face_with_monocle: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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WillCoop,
This is not a different answer about your tuner question, but just wanted to let you know I tried a couple of different ones (including a Korg PC-1), but I LOVE the little tuner mentioned above (D’Addario-ns-pw-ct-12-micro). I bought it somewhere else before Ben added it to his store, but whenever I finally get a resonator-back banjo one day (hopefully from Ben), I’ll get the next tuner from Ben as well. It stays clamped on the head of my banjo at all times and does not get in the way or knocked of when I put the banjo in it’s case. See RED arrow in attached images.

Also have a nifty little fifth-string capo (also available in Ben’s store) and it stows away on a string when not in use. See BLUE arrow in attached images.
tuner%20fronttuner%20back

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those little micro tuners are the best I’ve found for my needs so far…I use them on my Bass, guitar, and fiddle.

How do you clamp a tuner onto your fiddle? Just sideways?

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Here it is on the Bass

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Hey! Now that’s cool, right there. Gonna have to look into that

Ok cool. I’m using a snark and it doesn’t open enough to clamp it like that, and I have to clip it sideways on the headstock

That is very nifty! Thanks MARK!

I also have a hallowback but wish to “graduate” to a Resonator one day… and will purchase it from @Jake at the ole General Store.

@Jake was awesome to work with when I got my Mandolin. My only regret (for @Jake ‘s sake) is that I unknowingly timed my post B-Day present purchase during the official launch week! I was immensely happy with my purchase (don’t get me wrong) but @Jake was running around like crazy. Still, the service, price and willingness to provide personal support with answering questions on selecting the right assessories within my budget really conveyed that he understood just how important the purchase was for me - versus being treated as just another sale.

Hope you don’t mind the unsolicited commercial @xmark - but WE won’t regret our next purchase from this excellent store, will we?

Come to think of it :thinking:, it seems like I partially answered my own question… regarding tech innovations - to use @BanjoBen and @Jake ‘s General Store!

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