Oooooo, Happy New Banjo Day to me, Happy New Banjo Day to me…
My new RK-76 Elite arrived today in great shape. Packed amazingly well, the banjo is gorgeous and so is the case for that matter, it even has that new banjo case smell. The wood is beautiful as are the inlays. Honestly though, I was not prepared for how heavy this thing is, it has to be twice as heavy as my old banjo. It sounds purty and it really projects, it’ll peel the paint, as they say, for sure.
I’m still getting used to it. It has a shorter neck so the frets are not quite as far apart, which is great for me. I was struggling a little bit in certain songs that required a reach I couldn’t quite make, but now I can. The top and bottoms of the frets themselves are nice and smooth; no more cutting my hand and snagging my calloused finger tips as I move up and down the neck.
Jake installed the spikes for me and they work great, so easy to capo now. I played a couple of up the neck endings and it’s in perfect tune and sound quality up the neck is a huge improvement. Playability is a huge improvement as well; I’m not having to press so hard on the strings, I’m just not having to work so hard at it. My fret hand is not as sore as it usually gets after a couple hours.
That’s my first impressions. Thanks @Jake for looking after me and thanks @BanjoBen for turning me on to such a gem and to your whole gang for all you do. I’m really happy to be moving forward with such a quality instrument, especially after not having taken one for a test drive.
Cheers y’all