Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 16:49:41 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Questions

Hi,

Your web-site is great!
I'm from New Zealand and I'm trying, with no luck, to purchase a beginners first hand/second hand banjo...it's impossible!
Can you help me? I know very little about banjos, but the local music stores in Christchurch are telling me to play right handed. The problem with this is that everytime I pick up a banjo, I naturally hold it left handed. I guessing one of the reasons there telling me this is because you cannot get left handed banjos in NZ. Can you re-string right handed banjos into left handed ones?
What do you charge for a lower end left handed banjo(1st of 2nd hand) + shipping to the bottom of the planet?

Thank you for your time

Mike

Greetings Mike,

Yes, this can be a dilemma...I'm one of those left-handers that took up banjo right-handed. For that matter, back in the late '70s, when I first took up the banjo, there wasn't a left-handed banjo to be had...and, no, you cannot restring a right-handed banjo for left-handed playing.

The best deal going today, for a left-handed banjo, would be the Deering Goodtime Lefty...they are made in the US with solid maple and have a very pleasant tone...especially within this price range:

Goodtime Banjo Lefty Models Order Code Retail

Deering Goodtime I Open-BackTenor DEERGT1LEFTY
Deering Goodtime II Resonator Tenor DEERGT2LEFTY
Deering Goodtime I Special Open-Back DEERGTS1LEFTY
Deering Goodtime II Special Resonator DEERGTS2LEFTY

Let me know if you're interested in any of these...or if you have further questions on them...

Shipping to NZ would be 100.00 via USPS Air...

Mickey

Subject: left hand banjo
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 19:45:15 -0400

Do you know where I can get any starter books on playing the left hand banjo? Thanks Ed Savoy

Greetings Ed,

Sorry, I have no idea...I am left-handed myself; I taught myself to play right-handed...the principles are the same...only, it can be confusing looking at videos or books with someone playing right-handed...

Everything will work the same only backwards...there are a few minor details such as the plastic thumbpick needs to be a left-handed thumbpick...a right-haned thumbpick will not fit properly...the metal fingerpicks are form-fitted and are universal...

I really can't think of anything else...the banjo itself will have to be built from ground up as a left-handed instrument...due to the 5th string peg meeting at the halfway point on the neck...most other acoustic string instruments can be converted to left-handed...

Left-handed, beginner lever banjos being offered today include Gold Tone and Deering Goodtime Lefties...

Hope this helps, Mickey

Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 15:00:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Left-Handed Banjo

Greetings Again Gary,

thanks for the reply, i went ahead and ordered the ob-250 lefty today
thru diane, i prob. could have learned right-hand but for the 85$ more i
felt why not, years and years ago,

Sounds like you're following your intuition...and, as I informed you, you really should follow your natural inclinations. If it doesn't feel natural, then stay on the left-handed path. I'm sure you'll do fine. Remember, you still have the edge with the Brain Hemisphere theory.

i mean years ago, decades and decades
ago i tried learning guitar, they strung it for lefty, did good but the
folks cut me off when the teacher wanted to sell me a electric guitar,
guess they didnt want me to be a long hair hippy type, at 51 yrs. old
now, thats exactly what i am, who knows where it would have went, back
then, if only! oh well, i didnt want to risk forceing a right-hand
banjo even though playing a air banjo seemed like it might have worked
just fine, like you i am a natural left-hand, i guess just read the
books and videos all opposite ,huh?

Well, I guess we live in a backwards world as it stands...so, this may come easy to you anyway.

i am curious though why didnt you
just get a left-hand banjo back then?

I borrowed my Uncle Ansel's electric guitar and amp at 16 years old. I had no idea that it could be played left-handed as Jimi did, nor was I aware it could be strung left-handed. So, my advantage, or disadvantage whatever the case may be, was that I didn't know any better. I remember today as if it was yesterday...I finished 2 days straight of chopping cotton in the hot Alabama sun...quit the job quickly...took the 3.50 a day I made (7.00) and bought a guitar instruction book by Frederick M. Noad...and decided that playing guitar was a whole lot more fun than working those cotton fields.

can you play one today?

You know it really does feel strange to flip over an instrument...I guess it really is what you get used to. I suspect if I concentrated on it, I could learn.

atleast
less people will want to borrow it, eh? i hope i made the right
decision, dont figure if i cant play a left hander that i would be able
to be a whiz right hand, that just wouldnt make much sense at all, would
it. your friend, Gary Cornsmoke

Be sure to call James on Monday @ 888-209-8434 to get a lead time on your left-handed Gold Tone.

And, please stay in touch and let me know how it goes for you...Mickey

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:00:46 -0500 (EST)
Subject: beginner

Greetings,

Glad to assist if I can:

If anyone is qualified to give their opinion about this, it would be me. I happen to be a left-hander that has taught himself to learn to play 5-string right-handed. I have no problems whatsoever and am now in my 25th year of playing banjo right-handed. I played professionally as a right-hander for 12 years 6-nights-a-week in one restaurant...I believe it's advantageous and will allow you a perspective and dexterity edge that natural right-handers wouldn't have...now, if it feels too uncomfortable, my suggestion would be to learn to play left-handed; you should not have to force yourself to play right-handed. Hopefully, it will still feel somewhat natural to you.

Hope this helps, Mickey


hello, wanting to learn banjo, in your honest opinion do you think a
left hand person can learn to play a reg. banjo? my right 2 fingers and
thumb seem to move as well as my left hand does, what do you think,
since left hand banjos are more and not all makers seem to make
them....thanks. http://cornsmoke.com