Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup Black Chrome

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

this is a solid instrument and with a few tweaks you will have a pro use 6 string banjo. keep in mind by the time you spend the money making this a reality, you could of purchased a goldtone for around 700.00.

What I did: replace nut with a earvana compensating nut, replace head with a frosted head, replace tailpiece with a gold tone tailpiece, replace tuners with grover closed back brass tuners, custom bridge made out of maple and ebony.

Could not get this thing to intonate on the low e string. Tried different guage strings, tried tuning it different, moved the bridge around, adjusted the neck. Nothing would work.I tried a brass compensating nut and it was closer but not quite and finally put on the earvana compensating nut. Now what? I would tune it to A440 and noticed the tailpiece was flexing way too much. So I changed the tailpiece to a cast one from gold tone for $40 The Deering one was $100. Now the majick happens. Intonates correctly without the infamous string thud. Nice clean acoustic sound. Time and Money.

Now the electric. You plug this in and it sound like a cheap electric acoustic guitar not a banjo. I will be bypassing the pickup in this and intergrating a small condensor mic made by goldtone. Cost $200. Now I am into this instrument with purchase and parts for around $750. It is now a professional use 6 string banjo. I will be purchasing a Pheonix 6 string deering banjo in the future but this one is custom and I can use it on a professional level. I am still thinking of a way to make the string spacing a little wider without screwing up the intonation. You want to fingerpick this beast, strumming it like a guitar just doesnt work too well.

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

Would reccomend for the guitarist who wants to add to his/her other instruments without having to learn the 5 string. You can put a high G on the low E string if you want that drone type of sound or prefer to play like a 5 string. Have found Ernie Ball electric lights work the best. If you are die hard 5 string player, stick with the 5 string.

Love the color and sounds great through a P.A. You might want to consider an EQ pedal or something just to give you a little more control.
I had purchased the acoustic version, but really needed an electric version. This fit the bill and I am having a ball with it. A nice flavor to add to the aresenal.
Intonation is good, neck is good, playability good. Keepin in tune is a little challange, but workable.
Great value

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

really fun instrument to play. A little tricky on getting it set up but if you are handy, the directions for the set up are pretty clear. If not, take it to a pro. If set up right, it is easy to play and stays in tune all the way up the neck and with a capo also. I sometimes play a clawhammer style on guitar so it was a very easy transition to playing this instrument. It is easy to play it with a standard pic method also. When plugged into an amp, turn the bass down and mid-high ranges turned up to get that nice banjo sound. With the standard guitar tuning, it is an easy transition. If you want to add that banjo sound to your mix, it works very well. Very well built and good looking instrument.Definitely would recommend this product.

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

As a songwriter one of the challenges is not being able to play every instrument the way we play our primary instrument. I have written songs that needed some banjo parts and this instrument provides just that. In my quest in writing these songs I was able to tell the difference in playing style from guitar and banjo, this expanded my musical ability. The beauty of this banjo/guitar is I now have a new instrument to add along with my other gear for song writing. The one down side is that the Sam Ash and Guitar Center locations do not carry 6 string banjo packs.

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

This is a pretty cool addition. We use it for the tunes that need banjo in a live country/rock band. Amplified, this banjo holds it own on stage.

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

A very fun instrument to play on, if u're like me and most played on 6 strings guitars this is really gonna spice up your playing hours :).

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

First of all,I really liked the color and the finish.Black Chrome is very Cool!! You will have to setup and tighten everything. May I recomend Nashville Tuning for a more jangly banjo sound. Sounds acousticaly and electric.
pFirst of all I liked the Black Chrome finish. Very Cool! Remember you are buying a banjo and it will take some setu out of the box,but all banjos are like that. Be prepared to do the setup yourself or job it out. I

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

I am bummed to say that I am going to have to invest more money into making this great looking instrument work in my 5 piece band. Once I amplified it for STAGE it was lost at full blast on the instrument. Once you crank up the board it feeds back. We tried it through a pre-amp but that didn't help at all. The pickup is poor unless you are using it on a guitar amp. It has missed out on several gigs already as I try to figure out WHAT to replace the pickup with. This is my first banjitar. At home it sounds killer!! But I did also replace the lower 4 strings with the coordinating high string for a 12 string guitar... only then did it truly sound like one of my acoustic banjos!

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

If you're looking forward to unpacking this one & playing it, sorry it's not going to happen. We used a whole day setting ours up& it was worth it. We checked out all the information & reviews before the purchase & some don't even make since now . If we were to trim the bridge 1/4" it wouldn't withstand the pressure. Setup instructions are included,take your time .Best said is , Beautiful, Loud & Heavy..a very nice instrument for a serious musician

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

I use this for a few songs in my set to mix up the tone
works well.
well constructed pretty decent tone & pick up
Nice Grover gears, well made and cool Color scheme

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

It looked great online but it arrived with a bunch of dried mud on the bottom, a bunch of dust inside, the pickup didn't work, and the tuners around the resonating drum head were way out of place. Musician's Friend just gave me a refund but why was it shipped like that in the first place?

Comments about Dean Backwoods 6 Banjo with Pickup:

This Banjo seems to be good out of the box quality (time will tell). It is solid and has a good Banjo sound. The first tune up takes a few minutes as you have to place the floating bridge in its proper spot and tune, then make bridge adjustments for intonation and tune again (but this is no different than with any floating bridge stringed instrument. The pickup is similar to a standard guitar pickup so through an amp/sound system, it loses a lot of the "Banjo Twang". I intend to purchase a piezo style banjo pickup and install it which should solve that problem. Once you get a Banjo strap and adjust it properly, It's easy to play. This is helped by the fact that it's 6 string and tuned like a guitar which means not having to learn new chords. I intend to use it to add a little more "country flavor" to some of the songs my band plays. Should be fun.