When I opened the box, the banjo case was absolutely filthy, covered in dust from his shop. I gave Arthur the benefit of the doubt, thinking he's just really busy. Keep in mind that I paid $3,000 for this! Albeit, the excessive dust made a poor first impression on me, making me wonder what else unpleasant I might find.
Sure enough, as soon as I opened the case and lifted the banjo out, a loose hex nut fell out on the ground. I removed the pot cover to see where it came from. The nut fell off the tailpiece bolt. The tailpiece hadn't been adjusted (it was sticking all the way up). So, I adjusted the tailpiece, setting it parallel to the head, and then fastened the missing nut back onto the bolt.
I tuned the banjo to standard tuning and went to play it, but the intonation was so bad that it was unplayable. The pitch was too high on all of the lower frets [I recorded this 10 second video of the Buck Creek today with my phone. This video shows me picking string three open (a G note) and then the 4th fret (a B note). You can see how sharp fret 4 is.]
I also recorded this brief audio clip. I begin for the first several seconds strumming the Buck Creek open tuning, so you can hear that it is perfectly in tune. Then I play some of the fretted notes and you can hear clearly how messed up the intonation is. God is my witness that I didn't do anything deceptive, or bend a string, nothing. I'm playing the third string, 4th fret B note, compared to open B on the second string. This is how bad the intonation is on the banjo that Arthur Hatfield shipped to me for $3,000. At his insistence, I sent his shitty banjo back to him yesterday for a refund. I am so disappointed, because I had held high expectations.
I messed with the bridge for a couple hours but couldn't get the intonation right, so I emailed Arthur at 10:45 pm Wednesday evening and told him about the problem. He emailed back and said to use a tuner, and not to rely upon just measuring the distance between the nut and the 12th fret (and the 12th fret to the bridge) to set the bridge position and thus, intonation. I had already used a tuner and a tape measure to set the bridge position, but the intonation was still way off.
I was tired and went to sleep for the night. I woke up today on Thursday and really wanted to get the Buck Creek banjo to work, because I love the sound of the tone. Hatfield's do have a very nice sound to them, but the intonation on the one sent to me was unacceptable. I went onto the BanjoHangout forum and read some helpful comments about solving intonation problems. One member said that the distance between the nut to 12th fret, and 12th fret to the bridge should NOT be equal. So, I set the distance from the nut to the 12th fret at 13.125" and the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge to 13.500". That worked! The intonation was perfect on all of the lower frets, but now the intonation was noticeably way off for all the higher frets. So I tried to adjust the bridge to find a happy medium, but no position solved the intonation problem. The banjo was unplayable. Keep in mind I paid $3,000 for this!
Also, there was a bad buzz on the 4th string. So, I removed the truss rod cover and loosed the truss rod. Unfortunately, Arthur didn't trim the strings close to the tuning pegs, and left 1/2" of sharp metal sticking out, so I cut my hand on one of them; blood was everywhere. I took a photo with my phone and sent it to Arthur, so he wouldn't just think I was making it up that I cut myself. God knows that I wasn't trying to be a Smart Alec, I simply wanted him to know that I got hurt so it wouldn't happen to someone else. I figured a photo of my bleeding finger would be worth 1,000 words. Arthur got upset and didn't even apologize, which is really bad.
Fortunately, the buzz went away on the fourth string after I adjusted the truss rod.
I spent a couple hours messing around with the banjo bridge, trying to position it where the intonation would be correct, but to no avail. When I moved it 1/2 "toward the tailpiece away from where Arthur drew pencil marks on the head, the intonation of the lower strings was okay. At first I was pleased and thought I had solved the issue, but then quickly noticed that all the higher frets were noticeably out of pitch. So I moved the bridge back toward the nut, which caused the higher frets to be correct in pitch, but then all of the lower strings were out of correct intonation (way too high).
As a musician, I cannot enjoy playing any instrument that has poor intonation. I kindly told Arthur, but he didn't want to deal with it. His cold reply was to simply to return the banjo for a refund. Although I appreciate his honesty to refund my money, I would have preferred that he helped me get the banjo right (or offer to let me send it back and fix it). I am saddened about this. I am so disappointed. The whole reason I ordered a banjo from Hatfield is because I had read nice things about Arthur and his banjos online. The last thing I expected for $3,000 was to receive a problematic banjo with very poor intonation.
My Deering Goodtime Special arrived last month with the bridge laying sideways on the head. So, I had to set it up myself, which I didn't mind. Point being, I DO know how to set up intonation on a banjo, because the intonation is accurate on my Deering Goodtime Special. Something is very wrong with the Buck Creek banjo that Arthur sent to me.
Kindly said, quite frankly, the Buck Creek banjo that Arthur Hatfield sent me is crap! I am not speaking for his other banjos, because I cannot comment on any of them. But I can definitely comment about this one banjo that I received and played. It sounded very nice in tone, but was completely unplayable because of the intonation being way off the mark (by at least 15 to 40 degrees above pitch on various strings). I kindly told Arthur that the banjo he sent me is not going to work for me, because it won't play in tune. I was hoping he would suggest a workable fix, but he didn't.
He told me last month that his wife recently passed away, and he is frustrated trying to keep up with the phone calls and emails. I feel sorry for Arthur. I've been praying for him. So, I don't enjoy bad mouthing him, but I need to give an honest review to warn others. I deeply regret ordering a banjo from him. It blows my mind that he would even send me a banjo with improper intonation. As I mentioned, when I received my Deering Goodtime Special last month, the intonation was perfect after I installed and set the bridge. That only took me 10 minutes to do. The Deering Goodtime Special banjo doesn't even have a truss rod (go figure). The intonation is excellent.
The bottom line is that when you pay $3,000 for a banjo (three times more than what Gold Tone and Recording King charge for some of their banjos), you expect something nicer. I bought my youngest daughter a Recording King RK-36 Madison (mahogany neck) in 2019 and the intonation was accurate. I paid $1,199 for it.
When you spend $3,000 for a banjo (which is what I paid for the Buck Creek), the last thing you expect to receive is a filthy case, with parts falling out the moment you pick up the banjo, and the damn thing won't even play in tune because the intonation is way off, and then the builder gets mad at you for complaining to him about it. I'm not saying that Arthur is a bad guy, I have no idea what type of man he is, but he sure blew it with me as a sincere customer. I couldn't have been more kind and understanding. All I wanted was a professional banjo with accurate intonation. Like I said, I love the tone of the Hatfield, it sounds better than both my Recording King Elite 85 and Deering Goodtime Special banjos in tone, but the nicest sounding banjo in the world is totally worthless if it has poor intonation and plays shitty.
I lost over $200 in shipping costs because Arthur sent me a problematic banjo. That's a lot of money to waste. Instead of offering to work with me to fix the problem, he just chose to refund my money. I am disappointed by his attitude, inferior banjo and unwillingness to satisfy me as a sincere customer. From all the online hype about “Hatfield banjos,” I had very high hopes when I purchased a Hatfield banjo, but now I regret that I ever placed the order.
Arthur initially told me that it would take 4 months to build the banjo, with which I was perfectly fine waiting. But then he surprised me by saying it was done after a few weeks. It is obvious to me that Arthur threw this banjo together in a hurry, evidenced by the tailpiece not being adjusted, the nut falling off the bottom of the tailpiece bolt, dust all over the case, the fourth string buzzing from the truss rod being too tight, and that he didn't even check the intonation before it left his shop. If he simply would have played the banjo, he would have noticed the poor intonation and annoying buzz on the fourth string. For $3,000 I shouldn't have had to discover all those problems with my new dream banjo.
Respectfully said, to not even apologize to a customer—when you caused them a bunch of grief, loss of money and for them to cut their finger open on sharp strings you left exposed—is selfish, very bad business and inexcusable. It is also obvious to me that since Arthur has so many customers, he just doesn't care anymore. His last email to me today rubbed it in that he has three customers with money on deposit, waiting for a Buck Creek banjo. If he sends them the shit that he sent me, they won't be happy either.
Arthur even marked the head with a pencil where he determined the bridge should go. This was the intonation at that position. When I moved the bridge toward the tailpiece the intonation improved on the lower frets, but went way off on the higher frets. I couldn't find a workable medium. Something is definitely wrong. For $3,000 I shouldn't have had to mess with the intonation. I kindly told Arthur when I placed the order that he could take as long as he wanted to finish the banjo, but then he rushed it for his own personal reason; and then he horribly gets upset with me with I tell him that the banjo's intonation is unacceptable. 2nd Thessalonians 3:2, “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”
I'd expect a less than positive experience from an inferior Chinese imported banjo, but not from someone like Arthur who is reputed for his Luthier skills and quality. When you pay someone a lot of money for a musical instrument, you expect that instrument to be quality. A musical instrument is a tool to craft music. If that tool is defective it is worthless. If Arthur cannot do a good job right now, then he shouldn't be selling banjos until he feels better.
The fact that Arthur already shipped the banjo with a compensator bridge evidences that he knew there was an issue to start. I have no problem with a compensator bridge, just so long as the intonation is accurate. It wasn't even close on the Buck Creek Hatfield banjo I was sent. The intonation was so bad that the banjo was unplayable.
Quite frankly, I am blown away by the past couple days. I mean, after reading hundreds of positive comments about Hatfield banjos and the man himself, what the hell happened with my order? I tried for hours to adjust the bridge to set the intonation, but nothing helped. No matter where I put the bridge, the intonation was off. Arthur should have offered to fix the banjo and send it back to me, but he just wanted to give me a refund. That is sad.
I didn't even complain to him, I was simply trying to get his help to figure out what was wrong with the intonation, but he got upset instead. He made excuses, saying that the Custom Inlay company that he pays to cut the fret grooves in his necks, uses the same CNC machine that Gibson uses on their banjos. What the hell does that have to do with the fact that he sent me a shitty banjo with bad intonation? It's like he doesn't know what he's doing, so he just blames Custom Inlay. Arthur treated me like garbage as a customer. I did nothing to deserve that abuse from him. I do not recommend Hatfield banjos to anyone. Shame on Arthur.
You know, Arthur Hatfield thinks he is an honest man for refunding my money. But he cost me over $200 in wasted shipping. I didn't want my money back, I wanted a professional banjo that plays in tune. Instead, he sent me garbage that has poor intonation. I wanted to either have him help me get it working, or let me return it for a different banjo, but he refused to work with me. In that sense, he defrauded me. I wasted my time and hundreds of dollars, while he walks away without penalty, which makes him crooked. He should have worked with me, like I wanted, but instead he got angry with me for pointing out his screw ups. That is not a nice man! Proverbs 26:12, “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.”
I don't enjoy writing about a lazy business owner who sent me a sub par defective product. The fact that he got mad at me proves that he is wise in his own conceit. Proverbs 28:11, “The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.” He likely has been blinded from his past success. I physically received and recognized his errors. Not to mention he didn’t require a signature and the banjo could have easily been stolen. Come on Arthur!!! It seems like he cut corners and doesn’t care about quality anymore. He arrogantly assumes his product isn’t defective. That’s likely why he doesn’t want to ship me a different new banjo. What a bum of a business owner!!! Sounds like it’s a good time for a motivated individual to get into the banjo making business.
Kindly said, Arthur is arrogant and proud, His success has gone to his head in my humble opinion, so that he no longer values individual people. I'm sure some people will be upset with me for posting this, but God knows it is an honest review of a bad situation that shouldn't have happened. It saddens me that I appear to be the first customer to complain about Arthur Hatfield, but it is what it is. I even offered to send another $800 to upgrade to a different banjo, the Stonycreek, if Arthur could guarantee correct intonation on the next banjo, but he refused. That tells me that he lacks confidence in his workmanship. I'm not overly picky as a musician because I actually expect the banjo to play in tune. I feel like I'm in an episode of The Twilight Zone after dealing with Arthur Hatfield.
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