I purchased a Hatfield Buck Creek banjo and received it this past week. What a piece of crap! The intonation was so messed up that I couldn't get it to work. I ended up sending the banjo back to Arthur Hatfield for a $3,000 refund. I sincerely don't think Arthur even bothered to play the instrument before boxing it up to ship to me, because if he had he would have heard how bad it sounded. The tone was very nice (better than my Deering Goodtime Special and Recording King Elite 85 in fact), but the nicest sounding tone is worthless if the instrument won't play in tune properly. Since experiencing how crappy the intonation was on the Hatfield Buck Creek banjo I was sent, I have begun to really appreciate my Deering Goodtime Special, which has excellent intonation. I've had so much enjoyment playing my Deering.
By the way, when I received the Deering from Gear Tree on Amazon, and first opened the case, the bridge was laying sideways. I didn't mind setting the bridge position and intonation myself. It was easy and has been very accurate since. But I couldn't get the Hatfield to adjust because something is wrong with the banjo. Instead of working with me to fix it, Arthur just insisted that I return the banjo for a refund. I thought that was absolutely rotten of him, because I really wanted a banjo from him and he knew it. Some people are just mean.
My New Deering Goodtime Special Banjo w/Tone ring
(you can see from the worn head that I've been playing it)
Regarding the Deering Goodtime Special, some players have complained about the narrower 1/2" metal armrest, that it irritates them, but I have played the banjo nearly every day since I got it several weeks ago. The arm rest did bother my arm when I was getting used to it for a week or so, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I ordered a nice wooden arm rest last year from Ross Nickerson for my Recording King Elite 85, which I really like.
I bought this nice banjo strap for the Goodtime Special, which I like because it has a convenient metal clip to connect to the J-hooks. I have a much thicker padded strap on my Recording King, but it was made for guitar, so I had to improvise a bit to make it work.
(you can see from the worn head that I've been playing it)
The biggest thing that disappointed me about the Goodtime Special is that although Deering's website says the Goodtime Special weighs 5.5 lbs. It actually weighs 9.5 lbs. I don't like that Deering doesn't disclose upfront that their Goodtime Special banjo with a tone ring actually weighs almost 10 pounds. Albeit, compared to my 12.5 lb. Recording King, the Goodtime Special banjo seems considerably lighter, which I appreciate.
Having said that, I really like the Goodtime Special. I love the bare wood finish on the neck and headstock. It's cheerful looking to me. It came with light gauge strings, but I put some medium gauge strings on it. On his 1992 Gibson ESS Dave Hum also used medium gauge strings (from 1st string to high 5th: 12, 12, 16, 24, 12). I like these GHS strings from Amazon. The gauges are (from 1st string to high 5th: 11, 13, 16, 26, 10). I like that the low 4th string is bronze looking, which looks nice. I put Dave's gauges on my Recording King. Music stores don't sell string sets with Dave's gauges, nor does Amazon sell those string gauges individually, so I needed to order them special from a string warehouse.
I haven't had tuning issues so far with the Deering Goodtime Special. Here is a photo of my Recording King Elite 85 banjo with the wooden armrest that I bought from Ross Nickerson in Arkansas a couple years ago. ...
Wooden Arm Rest On My Elite 85 Recording King Banjo
The more expensive Deering models have the coveted 06 tone ring. I would love to play Deering's Golden Era, Rustic Wreath and Calico banjos. Someday I might fly from Pensacola to Atlanta, Georgia to the Banjo Warehouse to play a bunch of different banjos and buy one. I love the emanating sound of the Calico. However, in my humble opinion all of Deering's banjos are way overpriced! They're charging what they do because they can.
The intonation is very accurate on my Goodtime Special. The bridge was completely off when I received the banjo. So, if you purchase one, you'll likely need to get a tape measure and set the bridge in place, putting an equal distance from the 12th fret to the nut, and the 12th fret to the bridge. There is NO TRUSS ROD on the Goodtime models, but you don't need one because the hard rock maple is solid.
Because the intonation was off a bit, I had to go buy a compensator bridge from Amazon for my Recording King Elite 85. I paid $1,799 for the banjo in 2018 (from Ross Nickerson). The 5/8" compensator bridge did the trick. There's also a 1/2" height compensator bridge, so make sure you order the right one. I ordered the wrong one the first time.
In summary, the Goodtime Special is a really great first-time banjo. For a parent wanting to buy a banjo for their child, I'd definitely recommend buying one of the Goodtime models, so at least they won't get discouraged playing a piece of junk from China that is inferior. But make sure your child can handle the 9.5 pound Goodtime Special before you buy it. For teens it should be fine, but for a younger child I would recommend the Goodtime 2, which weighs a few pounds less. Deering's Goodtime models are superior in design and materials used. These banjos actually use violin grade maple wood, which to my knowledge no other banjo in the $1,000 price range uses.
Kindly said, to me the Chinese import banjos are nothing more than a bunch of parts thrown together, and you can hear (or better said, not hear) the quality of timbre in the music. TONE IS EVERYTHING FOR A MUSICIAN. There's about 50 things that go into obtaining a good tone. Ultimately, tone is the connection made between your soul and the soul of the audience. No matter how great your musical arrangement and skills may be, if the tone is lacking you won't be able to make that heart-to-heart connection which many musicians like myself seek.
Case in point, show me one professional banjo artist who plays a banjo from China. Bela Fleck (born 1958) promotes Gold Tone banjos, but I recently saw him playing a Gibson. Please keep in mind that I am not experienced with banjos, but I have been a musician all my life. I know quality when I hear it. I am familiar with steel guitars. There's no lapsteel today with a tone that can compare to the old Rickenbacher Bakelite lapsteel with a horseshoe pickup. I have two of them, a 1936 pre WW2 model, and a 1953 post WW2 model. I love them both!
I also have a 1937 Silver Hawaiian Rickenbacher with a horseshoe pickup, but it doesn't have the tone that the Bakelite's do. In fact, someone stuffed newspaper inside the body to reduce the metallic sound...lol. I removed the newspaper and put polishing cloth in there instead. Hawaiian music with a steel guitar will always be my first love of music, and the old country music of the 1970's which was saturated with pedal steel guitar. Today's music is 99% garbage! And I love the banjo of Dave Hum. He rekindled my love of the 5-string banjo. I sure hope to meet him in Heaven! Albeit, I have no idea what he believed about Jesus Christ, who according to John 14:6 is the ONLY way to get to Heaven.
If you want a lighter banjo, the Deering Goodtime Special is a bit lighter than standard banjos with heavy bronze tone rings. The cheaper Goodtime banjos don't have a tone ring, so they are even lighter, but I personally always want a tone ring. My music friend Anurakt Scheepers in the Netherlands does an amazing job with a non-tone ring Goodtime banjo. He actually inspired me to buy a Goodtime banjo, which I don't regret. It's a nice quality banjo for the price.
I do wish that higher-end quality banjo prices would drop significantly like guitar prices have. I only paid $130 for my Cort acoustic guitar new from Guitar Center in 2022 and it sounds and feels awesome. That's the one that I dropped and cracked a couple weeks ago. I have since bought Strap Locks for all my instruments. Any banjo under $500 will assuredly sound like a cheap tin can with strings on it. The more expensive banjos have a resonance, sustain and lushness to them. They have that "boing" sound as I call it...lol.
Also, keep in mind that Deering does NOT include a case of any type with this banjo. I ordered my banjo from GearTree through Amazon and they did include a nice sturdy hard gig bag. And please don't buy a Goodtime Special from Deering, because they will charge you $1,219, ripping you off. Some customers have been hurt and offended when they learned that they could have saved $120 by buying elsewhere. I don't like that Deering does this to people.
The bottom line is that I don't think you'll be disappointed if you buy a Goodtime Special, if you keep in mind that it is a bare bones banjo, not a professional instrument. It is the most bang for your buck you'll get on a student model. It wasn't intended by Deering to substitute for a $5,000 Golden Era; but rather, to put the most banjo for the money possible into the hands of students and folks who simply cannot afford an expensive banjo. In that regard, it lives up to its reputation as a quality banjo. Can we ever have enough banjos?
In summary, my Deering Goodtime Special so far is my favorite banjo that I have played. I love the accuracy of the intonation, and the sound is not bad at all. I really like the bare natural wood neck, which is pleasant to look at. You won't be disappointed if you get this banjo, but just keep in mind that the more expensive Deering banjos do sound nicer because they have the 06 tone ring. Still, the tone is very nice on the Goodtime Special.
That reminds me of a joke I heard recently. Two older men were talking. One man said that his doctor told him not to buy any more banjos past 65. The other man asked what's wrong with buying another banjo past 65? He replied that 65 banjos is enough for anybody!!! I thought that was funny. I told the joke to some folks at church for our Easter Sunrise service, but no one laughed. I guess it was too early in the morning...lol. Thanks for reading my blog.
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