The banjo can be a drunkin, loud-talker.
Banjo playing is a blast! That hard-driving, joyous sound is great fun and quite addictive. Everyone should try it. There will come a time however, that a song requires subtlety and finesse. Suddenly having a banjo hung on ya is like trying to have a subdued conversation with a hard-of-hearing, loud-talking, kinda drunkin’, friend. Y’all have one of those friends don’t ya? Anything but subtle. Not to worry, maybe your banjo just needs a voice with a tad more diverse inflection and dimension available for your pickin’. I have a little trick with a hole in it, that I have used for years, and I am more than happy to share it with ya.
Discovering the internal banjo mute
I was in my dad’s workshop studying a beautiful Bacon and Day plectrum banjo with a knee mute, mentioning how, with modification, that is something a bluegrass player might really be able to use to control any harsh overtones and helping the instrument play and record with a sweeter voice. My dad told me about Bobby Thompson’s muting technique of wedging and taping a towel to the underside of his banjo head. I immediately began experimenting.
Mellow-Yellow-Muting-Method
Over the years, I have settled on cutting a thick grout sponge to the basic silhouette of my tailpiece and wedging it under between the head and top coordinator rod (see below). If I place it in the “Y” position, up close to the neck, as Thompson did with his towel mute, it took away too many overtones and with them some of the personality of my instrument (at least to my taste). Placing the mute under the tailpiece, it trims some overtones from the trailing end of any sustain and also hides the strange, industrial yellow color of the sponge under the profile of the tailpiece.
Muting the tailpiece (didn’t see that one coming didja?)
I had just received my custom Greenbrier banjo from Sullivan, and it was by a full pound and a half the heaviest banjo I had ever owned. My wife bought me a Gold Tone cradle strap as a gift to help hoist the beast across my belly a bit better. With the strap, she included a great Gold Tone “ultimate” banjo mute. It just pinches onto the bridge. It works great as a bridge mute, but I discovered a little surprise… When I slid it over the tailpiece just to hold on to it while gigging, it really helped to control tailpiece overtones, with similar impact of putting little gromets between the strings of a mandolin twixt the bridge and tailpiece. It worked on the Fultz, Presto, and even the two-hump clamshell tailpieces I had on my banjos. What a cool thing to discover!
If you would like to take a closer look at the Gold Tone Ultimate Banjo Mute that I use, and maybe pick one up for yourself, just click here > Gold Tone Ultimate Banjo Mute
Voice Coach
I found that applying these two weird muting approaches leaves me with the full personality of my banjo, without the harsher overtones. Other “Sulli” banjo owners know how much crack, volume, and projection these expertly constructed instruments have. A little “strategic muting” has really given me a more diversely voiced instrument, that can slow dance like my daughter’s weddin’ on the beach, then shift down and drive like the Dales at Darlington.
Give it a spin
If you give these weird mutes a try please share how they worked out for you.
Peek-a-boograss
Please take a look at my video where I give y’all a peek and my weird, yet effective, mellow muting method for the banjo.
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As always, ya’ll come back and pick a spell.
TH