A little Get-Cha Started Background:
For some time I have been envious of great clawhammer banjo players. I love how “Clucky” and mellow their sound is, how they deliver simple bit elegant melodies that get stuck in my head, and of course that wonderfully woody, percussive sound of their chosen instruments. A great clawhammer banjo is often a simple design that doesn’t layer complex tones and structures together, but rather hands the player the basic quality of tones and lets the artist craft the colors and shapes of sound into something of beauty.
All of that sounds great… However, I am missing the “bum-ditty enzyme” and I seem to be physiologically and spiritually unable to play clawhammer (even a little) convincingly – certainly not “well.” Understanding my “limitations” I started looking for an instrument that would allow me, and my three-fingery ways, to mellow down and assimilate some of those clucky tones for myself. Along the way I acquired another terrific bluegrass banjo that tempted me beyond my ability to resist it, a fun and rambunctious folk banjo that gets me closer to what I was seeking, but the search for a mellow clucky fiddle tune banjo remained elusive.
Then, while I was working in Alaska, my wife ordered and received a gift for me… The Magic Fluke Firefly banjo. She had it waiting for me when I returned home to South Carolina. Buying the banjo is a simple build-to-order process of choosing from a handful of options (nylon string vs steel string / drum frame and fingerboard wood choice / head selection / position markers / frailing scoop / electronics / etc.). She thought this instrument would check off few of the boxes for me, and she was right. This is a delightful banjo, that is just what I was looking for. I had originally looked past the Firefly because I thought it was more of a “banjo-uke” but the model and configuration that I received is a serious banjo player’s banjo.
Before I go into my personal application of the Firefly banjo, let me tell you a little more about Magic Fluke and the design of this specific banjo.
The Magic Fluke company:
Magic Fluke, in Hartford Connecticut, is a purveyor of American Made instruments, using domestically sourced woods, and unique, affordable instrument designs that just work. They have several product lines and a great website that walks you through the company, their design philosophy, their build approach, and the retail plan for how you can get your hands on an instrument. See them at https://magicfluke.com/.
The Banjo:
The 5-string banjo that I am reviewing was built to order. This instrument features steel string construction, an engraved walnut drum frame and finger board, and a fiber skin head. The Gotoh geared 4:1 tuning machines for first through fourth strings are mounted in a unique single slot headstock. The nut design features a zero fret which allows very easy action on the first few frets. The thin skirt maple rim and the single coordinator rod deliver simple, effective adjustment for the full action of the instrument. An experienced banjo player will have no problem when setting the action to their preference.
The head tension comes from a top-tension type system that essentially pulls a tension form with a floating wood tone ring up and into the head, mounted under the stationary drum frame (versus, a floating tension hoop that is pulled down against a bead of the head that is stretched over a stationary tone ring.) While I have seen this general approach before, the Magic Fluke design is elegant and effective.
The entire banjo is on a smaller scale than any standard bluegrass or old-time 5-string banjo. The fret scale, head, and over-all pot assembly. The banjo is light and can be held comfortably while playing. The sound is woody and “clucky” while the over-all playability is outstanding.
My modifications:
I added a Shubb 5th string capo. I know there are a couple of “religions” dealing with 5th string capoing, nails, spring and rail, elastic, and clip on, but my preference is for Shubb. I used to use the spring and rail type, but I just got used to the reliability and workability of Shubb. Plus I met Rick Shubb and once the man himself talks about his innovations with me, and it kind of stuck. I purchased a custom Nechville a whale back and the factory nearly insisted that I get nails instead of a Shubb. My Nechville banjo has really well-installed nails for capoing, AND the fifth string pip is actually a spike that holds the string down against the fifth fret. They work great, and as far as capoing is concerned they are “as advertised.” Most of all, and I can’t stress this enough, I hate them (sorry Tom), and my beautiful Nechville banjo is ultimately destined for Shubb as well (I will likely keep the pip-less design and that will come up again in this review – stay tuned). Also please understand that I enjoy my Nechville banjo, I just don’t like the fifth string capo schema. I fret the 5th string all the time, so how this system works for me is actually quite important and makes me a real fussy customer when approaching it.
I am planning to replace the bridge. Well, maybe. The Firefly bridge works. I would love to explore having a Katz Eye, pegged, McCormick factory floor bridge made for the banjo. Fingers crossed on that. More to come.
I am not altogether fond of the metal 5th string pip that comes installed on the Firefly. It came with unusably high action on the pip and a distractingly “tinny” sound. I have a passive plan to replace it with a bone pip, but a strange thing happened when I got the action set where I like it. The darned thing mellowed out, and to my ear it sounds – well – “OK” now. Maybe it has something to do with “break angle” or thinning out the amount of bulk metal in the pip itself… I dunno, but I may just not follow through with my plan to replace the pip. Another thought is to go the “Nechville” path and put a spike behind the fifth fret and see how that works. My concern is that the fret wire on the Firefly is about the same gauge as you would expect on a mandolin, so it may not be hearty enough for that design. But we will see, enough “advice” from my picker friends and it could sway me one way or the other.
Another “was gonna” replacement was the 4:1 tuning machines. I was going to replace them with 20:1 butter bean tuning machines. But I have actually grown to like these tuners. I think I am sticking with them unless a “deal” comes along. Maybe. I guess. But you gotta see this headstock slotting system with these tuning machines… It’s inspiring and just “cute.” It’s a feature that makes you wanna pick the darned thing up and pick for a hot minute.
As far as playability I decided to take advantage of the short scale and “up-tune” the banjo a full step to make it a fiddle tune machine. The banjo is really responsive to standard G-Tuning, and you certainly don’t have to up-tune if you don’t want to, but I gotta tell ya – it works. I will say that after setting the action and head tension I am impressed with the bass response of this mighty mite, and the Firefly handles G or C tunings like it’s many bigger cousins in the folk banjo family.
I don’t really have a good “Strap Plan” yet, but so far so good with just holding it without a strap. Yeah – no kidding – it is THAT light. It’s like holding a uke w/o strap. Am I gonna get tired of the “hold it and pick it” strategy and turn all “old guy cranky?” Of course I am, so I will need to think through the strap plan a little further, but it will be an adventure, so I am looking forward to it.
Recommendation:
Yes – Recommended! For an instrument in the $700 range, it is a more serious consideration than a banjo-uke… But this is not a banjo uke (don’t make the same mistake I did when I first saw it online and write it off as such).
The musician that would benefit from owning this banjo is a 5-string player with at least a reliably fluent ability on the instrument, and a good working knowledge of banjo set-up and maintenance, who is looking for a cool banjo with a unique and distinctive voice to add to their playing collection. To that player I fully recommend the Magic Fluke 5-string banjo.
I should mention that if – by some chance – you are a musician that is indeed looking for a banjo uke, check out Magic Fluke for that too. They make baritone and tenor versions of their “banjolele,” but make sure you look at their cute little 3-string banjo uke called a Friendly Banjo that would be great for kids.
Below is a link to my YouTube demonstration of the Firefly banjo that my wife custom ordered from Magic Fluke and gifted to me. I am sure you will see this banjo more on this blog and on my YouTube channel.
LINK TO YOUTUBE Video Review:
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Thanks for stoppin’ by today! Ya’ll come back and we’ll do some pickin’.
TH