Fall 2009 - Nechville Musical Products

3 downloads 283 Views 2MB Size Report
few, but my point is that the banjo is ver- satile and ... a banjo imparts its unmistakable banjo tone, but the .... Tony Pass block style rim? or perhaps a. Mahogany ...
Nechville News For Banjo Players Everywhere!

9700 Humboldt Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota 55431

Tom’s Corner:

How to Have a "Ball" with Your Banjo

The components of the TimbrTronic tone ring system, disassembled

What a great instrument we play. It's not only fun to delve into a new Bluegrass or Oldtime tune, but the instrument itself offers so many possibilities for experimentation and discovery. What other instrument can you take apart and put back together with different components to get different sounds? I can think of a few, but my point is that the banjo is versatile and each one has a wide range of adjustability. Of course the drum head of a banjo imparts its unmistakable banjo tone, but the type of head and what you stretch that head over makes for a variety of sound possibilities.

without a separate piece to call a tone ring. Banjos with or without tone rings can sound nice, but when they have separate tone rings, the possibility exists to alter the sound by installing a different ring. While changing a tone ring in a regular Hook-and-nut style banjo is possible, it's not convenient, and therefore not too practical. Especially since changing a tone ring often also involves remachining it's mating part, the rim.

So far this doesn't sound like too much fun. But wait- there is a banjo out there that makes such switches easy and even The Tone Ring fun. Let me explain Nechville's Cyclotronic tone rings and some of the possiIn a conventional banjo the part of the drum that makes contact with the head is bilities that are now possible for banjo usually called the tone ring. Some simple players. (Continued on page 2) banjos are just wood or metal hoops

Fall 2009

In This Issue Tom’s Corner: How to Have a Ball with Your Banjo

1

Calendar of Events

1

Helimount Banjo Reference Chart

5

Hot Licks

6

Classifieds

7

Price List

8

Visit us at one of these events! Sept 29Oct 4

IBMA World of Bluegrass Nashville, TN

Feb 4-7

SPBGMA Nashville, TN

Feb 25-28

Wintergrass Bellevue, WA

Mar 5-7

MBOTMA Bluegrass Weekend Plymouth, MN

Fall 2009

Nechville News

The lightweight TimbrTronic tone ring

The TimbrTronic Tone Ring mounted on rim with Cyclotronic tone Spheres

sound with a single helically threaded flange ring that raises the tone chamber (tone ring and rim assembly) into the head, thus tightening it. The helical turning motion that is required to tighten the head makes the rim also turn, (unless there is a Teflon strip provided for low friction between these parts). The mechanism Nechville uses for eliminating turning friction and for mounting of the tone ring is called the Cyclotronic System. If you imagine what I've heard of called a "cyclotron", with electrons chasing around a big circle and smashing into each other, you might see where I got the name for this series of ball bearings or "tone spheres". These tone spheres roll around between the tone ring and the rim. There is a metal cap on wooden rims to prevent the balls from digging into the rim. This design allows for easy tightening of the Helimount's head while the tone ring mounts in a completely non-dampened way. Nechville has summoned maximum benefit from the old ball bearing by use of its rolling mechanical advantage in combination with its non damping properties allowing maximum resonance and great tone from the tone ring.

TimbrTronic with mix of Delrin and Steel tone spheres.

tions for enhancing "dryness" of sound and keeping weight down. Ceramic Spheres are much more expensive, however are light and perform brilliantly in the Helimount.

New Options

Nechville never stops coming up with fun new ideas for players. Our quest for lighter weight and richer sound has continNow for the fun part. Follow the progresues with Cyclosion of ideas here. The tone chamber of tronic-mounted most popular traditional banjos have a 3rosewood tone ply maple rim mated to a heavy Bronze rings capped with tone ring. Nechville offers the same combia titanium top nation, but utilizes a thin strip of Teflon edge. The resultbetween the rim and turning flange to keep ing tone is interThe parts are placed inside the Helimount the tone chamber from turning. The next estingly brilliant frame, and everything is tightened up with idea was to eliminate the Teflon strip, and and mellow at the use the rolling tone spheres between the the wrenches. same time. Now rim and tone ring. The benefit to this deadd the ceramic sign is easier head tightening and more tone spheres, and brilliance of tone. you have a machine that will lift The same rim and set of rolling spheres you up into orbit. can now support other types of tone rings, How about adding and even those that have no side skirt, an engineered a Hence revealing the open architecture of Tony Pass block style rim? or perhaps a the Cyclotronic system. Mahogany or a Corean rim? It would be fun How fun! Now you can use a more comto try a 3-to-one ratio of Delrin to ceramic. It pact tone ring, made out of a variety of would also be interesting to see how few materials. Not only does it look cool, but tone spheres could be used and what efThe assembled banjo with TimbrTronic tone something about that openness of the side fect it had on the sound. makes for a banjo you can hear very well in ring installed. Note how you can actually The Helimount is the only banjo adaptable a jam. to such a variety of re-thought tone chamsee the tone spheres. Owners of Helimounts can now take sevber components. eral pounds out of their banjos without How to Have a Ball With Your Banjo Our TimbrTronic designs and Hybrid ban(Continued from page 1) loosing volume by using a wood tone ring mounted "Cyclotronically". If light weight is jos are offered through banjorev.com The Cyclotronic System (www. banjorev.com), if you'd like to take a serious consideration, consider using advantage of any of our ongoing Banjo Delrin or ceramic tone spheres in place of To understand the "Cyclotronic" system, Revolution research, Or want to request a the normally used chromium steel balls. you must know that it was designed specifiquote on a special project, contact us at: cally for Nechville's Heli-mount banjos. The Delrin is softer and may absorb or dampen [email protected] (www.nechville.com), some of the tone rings vibrations, but I Heli-mount departs from traditional banjo have intermixed them in various concentra- or give me at call at: Office - (952) 888design by accomplishing a proper banjo 9710 or Cell - (612) 275-6602. 2

Nechville News

Fall 2009

3

Nechville News

Fall 2009

4

Nechville News

Fall 2009

5

Fall 2009

Nechville News

We recently heard from longtime friend and Nechville player Andy Glandt. He brought us up to date on his most recent activities: I want to inform you that my new CD has been released. It contains 14 original songs and tunes, mostly about Australia. The name of the CD is "Murujuga". It is the Aboriginal name of the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia. This CD supports, specifically, the fight to save the over 30,000 year old stone engravings (petroglyphs) on the Burrup Peninsula in the north western area of Western Australia. These are threatened by the settlements of companies wishing to mine for gas and plutonium. About a quarter of them has been already destroyed. For this reason a portion of the proceeds raised from the sale of this CD will be donated to FARA (Friends of Australian Rock Art).

Though the band is stretching the boundaries of bluegrass, they’ve obviously listened to their elders and have a deep love and respect for the music that’s gone before them. At the same time, they’re making their own mark in the burgeoning new-acoustic music world. Hearty congratulations to Lluis and Joan Pau and the band for creating this lovely music. With one listen, you can hear why people like Trischka, Brown and Carter are fans of Lluis’s work on banjo. Tony Hicks of The Hollies

________________ To get more information go to www.standupfortheburrup.com To get more infornation of the CD or to listen to some sound files, please go to my website www.andy.glandt.com and then to the section CD & Books. You can also order the CD at the German version of amazon www.amazon.de. Or just contact me. Best wishes and please help to save the petroglyphs. ———— Nechville now has a fan page on Facebook! There you will find the latest news, discussions, photos and videos of Nechvilles in action. We also post events where we will be showing instruments. Join us on the Nechville Banjos group on Facebook. ————— We recently delivered a new Nechville Meteor to Tony Hicks of The Hollies. Tony was kind enough to send this photo.

Lluis Gomez announces the release of a new self-titled recording from the Barcelona Bluegrass Band. The musicians taking part are Ricky Araiza (guitar), Albert Bello (guitar), Lluís Gómez (5string banjo), Joan Pau Cumellas (harmonica), Robbie K. Jones (cajón), Oriol Saña (violín), Maribel Sánchez (upright bass), and Miguel Talavera (guitar), plus two special American guests: Alison Brown (5-string banjo) and Tim Carter (5- string banjo).

The CD can be bought at CD Baby and will soon be available through iTunes. And it’s a good’un! ———— Two of our very favorite festivals on the west coasts and making a few changes in 2010. River City in Portland OR is postponing their next festival until January, 2011. The year off will enable them to make adjustments for a new location, the Red Lion Hotel on the River in Portland. And Wintergrass is changing their location for 2010 to Bellevue WA (just across the floating bridge from Seattle), at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Rest assured, we’ll be there for both of these outstanding events.

Tony Trischka comments:

6

Fall 2009

Nechville News

Nechville News is a quarterly newsletter published by

Nechville Musical Products 9700 Humboldt Ave S Bloomington, MN 55431 Sales : 253-670-3208 Shop: 952-888-9710 Fax: 952-884-4500

www.nechville.com www.banjorev.com Tom Nechville, Editor ([email protected]) Al Price, Associate Editor ([email protected])

©2009 NMP Inc

Banjo Revolution

Rev it UP!

Banjo Revolution T-Shirt $15 www.nechville.com/nmc/

Classifieds For info or to place an ad, contact Nechville Sales Office 253-670-3208, or e– mail [email protected]

Great Bridges

ATTENTION OWNERS of old Banjos

The World Famous Enterprise Bridge is the best bridge in the Universe!

Looking for the ultimate neck for your prewar masterpiece that will attach without modification?

The Bridge is made from select maple and ebony, and dimensioned for optimum stability, and easy playability. The string scale is perfectly compensated for medium to light gauge 5 string banjo strings with correct mass for the best tonality. It is precision weighed and marked, and comes with instructions and a full guarantee. Retail $30

Amazing Armrests We now have in stock our beautiful and exotic wood Comfort Bevel Armrests- A new dimension in comfort! Add hours to your practice time with no irritation or blocked blood circulation from cold, hard traditional nickel armrests. Available in a variety of woods and laminations. Priced from $69-$89

Be a part of an exciting new project! The Flux Capacitor is Guaranteed to make your banjo better. Contact Tom Nechville for details, (952)888-9710, [email protected] ―The Dynamics of Banjo Sound‖ by Tom Nechville, has common sense ideas and solutions to banjo problems. Learn how banjos work and to adjust them for best sound. Appropriate for conventional and Helimount banjos. $15 plus postage. Nechville Musical Products 952-888-9710 www.nechville.com

7

Fall 2009

Nechville News Sales: 253-670-3208 Shop: 952-888-9710 Fax: 952-884-4500E-mail [email protected]

PRICE LIST : September 2009 Subject to change

Acoustic Banjos Geometric

Classic

Phantom

Electric Banjos

LC

2250

STD

2795

LC

2350

STD

2995

DLX

3750

Walnut

4700

Walnut Galaxy

5100

Midnight Galaxy

4100

Midnight

3700

LC

2870

STD

3500

Universal

4500

Cosmos

4500

Turbo Module

Electric banjo insert for Helimount

650

Piezo Pickup

For all acoustic banjos

99

Meteor

Accessories Hard Shell Case

189 15

4950

Vintage Nextar

4500

Dynamics of Banjo Sound Book

Nuvo

6000

Enterprise Bridge

30

STD

1495

Comfort Beveled Armrest

69-89

DLX

1995

Banjovie Gig Bag

20

Banjo Revolution T-Shirt

20

Atlas

Saturn

2880

Zeus

2980

Orion

4600

Athena

3990

www.nechville.com

Banjovie

159

www.banjorev.com

Visit Us Online:

8