So, I’m in San Diego for work. I started looking for banjos for sale, and I found that the Deering Factory is in San Diego, not 15 miles from me. I decided to take a tour, which was cool. But what I wasn’t expecting was that Deering had made a batch of Goodtime banjos with some bad glue. The glue holds fine, but turned a bright yellow, almost greenish, and discolored the banjos. I was really hoping for a Goodtime 2 Special (resonator and tone ring), but for $250, I couldn’t pass up the Goodtime 2 (that’s the one with the resonator but no tone ring). They list for $699, and run $589 most places. I found one that doesn’t look bad (most of the discoloration on most of the units is on the back of the resonator). I really wanted the one “The Crow” special they had, as it has the fret markings on the side of the neck and The Crow logo on the headstock. But the frets were rougher on it, and I went with playability over looks. Not that it’s a bad looking banjo. I really like the light maple wood with the satin finish, and the sound is really great. Plus the strings are a bit more widely spaced than the beginner banjo I have (3mm at the nut, 2mm at the bridge), so it’s easier to play. I would have been really happy to bring home a Zombie Killer, but they were $600 or so (they had a sale going on) and it’s essentially the Goodtime 2 with fancy inlays and such, so I couldn’t justify the extra $350.
Now my only problem is that I have two banjos with me, and I have to figure out how to get them both back home…