Archive for the ‘ Grant’s Blog ’ Category
New Banjo Setup: Questions and Answers with Grant MacNeill (Video)
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Here’s Grant discussing what we need to know to set up a new banjo. If you’re wondering, the banjo in the video is a Deering Calico. You can preview our videos now on Our YouTube Channel!
The Twelfth Fret Video Tour
Saturday, August 20th, 2011
Recently Grant did a couple of tours of our shop. Here are two versions of it, one about two minutes and the other, in more detail, about ten minutes. Hope you enjoy it! Here’s the Two Minute Tour: And the Ten Minute Tour. And here are a few still photos from the shop.
Kavanjo Banjo Pickups
Sunday, June 26th, 2011
At last, a banjo pickup that sounds natural and is highly resistant to feedback. A truly elegant solution to all your banjo pickup problems. Last year at the L.A. NAMM show I was chatting with Jens Kruger at the Deering booth. A Goodtime banjo with a new pickup caught my eye and I pointed it [...]
National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report, Part 1
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Featuring Square-neck and Hollow-Neck National guitars played in contemporary Bluegrass tuning. Every time we get a late 1920′s National Tricone Hollowneck coming in the door the entire shop grinds to a halt while we drool over this incredible rare and historic guitar. Squareneck players are fascinated by these historic National guitars. Originally built for the [...]
National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report, Part 2
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011In Part 1 of the Hollowneck Report, we took an overview of our project comparing five squareneck National ResoPhonic guitars as bluegrass instruments. In Part 2 we’ll start into the recordings so you can see and hear what they’re really like. First up is the M-1 Mahogany Tri-Cone Squareneck. Here are Burke Carroll and Chris [...]
National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report, Part 3
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011Welcome to Part 3 of National Reso-Phonic: The Hollowneck Report! Here, Burke Carroll and Chris Bennett will demonstrate the National ResoPhonic Style 1 Squareneck Tricone, in brass with nickel plating. Later, we’ll see the Hollowneck version. First, Burke takes a quick look at the instrument by himself and goes for a test drive: Chris Bennett [...]
National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report, Part 4
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011Welcome to Part 4 of National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report! So far, we’ve seen the M1-Mahogany body model and the Style 1 Brass with nickel finish. Moving right along, we’ll take a look at the NRP Single cone Squareneck Model, Steel-body with a Brushed-steel finish. Next up in Part 5 is the Style 1 Hollowneck [...]
National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report, Part 5
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011And here’s Part 5 of National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report. So far, we’ve looked at an M-1 Mahogany Squareneck Tricone, a Style 1 Brass Squareneck Tricone, an NRP Single-cone Squareneck. Now we’re finally into the Hollownecks! First up we’ve got a Style 1 Tricone Hollowneck with Brass body and Nickel Plate. Burke Carroll and Chris [...]
National ResoPhonic: The Hollowneck Report, Part 6
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011Welcome to Part 6, the final installment of The Hollowneck Report! Having looked at three squarenecks – an M1 Mahogany, a Style 1 tricone, and an NRP Single cone – we’ve moved to the hollownecks. In part 5, we saw the Style 1 Brass body with nickel finish. Here, we’ll see the Style 1 with [...]
New at NAMM 2011: National ResoPhonic 12 string M-1 Tricone Wood-Body
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
THE penultimate guitar for Leadbelly style music. Every year I scout the January LA NAMM show for interesting developments. Most of my time is spent in the boutique guitar makers booths. Every year I make the National ResoPhonic booth my second stop of Day-One. My first stop is the nearby espresso bar. This year I [...]
Benko Mandolins and Guitars
Friday, March 18th, 2011
920 Kingston Road was the first address of The Twelfth Fret in 1977. It had been empty for some time when we moved in, but later I realized that it had been a Luthier’s Mecca since 1954. I was aware that Joe Kovacic of Lado Guitars had his workshop there for several years but as [...]
Banjo Setup Tour (Video)
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
We asked Grant to give a short introduction into what a banjo setup involves. We’ve taken a Deering Goodtime model out of a box and put it on his bench. We’ll go into this in much more detail in other posts and videos. Enjoy!
Humidification
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
It’s essential to know the relative humidity in order to add or remove the correct amount of moisture to the air, and measurement is done with an instrument called a hygrometer. We’ve arranged for Barigo, a very respected instrument manufacturer, to provide us with Twelfth Fret branded units. After a great deal of research, we [...]