Forum Activity for @jim-bollman

Thinking About Buying a Ban Jammer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Yea I was following the one on eBay (someone got a deal). I also corresponded with Mike Clemmer about learning on one. Decided I better stick to a stock dulcimer then move on to variants. The Ban Jammer is stung with 4 strings all in different tune to better simulate a banjo sound. Mike said I could leave one string off and tune as a Dulcimer. It seemed like the spacing on the sound board would be strange with 3 strings and as a newbie player I don't need any more excuses for having problems.

I stopped at a music store to see what it would cost to have my Hondo fixed up and they said around $50 but they were 2 weeks behind on work. So I will play it the way it is for now and maybe buy a slightly better one if I find one I like.

Thanks for all the help.

Jim...

Thinking About Buying a Ban Jammer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks for the input so far, more is welcome.  If/When I get dug out (1200 foot drive up the lower side of a mountain) I will check out a couple of semi local places to see if any can fix the nut and how much. I can probably handle the tuner replacements if I decide to stay with what I have. The reasonable side of me says, wait till I learn more about how to play what I have, the ooh ooh shiny thing side says just buy a Ban Jammer.  That is how I ended up with a Banjo, Mt Dulcimer, Uke, Uke Banjo, and a Pixie Lute (walking dulcimer) hanging on my wall. Spent about 2 months on banjo and hung it up, a couple of weeks on the Uke (Uke Banjo was just to neat and cheap to pass up), MD the first time a couple of weeks, Pixie Lute a couple of months. But they do look nice on the wall.

 

Thinking About Buying a Ban Jammer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I didn't even know my current MD had a name but I looked inside and it is Hondo HD-4 made in Korea and has a date of 1981 on the label. A quick Google confirms it was an inexpensive instrument one step up from a cardboard starter dulcimer and one of the first mass imports of foreign instruments.

The tuners are the type with the screw in the end and I already tighten them and it helped some but they still don't hold long. Seems to have a value of about $25-50.

Thinking About Buying a Ban Jammer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Ban Jammer has a banjo like sound I like. Full custom is probably a lot more money. I would just go with a slightly better quality MD rather than custom, till I was good enough to justify the cost. Ban Jammer is just an idea that I was hoping to discuss to either talk me into or out of the idea.

My current MD has tuners that keep drifting and the nut groves are to deep and that is causing some string buzz. Not sure what it would cost to fix these items (not a instrument repair person). I would end up with a cheap with MD with some upgrades.

Jim...

Thinking About Buying a Ban Jammer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Any Ban Jammer owners on the forum?  I really like the sound of them from online videos and I'm thinking about buying one. Since after years of procrastinating I'm actually starting to try to learn to play again. I have already discovered how cheaply made the Mt. Dulcimer I have had for 30+ years is and before putting money into some upgrades on it, maybe I should just replace it with a better instrument.

Any thoughts? Would I be a distraction in a class of regular Mt. Dulcimers?

Jim...

updated by @jim-bollman: 08/01/23 07:38:35PM