Banjammer / banjimmer types

Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
4 years ago
2,111 posts

No sense in keeping something you're not happy with.  IIWM, I'd talk to Mike and see what I can do for a trade-in.  

floralin
@floralin
4 years ago
7 posts

About 4 months ago I bought a Clemmer Banjammer at a festival (remember when we had festivals?).  I just haven't bonded with this instrument.  At first I thought it was because it was louder than I was used to, but that problem was solved by stuffing a sock in the back like you would with a banjo.  However, I'm still not comfortable with it and I finally decided just a little while ago that it is probably due to the height of the fingerboard, which is about 1 and 1/4 inches from the body (which consists of one board).  Somehow that seems to affect the action; my fingers just don't seem to glide along it as I would like.  I have two other dulcimers, a very old Folk Roots and a relatively new James McAnulty with an extra kind of "trestle" piece at the back which gives it a wonderful, mellow tone.  I bought the Banjammer because I thought it would be good for fiddle tunes, but I'm thinking of asking the builder if I can trade it in towards another instrument.  Advice, anyone?

fishface
@fishface
7 years ago
3 posts

Ken , I very much appreciate your comments. All this amazing internet stuff, you in USA, & me in Australia, asking you questions!. Yesterday a friend dropped me off a couple of “black camphor” logs, so will start milling them up today, they are already dried. Then I can start making. I have already secured a redo drum pad and the rest of the hardware. I very much enjoy the building as well as the playing. Any chance of a photo of the one you built?

Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
7 years ago
2,111 posts

That's the kind I've built -- basically a wider, longer dulcimer body combined with a 6" tambourine that is free floating and perched on 3 or 4 stub legs to hold it at the correct height.  The free floating bridge sets just aft of center on the drumhead.

fishface
@fishface
7 years ago
3 posts

Thanks for the reply Ken, I am about to start  building one. You have swayed me toward the drum in a box model.

Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
7 years ago
2,111 posts

I've heard both "drum in a box" and "drum on a 2x10" type banjimers.  IMHO the "drum in a box" types sound much more like a banjo -- both in  sound a volume. 

Sorta like the difference between hearing an acoustic guitar and a solid body electric guitar being played acoustically (not plugged in to anything).  They both sound like "guitar" but the acoustic sound MUCH better.

fishface
@fishface
7 years ago
3 posts

Has anyone had experience with both types of banjammer / banjimmer MD one being, the flat Remo drum on a board type, and a Remo drum enclosed in a sound box type. What are the sound differences? volume differences? Does one sound more like a banjo than the other? From memory I think I saw a post from some one who has made both, but I cannot find the post......maybe I was in dreamworld

Dave