Ever put a tele bridge pup in a banjo?

An idea popped into my head today. Has anybody ever tried this, heard of it done? A little unothodox I will admit... Don't be shy. :mrgreen:

If you do, let me know. I have this piece of glass I need cut.

If you do, let me know. I have this piece of glass I need cut.


LOL! :razz:

I have a Fishman Rare Earth pickup in my banjo and it works great. Unfortunately most sound guys I've worked with seem to know very little about working with banjos and feedback can be a big issue with stage monitors. So even though I have a pickup in the banjo I've found that it sounds better and causes less PA problems if I just mic it with a good old SM57 and work the mic for backing and soloing.

anything is worth trying once !!! there is no structure in a banjo body to mount a Tele pickup to, so you would have to address that ... Gibon made an electric in 1936 ...http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumofmakingmusic/3344073185/http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3387/3344073185_32b82d0995_z.jpg?zz=1

If anyone ever does it, I suspect describing it as "twangy" will be like describing the ocean floor as "damp."

I don't know about the pickup. But, here is Baskery, playing some electric slide banjo.

http://youtu.be/Mb1J3n0ZpOw

totally dedicated to "electric" playing only. I have a Barcus/Berry transducer pickup glued to the head inside the banjo right behind and parrallel to the bridge. I also have the resonator filled intirely with pieces of foam rubber and old washcloths. I use a Fishman preamp with it and you can run it through a PA set or guitar amp and it sounds very close to an accoustic banjo and what's even better is that you can crank it up to electric guitar levels with no feedback. You can dispense with the pre-amp but without it you do get a squeal or two when it's played loud but with the preamp none.....

You can still use this banjo for practice but stuffing the resonator severely drops the volume and makes it sound like it's "Muted"....

Later someday I might try to set up something with a wooden head and guitar pickup like Buck Trent's but that's a way off yet........JH in Va.

You'd have to mount the pick up on a bracket in order to not distrub the head. I suppose you may have to raise the bridge then in order to get the clearance. Sounds like a cool idea but as previously mentioned could cause feedback issues. Cool idea though, try it! Or stick your Telecaster in a banjo tuning and roll with it. Anyone made an electric tele banjo?

I love the electric banjo sound of this fella, Buck Trent. I steal more licks from him than just about anyone.

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