These pages have been down for several years. I have decided to put them back on line. A lot of things have changed since they were put up about 1996-2005, so please, bear with me.

There have been a lot of new products, about which you can learn at Banjo Hangout and other similar forums. The main thing that hasn't changed much are the general principles of banjo setup. As far as I know, none of the laws of physics have been repealed in the last 15 or so years.

I am not associated in any way with "Palmer" banjos. If you want to know my opinion of these instruments, click here.
One other thing -- please do not send me e-mails asking for any of the following:
1) the best banjo for under $500.00
2) the best banjo for under $1000.00
3) help shopping for an instrument for someone else.

These are questions I can't answer. Instead, go to the list of links and call one of the dealers I have listed. Don't e-mail them. Call them.

I do not teach banjo. Check out some of the teachers who advertise in the various banjo magazines.

IMPORTANT!!!! Do not send photos of your instrument to me without asking first. I may be somewhere with a slow internet connection when I receive your e-mail. This will frustrate both of us. I charge a flat fee of $10.00, payable by PAYPAL ONLY, for identifying instruments. Once in a while, somebody who ignores this sends me a set of very large pictures that total more than 5 Megabytes. During some seasons of the year, when internet traffic is very high, this may block my connection. I do not need extremely large photos to identify a banjo. A good, sharp picture about 800 x 600 in jpg format will be quite sufficient. If you don't know what that means, don't send the photo. Ask me before sending, anyway. If you don't take photos of the correct parts of the instrument, I can't be of any help in the first place. Bear in mind that I cannot make an absolutely positive ID over the internet. I can only go by what I can see in a photo. Photos can be altered easily. So I assume no liablilty for any misinterpretation of photo data.

Also, I take no responsibility whatsoever for any damages resulting from a misidentification that has been made of an instrument. I also will take no responsibility for any damage you cause to your own instrument or any other instrument by allegedly following the directions I have given on these pages. Do these adjustments at your own risk.

I do not claim to be an expert on the banjo, just a person who has accumulated a lot of facts about the instrument based on many years of experience.

For many interesting links concerning various subjects, including magic and music, click here.

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The pages on this site are copyrighted ©1997 - 2006 Bill Palmer. All rights reserved. For permission to republish contact Bill Palmer. The opinions expressed on this page are strictly Bill Palmer's. Mastertone, Stelling and the other brand and model names are the property of the manufacturers and other people who own them.