What is a Thumpy Banjo Anyway? Thumpy Banjos are short-scale, nylon-strung, fretless, open-back banjos. They are a slightly different animal than steel strung open-back banjos. The short scale length can be helpful with shoulder fatigue. The fretless feature facilitates certain playing styles. The nylon strings, IMO, make it easier to get clean notes from a fretless fingerboard and they have a mellower tone than steel strings.
What’s so Ultra-Light about it? This banjo weighs 3 pounds and 9.8 ounces. As banjos go, that’s light!
What’s precision about it? This fretless banjo has fret markers that are set flush with the fingerboard. This gives the player the best of both worlds, the sound and feel of fretless with the precision of a fretted banjo. As a long-time fretless player, this feature emboldens me to play stuff up the neck even in performance setting.
What’s minus about it? This banjo features a deep thumb scoop. These can be a great comfort feature for some players.
- Walnut neck with Indian Laurel fingerboard
- carbon fiber reinforced neck (non-adjustable)
- Nickel hardware including Gotoh 2-band tuners and geared fifth peg
- 11″ multi-ply maple rim with bearing edge
- 22.25″ scale length
- Weight: 3 pounds, 9.8 ounces
- Strings through the rim
