This banjo has sound and soul. It's almost spooky to listen to. Very well-balanced in the lap. A lot of projection! The "sonic massage" that it gives the player is bound to be therapeutic! The banjo is fantastic and quite beautiful. The sound is perfect mid-nineteenth century.

I had the chance to meet Ty Supancic and play his prototype Minstrel-Style banjo at the Topanga contest this past weekend. Ty's banjos are of the 'Cheesebox' style, the first type of banjo to feature both a wooden pot and adjustable head tension. They fall right into that point in time when banjos were first being built for commercial sale, as opposed to the earlier ones that were mostly built by the folks who played them.

The first impression of the banjo is that it's BIG! With a 14" head, a pot depth of about 4", a massive long-scale neck, and the dowel-stick extending out beyond the bottom end of the pot for four or five inches, the banjo dwarfs my standard-sized Tubaphone. But oddly enough, the instrument is not really clumsy when held in the lap, and in fact the extended dowel-stick neatly slid beneath my right thigh, holding the banjo up in playing position without my having to support the neck with my left hand! (I wonder if that's why the stick was left so long on so many of the old original Minstrel banjos? Hmm!) The second impression is that the banjo is loud! While the action is stiff, as you would expect, Ty is using real gut strings, and the combination of these strings, a thin head, and a high bridge give a LOT of projection. The 4th string doesn't have the power of the other melody strings, but I suspect that's because it isn't a wound string, and simply doesn't have the mass that's needed to support so low a frequency.

By Tubaphone or Mastertone standards the banjo is both primitive and somewhat roughly constructed, but that's exactly what the original minstrel instruments were like. And since prototype banjos are notorious for needing improvements here and there, I was impressed to see how well Ty's first try both played and sounded. I'd like to play a few of his more recent creations, but they are unavailable since they're all out there being played by their owners!

As a luthier, I'd say that Ty's banjos are just what he set out to build: a banjo that both looks and sounds like an authentic minstrel's instrument. He's also a depressingly nice guy, but we need to get him up on stage performing some Minstrel songs! (By the way; Ty doesn't build these things for a living, he has a real job. Nor do I get a cut. Twice nothing is still nothing.)

The sound that it produces is wonderful. Appreciated by wife and children both. And the "sonic massage" that it gives the player is bound to be therapeutic. -and you are right; The switch from fretted to fretless was not that big of a jump. I was able to even do a tune that got up to the tenth fret, not always reliably but almost.

Anyway, it was well worth the price and the short wait. Please use me as a reference if anyone has inquiries.

Last Sunday I took possession of a minstrel banjo crafted by Ty Supancic of Tyger Brand Banjos.  In short, the banjo is fantastic and quite beautiful.  Have to start stroking away at those pre-war (Civil, that is) tunes.    I have to admit that the pictures do not do justice to his work. (BTW, I have no financial interest in Tyger, I am just a satisfied customer)

The public turned out in good numbers for the encampment and Kilham and I played casually for them on and off as the days passed. There was a dance on Saturday night in a big barn -- folks in hoops and frock coats dancing the period dances to the music of the Amoskeag Players (Minstrels of Renown). This consisted of two fiddles, Kilham on banjo, flute/whistle, and bones and vocals. I sat in on an 1860 gut strung guitar because I am not up to speed on this music for the banjo. But the banjo is the central instrument.

This was somewhat magical for all involved and good experience for me. Thanks so much for your hard work.