	Acoustic Instruments

Deering Goodtime 5-String Banjo

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Deering Goodtime 5-String Banjo

(20 customer reviews)

List Price:	$499.00
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SKU:

3922

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Features

Low-profile, 22-fret rock maple neck with hardwood bow tie inlays
Sealed, geared tuning machines, including fifth string
5/8-Inch maple/ebony Goodtime bridge with adjustable Deering tailpiece
Six-year warranty
Three-ply, 11-inch maple rim with steel tension hoop and high crown head

Description

The American-made Goodtime banjo features a slender, rock maple neck, 3-ply maple rim, sealed geared tuners, and an adjustable tailpiece. The natural, blond maple is finished in elegant satin and the metal parts are nickel plated. The single coordinator rod makes adjustments easy and positive. The maple and ebony bridge sits on an easy to adjust 11 inch, top-frosted head.

Product Details

Product Length:	37.75 inches
Product Width:	11.75 inches
Product Height:	3.75 inches
Product Weight:	4.0 pounds
Package Length:	47.0 inches
Package Width:	19.5 inches
Package Height:	8.0 inches
Package Weight:	10.5 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 20 reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 4.5

( 20 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 65 found the following review helpful:

Five stars for value and quality Aug 17, 2004 By T. Gorham
I do not own a Deering Goodtime but I have had a number of opportunities to play them during Dan Levenson's workshops and at at a local KC metro music store (Mountain Music Shoppe). They are outstandingly playable and represent far better value for the money than any comparably priced alternative that I have come across.

I first became interested in banjo through Stephen Wade's wonderful Banjo Dancing one man shows and decided that I wanted to begin exploring banjo on my own. At that time, late seventies, there were very few options available. The choice was buying an open back "maker" banjo at > $1000, buying a used hootenany era banjo in the $500 to $800 (often with a Pete Seeger long neck), buying an Asian disposable with flashy pearloid cosmetics and buzzy frets, or building my own (the twisted route I took.).

Several years on, I was lucky enough to be able to buy a marvelous Bart Reiter at a fairly reasonable price thanks to some shop wear. Sadly most other potential enthusiasts were still faced with either inappropriate junk or a serious investment. Let's be honest here people, a serious investment in a beginner banjo, especially one for traditional styles, should be a contradiction in terms (for clarification just look at what the icons of Round Peak clawhammer banjo were playing in their day. They were far more likely to be Silvertones than Mastertones.).

Deering has had the good sense to recognize that if they are going to sell their high end goodies, future customers need to have *sound* entry level products that will allow them to grow into a better banjo and have an uncontrollable desire to plunk down long green on a Vega #2. (a "Duh!!!" here is probably fair despite the fact that the rest of the market appears to be oblivious or perhaps has ceded the niche to Deering). The Goodtime fills the entry-level spot admirably.

Bottom line, having meandered enough: Visually the Goodtime is somewhat cheesy; sporting spray painted position markers and a non-traditional, if cheery, peg head. The neck is outstandingly playable and reflects great tradeoffs on Deering's part. Despite not having a tone ring, this little banjo is remarkably well balanced tonally, probably due to a very hard and sturdy birch/maple pot (compare it to the light plywood pots on some Asian imports).

If I had to pick an entry-level banjo with which I had to live for an extended period of time, I would happily pick a Goodtime. For that matter, if they ever get around to offering a fretless, I'll probably pick one up as a traveling companion.

While I have done business with Musician's Friend in the past and found their service to be excellent, I would encourage everyone with a good local music store to buy locally. Independent music stores will probably get you within a reasonable range of advertised "internet" prices and, in return for the tiny premium, will ensure that the setup is good and help you get wired into the community of like minded instructors, pickers and peers.

It is never too late or too soon, get busy and play.

Cheers...TG (not in the business)

39 of 40 found the following review helpful:

The best banjo for the money Jun 27, 2005 By Tony Thomas
This is the best inexpensive banjo on the Market. It was my first banjo. The key thing is that it is built to sound like a real banjo, hold together and make an appropriate sound. Deering used some technologies that are not standard for a five string banjo to do this, which may make this not look as nice as comparable models put out by Rover or even the Gold Tone lower end models which are not bad. However, this banjo sounds and plays very good.

I was about 52 when I got my first Good Time, but I was like a kid, taking it to bed with me. Even after I acquired a fine Bacon Belmont vintage banjo, I found that there were tunes and applications that I prefered the Good Time for. It had a bluesier twang and worked better for slide playing.

Moreover, if you follow the banjo literature on banjo-l listserve and other places you will find that there are many modication plans to improve the Good time by adding a skin head, changing the bridge etc. This is like the Volkswagen Beetle of banjos with a whole sub culture of people working to make it even better.

I have two more expensive banjos now that my Good Time was stolen, but if I had the extra money, I think I would buy a Good time for travelling.

31 of 31 found the following review helpful:

Goodtime Banjo is the best beginner/intermediate banjo on the market Dec 26, 2005 By D. Vaughan
I have been playing Bluegrass and Clawhammer banjo for a number of years and have owned quite a few banjos. Once I discovered Deering's Goodtime, I got rid of all my other banjos, I was smitten. Owning a Goodtime raised the bar for me in regards to quality of sound and playability.

The Goodtime banjo has a great sound, is easy to hold and easy to play. It has a very natural feel to it. I use this banjo as my work horse. I have since bought other higher end banjos ($1000+) that sound good too but I always fall back to my Goodtime.

My daugher and son are starting to learn the banjo too, and I've found that the Goodtime is perfect for them. Because they are children, I use a capo on the 4th fret of the neck and then retune the banjo to open G (as I say to my kids, "just like a parents banjo") and then they are off and running.

Banjos will come and banjos will go but in my little stable of banjos, the Goodtime will alway be present.

23 of 23 found the following review helpful:

Volksbanjo Feb 13, 2008 By Doc Feetz
I agree with all the reviews. I decided to try learning banjo at age 53, after playing guitar for 30 years and mandolin and fiddle for 2 years. I took classes at the Old Town SChool of Folk Music in Chicago, and rented a Goodtime from them through a couple class terms. My family wanted to buy me a good banjo for my birthday and I said I'd rather just pay the rest of the cost and keep the Goodtime. I'm no master player, and I'm still learning, but this is a good solid banjo and sounds and plays great.

Pros:
* It's light and well balanced so it's a pleasure to hold and play.
* It has good solid feel and quality construction, with heavy nickel plating on the hardware, nice light laquer, and clear maple in the neck.
* The neck and frets are dead on balls accurate so the notes sound good all the way up the neck.
* The tuning machines (open gear guitar style) are modest, but don't slip and work fine. Fifth string has a good geared tuner.
* The tone is surprisingly loud for an open back banjo, so I get plenty of volume doing Scruggs style, and even have to damp it a bit with some folded foam behind the head for clawhammer style.
* There's a nice harmonic point right where your hand falls for clawhammer, which gives a nice meaty "pop/ring" sound for clawhammer.
* It's relatively humidity- and cold weather- tolerant without needing a lot of retuning.

Cons:
* No arm rest! I didn't mind it so much for Scruggs style but got bruises from the brackets when I switched to clawhammer, until I bought an armrest (They have them at Elderly Instruments for $18, and it's easy to attach with a small wrench by loosening two of the brackets and sliding it through them.)
* The already-mentioned cheesy peg head design, which some have called "Art Deco" but I call Ronco. But what the hell. You could always go for the Special model that has a more traditional shaped peghead.
* The nut has sharp corners which can make for sore hands when you hit it a lot with the pad of your index finger. But maybe that's a sign of poor form on my part.

All in all, I see no need for a fancier banjo for quite some time. I did fine with a Sears Silvertone guitar for ten years, so maybe I'm easy to please. But maybe I'm unimpressed by showing off wicked instruments too. (My mom had a pre-war Gibson five string but my grandpa donated it to the USO during WWII. So people bragging about their Gibsons just stirs up pain from before I was even born, and I slowly back away.)

By the way, I agree that it's best if you can to buy a banjo from a friendly neighborhood music store, where they can help you get it set up and adjusted. The Different Strummer at the Old Town School beat the price here by quite a bit, cause they sell a ton of these things for Deering, to their students.

19 of 19 found the following review helpful:

Nice instrument for the money Dec 12, 2007 By Robert C. Metcalf
Bought one of these as a raw beginner a few months
ago, and am very happy with it. My main concern
in buying a banjo, as an amateur, was to avoid a
crummy "student" instrument. This ain't it.

The Deering is well made, sounds great, and plays
really well. I'd buy this model again in a heartbeat.

See all 20 customer reviews on Amazon.com

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