Imported banjos are great for the person who wants to see if he or she will learn before investing thousands of dollars in a high quality instrument.  They have some inherent problems that are completely avoidable by their manufactures, though.   It would not cost anything to correct the problem I am about to speak of at the factory.  

    Alas, that is where I come in.  As long as the makers of these and, surprisingly enough banjos that cost a lot more money, maintain poor quality control I will continue to reap the financial benefits of their poorly engineered products.

    Most any banjo, import and domestic alike, can be set up to sound good.  You do not have to put up with the thudding and lack of volume if you know how to get the most out of the banjo.  Head tension, or lack of it, usually kills most inexpensive banjos.  Other factors come into play like the action at the nut is always too high on these banjos and the bridges supplied on them are junk 99% of the time.  A good setup will take care of the bridge and the nut but the poorly notched heels on these instruments may require surgery. Another note I would like to add is the fact that a lot of banjos are supplied with high crown heads. If you don't know what to look for or you suspect the banjo head may need to be changed to a medium or even low crown head to avoid the alteration (and this may solve the problem on a lot of these banjos) then take it to someone who knows about banjos. I have also seen banjos that had short hooks and this is another example of looking at everything that could be the matter starting with all the simple things first in order to solve the problem, if possible, before moving on to the more difficult procedures. The following procedure is  Slightly expensive, too. To check on what I currently charge for it check in the current price list link on the home page.  

The unnamed banjo below belongs to one of my students and he was gracious enough to share his common problem with the rest of the banjo world through my web page.  It is a structurally sound banjo that plays well and after I set it up, it performed like a champ.  The rest of this series covers the surgery ...