Continuing the long standing Goodtime philosophy of offering the best value American made banjos available, the Americana is the lowest priced 12” model on the market today and retains the distinctive natural blonde Goodtime aesthetics. In keeping with the rest of the Goodtime line, this banjo also features guitar style tuners, a rock maple neck, nickel plated hardware, and hardwood inlays.
Played with an old time style technique, the Americana is reminiscent of banjos from a period when larger rims were more prevalent which makes the 12” a great setup for playing old time music. A traditional 11” banjo with a frosted top head has a far brighter sound and will “cut” more. Since the combination of the wider 12” rim and the renaissance head makes for a wonderfully laid back sound in comparison, the Americana lends itself perfectly for musicians looking to use the banjo to back up a vocalist or another instrument, instead of playing the a lead instrument role.
Take a walk on the wide side with the Goodtime Americana banjo.
Specifications

Neck Wood: Rock Maple
Neck Shape: Comfortable "D" Shape
Stain: Natural Maple
Finish: Satin
Nut Width: 1 1/4"
Nut Material: Lexan Polycarbonate
Tuners: Sealed Geared Tuners
5th String Tuner: Goodtime Geared 5th String Tuner
Frets: 22 Pressed In Nickel Silver Frets
Inlays: Hardwood Art Deco Inspired Inlays
Rim: 3-Ply Violin Grade Maple
Rim Diameter: 12"
Tone Ring:
Head: 12" Renaissance Medium Crown
Tension Hoop: Beveled Steel Tension Hoop
Hooks & Nuts: 16 Flat J-Hooks with 9/32″ Nuts
Armrest: Goodtime Armrest
Hardware Plating: US Bronze Powder Finish
Bridge: 5/8" Goodtime Smile Bridge
Tailpiece: Deering Patented Goodtime Tailpiece
Finish: Hand Rubbed Polyurethane with Carnuba Wax Finish


Neck Width at the Nut: 1 1/4"
Scale Length Nut to Bridge: 26 1/4"
Rim Diameter: 12"
Overall Instrument Length: 37 1/2"
Weight Approx.: 4.5 lbs
The trust and pride we share in our product gives us the confidence to grant every owner of a Goodtime banjo a Six Year Warranty ensuring the quality of our materials and workmanship.
Click below for more information.
Comes strung with Deering Light Gauge Strings
String gauges: 10, 11, 13, 21w, 10
Comes tuned: G, D, G, B, D
Can easily be tuned in other tunings as well.
Gig bags and hardshell cases available below.
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- Reviews (39)
- Questions (30)
liked that it was made in the US and the quality seemed excellent when I tried it at the dealer. I absolutely love this banjo and the biggest thing is I'm so excited to play each and every day because it's light and easy to play. It sounds wonderful and I'm having a ball with it. I'm an experienced old time music player (mountain dulcimer) and I can easily pick out tunes I know which is so much fun. I thought this might be my starter instrument as I ordered a custom banjo with a 2 year wait initially,so I bought this one to learn on and figured I could always sell it later but that isn't happening. I can see playing this for years to come. Most of all, it has made my dream of playing clawhammer a reality which makes me very happy. This banjo = happiness! Read LessRead less about Years ago I tried to play clawhammer
Back in the 70s I bought a banjo, one of those bottle cap Asian imports, and I was going to learn bluegrass! Well, I learned a few tunes……OK, it was 2. The banjo went in the case, then into the closet for 25, 30 years, until my son, who plays guitar very well, showed interest in it. So it went to him. Fast forward to last year. I’d been...Read MoreRead more about Howdy!
Back in the 70s I bought a
retired for a number of years, have rheumatoid arthritis, but I started thinking about banjo again. With hands and wrists that are frequently swollen, I settled on clawhammer style to try. An open back banjo was what I wanted. My wife, who is a stickler for American Made, orders a Goodtime Americana for me from an online distributor. She’s a dawn good woman, has been for 50 years of marriage. It came in great shape all setup and tuned for open G. She also bought a few instructional books. The first thing I was told to do was change to double C tuning. Wait, what! Best thing that could have happened. A lot of those tunes I learned in double C and G modal focused on melody and very little chords. With a left index finger that barely would bend, I couldn’t hardly get to the first fret! Middle finger does a lot on double work on 1st and 2nd frets. I pick a lot of melody, catch a few chords, if I can, and thumb the 5th string when appropriate. Clawhammer is a perfect style for me. This makes me happy! I had a chance the get another brand of banjo earlier this year at a good price, which I did. It’s a pretty good banjo, BUT, there is nothing, I mean nothing, like the feeling I get when I put it down and pick up my Goodtime! It fits these old hands perfectly! It’s kind of like….like coming home! So thank all of you folks at Deering for my Goodtime and a good time! Read LessRead less about Howdy!
Back in the 70s I bought a
hen it's time to upgrade. Read LessRead less about It was playable out of the box, and
over 6 months. First's its built really well and can take some hard playing like my tele. At the same time, once you learn the clawhammer picking style with the back of the fingernail, it produces the nice bell like tone of a strat... yep, this ole guitar slinger is pretty happy with the Americana! Lastly, to warm it up a bit, I put on a Fiberskyn head (medium collar) and a smile bridge along with the Deering Tenbrooks strings and it really sounds nice. I tried the knotless tail piece as well, but switched back to the Goodtime Tailpiece immediately. With the knotless I lost the definition of each string and each note being played, it was just a wash of sound rather than notes. I learned the hard way to trust Deering's development team on what tailpiece works best with a particular instrument! In addition, with changing heads, strings and tailpieces I learned maintenance on the Goodtime Americana is a breeze and is done with ease... again, a tribute to a well designed and built instrument! Thanks! Read LessRead less about Since retiring playing music has









thx


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Why A Goodtime Banjo
1. DEERING GOODTIME SMILE BRIDGE
The responsive sensitivity of the maple, with the hard, dense ebony top contributes to the Goodtime banjos clear, resonant responsiveness.
2. QUIET TAILPIECE
Specially selected metal is used to prevent the tailpiece from making “its own sound” and muddying up the banjo’s tone. The violin maple rim is supposed to sing, not your tailpiece.
3. STABILITY ENHANCING J-HOOKS
The proprietary Deering J-hooks are wider at the top to prevent twisting off the tension hoop when tightening the banjo head.


4. QUIET COORDINATOR ROD
Made of special alloy that is strong and does not interfere with the singing resonance of the violin maple rim.
5. 3-PLY VIOLIN GRADE MAPLE RIM
The maple in the Goodtime rim is the exact wood used in the finest violins in the world. Only Deering puts this professional grade 3-ply maple rim in a banjo in this price range.
6. SEALED GEARED TUNERS
Five high quality geared tuning machines make tuning the Goodtime banjo easy, accurate and fun. Too many student banjos are cursed with poor quality tuners, so the students blame themselves for an out of tune banjo when it’s the tuner that is at fault.
7. ROCK MAPLE NECK
This fine grained, dense, extremely hard, wood creates a stable neck, and imparts a bright, crisp quality to the Goodtime banjo tone.
