Understanding Longneck Banjos

Whether you want to re-create the folk music of the 1960’s or musically travel into unexplored banjo territory, the long neck banjo will provide the voice that has inspired generations of singers & players.

Pete Seeger invented the longneck banjo when he decided to have a luthier cut his neck and insert 3 additional frets into the length of it. Instead of tuning the newly revised banjo in G, he was able to tune it to an E (Tuned E,B,E,G#,B) which allowed him to sing in that lower key. A capo can be put on at the third fret and the banjo can be played in standard G tuning.

We make several versions of longneck banjos throughout our banjo lines and each style has it’s special place. On the low end of our longneck banjos we offer the Woodsongs Vega Longneck banjo which has a light weight quality maple rim and less hardware so that it is more affordable for the up and coming musician. The Vega Longneck upgrades to the Tubaphone tone ring and brass bracket band that is the sound that popular folk music was founded upon. The ultimate longneck banjo is the Kingston Trio Longneck commemorative banjo featuring all the qualities of the banjos played by the Kingston Trio with a choice of color stain to customize it to your preferences. A wealth of opportunity lies here for long neck banjo players who want the highest quality and most playable banjo for folk music.