Ashthorpe 5-String Banjo - Full Size with 24 Brackets, Closed Back, Mahogany Resonator, Geared 5th Tuner, Padded Gig Bag

4.7 | 320 ratings

Price: 153.99

Last update: 01-11-2025

About this item

Traditional style: This 5-string banjo is perfect for any style of play with its guitar-style headstock and neck combined with a tambourine shaped body. Whether you’re playing mellow country tunes, folk, bluegrass, clawhammer-style, even rock, you’ll get a great response and sound from this right-handed banjo.
Remo head: This banjo kit is flawlessly designed with a Remo head, made by the world-renown Remo drum company. The crisp white, frosted head delivers bright sound and clarity. The head is secured with 24 chrome-plated brackets and resting on the Remo head is a beautiful 5/8" maple/ebony bridge for superior string vibration transfer.
High-quality craftsmanship: Ashthorpe's banjo features a mahogany neck and purpleheart fretboard with finely manicured, smooth seated frets. The body is crafted from mahogany with a high-gloss finish. The closed-back resonator can be easily removed, allowing this banjo to be played open back. Designed with a 5-ply maple and mahogany shell, a 5-ply maple rim, 15:1 ratio geared tuners with high-quality tuning pegs, an adjustable hinged tailpiece, and chrome-plated armrest.
Geared 5th tuner and adjustable truss rod: This 5-string banjo also includes a geared 5th string tuner, typically found on more expensive banjos. The geared 5th tuner is an upgrade over the common friction tuner, providing more accurate tuning and less slippage. The adjustable truss rod allows you to adjust the neck, ensuring it remains straight.
Banjo bundle kit includes: This banjo is safely stored inside a 15mm premium fabric padded “gig bag” guitar case with pocket, carry handle, and shoulder strap. Extra strings, a polishing cloth, and three celluloid picks are also included.

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Top reviews from the United States

Baldark

Daily play for 1 year

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2024

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It has been about a year since I've made this purchase and I though it would be a good time to review this product. I've played it for at least an hour everyday (give or take a few days) and some days I would have longer sessions.

Pros:
- Sounds like a banjo
- Comes strung out of the box
- Great value (for first banjo)
- No complaints on build quality after daily play.

Cons:
- Some finish got worn off on the resonator due to my strap rubbing up against it during play.
- The inlay dots are painted on.
- Tuners could be better.
- Frets were a little sharp.

The frets were a little sharp when I got it and a friend said to just sand them down to smooth them out. Only one string snapped (2 months ago) and I just replaced it with the provided string replacement that came in the gig bag. I would suggest looking into videos on how to maintenance it once you get it. Such as how to adjust drum tightness (the drum head may need to be tightened after shipping), tune the strings, and adjust string bridge. There are plenty of videos online on how to do those things. I suggest NOT to mess with string height (inner nut) or the truss rod (neck curvature). Those two things require a good understanding as these can make your banjo unplayable (trust me, I ruined my second banjo).

I didn't have any experience with string instruments and was looking for a good value banjo. As it was pretty cheap, the investment into a new hobby wasn't too scary. It is cheap, but it's a great way to find out if this hobby is for you. One of the best purchases I've ever made.

lawrence flynn

Sweet beginner banjo

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2023

After 55 plus years of playing guitar and piano I decided to give banjo a try. After much research I decided on a five string which led me to many buying options. Not wanting to spend tons of cash on a instrument that I may not or may not enjoy, I opted for this banjo.
Out of the box, I was very impressed with the quality, it's really an impressive instrument, so I started online you tube lessons, this banjo has very nice sound, a great feel and is easy to play (with lesson help)
I highly recommend this product to anyone that wants to give banjo a try without spending a lot of money.

handyman44

Great for beginners!

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2023

I recently acquired this banjo. I never played banjo before, so this one was a good fit for me. It seems well made and plays well for me. I am learning to play two and three finger picking style. The banjo itself looks great and tunes well. The padded gig bag is awesome. The accessories are a great addition. Don't know why they came with regular guitar picks. Should have came with thumb and finger picks. Other than that, I'm pretty happy overall with my new banjo.

Reader Rabbit

Nice lil' (full-size) banjo

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2022

For a starter banjo, I chose this over others in the same price range based on (a) overwhelmingly positive user reviews, (b) real tonewoods, and (c) an obviously well-padded gig bag. It arrived quickly, and came with a couple of nice surprises.

First, the fretboard is listed as laurel (a rosewood substitute), but it's a much darker brown than the photos suggest – could pass for actual rosewood. Second, unusually, this banjo ships with the bridge already set up (because the gig bag really is very well-padded). You might appreciate this if you're not used to measuring scale lengths.

Nice medium weight, with nice medium twang. The neck's grain definitely looks like real mahogany, as do the outside layers on the body's and resonator's rim and backplate (although I assume those are plywoods). The only things I could find wrong were a couple of tiny white specks on the fretboard – evidently from the styrofoam shipping shroud – and they rubbed right off.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this. Other sub-$200 banjos here tantalize with prettier inlays, ebony-looking fretboards, or extra accessories (strap, clip-on tuner, pickup, etc.). But they're made with lower-grade neck and body woods (sapele, okoume, or even birch), and the faux-ebony fretboards are a synthetic fiber made from old newspapers. This feels (and sounds) like a solid choice, at a good price, and I'm picking up the accessories separately.

Cawfee

Well I decided to commit-1st instrument

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2024

Bought a tuner but it came tuned enough that dialing in the first tune was easy. It was well wrapped. This banjo really is beautiful to look at. The descriptions of the woods used appear accurate (I'm a Carpenter for a living). So why so inexpensive? Well the "made in China" sticker gave that away. It was behind the "headstock" (just learning the lingo-the thing at the top with the knobs). Easily pealed off and tiny so now you can't tell where it was made. Now you can't fool around with musical instruments they sound right or they don't and I have a good eye for visual accuracy and this passes that test. Now this does not sound as good as some banjos online while I teach myself. But it sounds good enough for my skillset and I will beat it into teaching me how to make it sing. My expensive bluegrass performing banjo I'll buy in 2 years after i learn how to play. The "gig bag" is really cool material and backpack style. I sure will feel cool when I know how to play and walk around with this bitch strapped to my back. The Company is based in Georgia and the thing about outsourcing to China is they sort of slide when you aren't; on top of the quality control. The bad reviews were probably part of Ashthorpe learning you need to have your own people either in the factory or constantly quality controlling the factory output. What I got is extremely good value-I honestly don't know how this was made at the price point it is at. It sure is pretty to look at, I don't want to put it in the bag.

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