8 More Miles Louisville - George Gruhn Custom 6 String Banjo

Many thanks to my friend and owner of world-renowned Gruhn Guitars for letting me borrow his wonderful old Vega last week. It features an 11 & 13/16th diameter pot, and a custom 6 string neck built in-house by Tom Ventress in 1981.
The extra low note you hear on this banjo will forever remind me of my dear friend Jimmy McCown whom we lost last year. He was a master of adding that extra low note exactly when and where it was needed. This is for him and Reed Martin, my two old-time heroes. I hope you enjoy this sample of 6-string banjo and encourage you to look up Jim's music to hear how it's really done!
All the best and keep rollin,
RC
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TECH INFO:
Video recorded on a Canon EOSR with a 35mm f1.8 lens
Audio recorded on a Sennheiser MKH 8060, Scarlett 2i2 & GarageBand
#6stringbanjo #georgegruhn #8moremilestolouisville

[@banjo544]

Boy does this one show Reed Martin’s influence on your playing! Couldn’t find a better one to follow.

[@benjaminclassified469]

The banjo has a nice sound in this one

[@wideawakenotwoke6178]

Great drop thumb playing!

[@michelbrown3378]

I Love the Sound of this Open back banjo!

[@idahoduckhunter]

Oh wow that adds a lot of tonal dynamics more than I thought one string could do.

[@danawalker55]

Awesome!

[@GunnarSalyer]

Love this!!

[@timothylyne2186]

Ha! Effortless and wonderful! That was a pleasure to hear Russ!

[@jefftaylor5884]

YES!! Love that low G. Very handy. Great playing Russ!!

[@banjomakr]

Beautiful sound and pickin'!

[@fredericdb4079]

Nice. I have a Japanese 6 string iida banjo from the 70's exactly with that string configuration, it's a resonator model, with a flange. There is a debate on how we call those banjos. In a forum, I saw some folks calling this a 5+1 Banjo, instead of a 6 string (to avoid confusion with banjitars).

[@michaelmullins1290]

Love the drone of the low note. You my friend have got friends in high places!

[@rangertommy]

Absolutely beautiful, Russ. Thank you for the pleasure of listening to that...

[@williamgarden3209]

Great Grandpa Jones tune.

[@SharXIII]

Thanks for this on this good morning, Mr. Russ. 🎧

[@lucylindblommusic]

Sounds really good!

[@TimothyLindblom]

What interval below the regular fourth string on a 5 string banjo would the extra string be?

[@81crowe]

It's tuned to a low G Timothy!

[@SwissBanjo]

Just great! How is the additional 6th string tuned normally in G tuning ?

[@fredericdb4079]

Depending on your tuning you adjust that string as you please. In G, I tune it as a G. You do it as your ear tells you.

[@merlinsmith5524]

Noice!

[@scottblair428]

The string spacing looks like it would be a lot easier than the style 6. Which six string do you like playing the best? I may be getting a tackhead 6 string this summer though so that will be awesome not as cool as yours, but still pretty neat.

[@appleinc65]

Great vid

[@merlinsmith5524]

How tall are you because it seems to me your hands are like reed martin’s : bear paws

[@81crowe]

somewhere around 6'4"

[@merlinsmith5524]

@@81crowe Wow, tall ! I'm glad you answered, I'm a big fan of your channel and your content ! I'm a 17 year old from south-eastern Indiana, and I LOVE bluegrass music. I have learned to play the mandolin, guitar, banjo and fiddle so far, but can't find anyone to play with but my dad who doesn't really enjoy that kind of music... I hope you see this message and find the the time to answer !

[@huliniswhoiam]

I'm way confused at what I'm looking at here. I only see 5 strings am I missing something here? It does sound different though! I always thought 6 string banjos were guitarists trying to be banjo players...but that little 5th string peg and the sound of it is throwing me off.

[@bprife]

That’s a 5-string. In the title it said 6-string banjo but great song though

[@81crowe]

Count the tuners Billy

[@williamgarden3209]

There are 5 tuners on the peg head and 1 on the neck.

[@matthewtessier2522]

Billy can’t count.