Mulucky 28-inch 5-string MINI Banjo, Portable Travel Banjo Maple Body + REMO Head, with bag, tuner, picks, etc. for Beginners

I first bought a Vangoa mini banjo, possibly made in the same factory, with a scale two inches shorter and a total length 2.5” shorter. But several of the frets were slightly misplaced, so it couldn’t be tuned properly, and I returned it. Then I bought this. This one is a keeper, but I made it better. I’m going to respond to some comments other people made, as they don’t always know what they are talking about, and you can probably use the guidance. My other banjos are handmade professional banjos, so I know what a great banjo sounds like. I didn’t expect that level of tone here. However, I also do set-ups and repairs on stringed instruments, and I was able to improve this one quite a bit.1. The resonator is NOT PVC, but it is a hard black plastic of some sort. That is fine. The great inventor Lloyd Loar from the Gibson company actually made guitars from a similar plastic, and they sounded pretty good. Most resonators on professional banjos are made of laminated wood—that is, plywood. The resonator has a big effect on tone, but what it is made of is less important. In any case, this one does make the banjo sound louder from the front, but I got this for light-weight traveling, not playing in a concert. The resonator by itself weighs ten ounces. I prefer the sound without it, so I’m leaving it off. One guy complained that it was hard to reach the screws, but I noticed that he was using a thick four-in-one screwdriver instead of a proper longer skinnier Philips head screwdriver.2. The ad says the pot is NATO, which is a wood, but mine is plastic. Doesn’t matter very much. You can paddle a canoe with it without damage in a pinch. The shape is maintained by the flange, which is metal. This may also improve the tone a little. Professional banjos often have thick, heavy wood pots and also a tone ring that may weigh three pounds. Not meant for backpacking!2. Tuning. The scale of this banjo (nut to bridge) is 19.75”. That’s the standard distance on a standard banjo to where the 5th string is attached. So instead of open G, like regular banjos, this should be tuned to open C. That’s what the ad says! So I immediately tuned it to open C. But banjo strings are supposed to be quite low tension. These strings, tuned to C, seemed way too tight, and they didn’t sound right. So I tuned down to A, then open G, normal banjo tuning. Now the string tension seems to be more like what I’m used to. G D G B D. No, this isn’t with heavier strings. Standard banjo strings.3. Head tension. When I tuned this up, it sounded a bit like a sitar, sort of generalized buzziness. Not acceptable. When I removed the resonator, I found that one of the banjo hook nuts wasn’t even attached, and the others were tightened just barely enough to hold the head on. The promised tool for tightening these nuts wasn’t in the box, but I have one already. I tightened all the nuts at least a half turn, aiming at the same tension on each. The sitar sound disappeared! The tone was much improved. Assume that you will need to do this.4. Action. Once the head was tightened, the action on this was very good, and there was no buzzing. However, while the distance of the strings above the first fret wasn’t TOO bad, it was way higher than it needed to be, and this made the banjo harder to play. Here’s the thing: The action at the first fret does not need to be any higher than the action at the second fret when you are using a capo on the first fret. Any more, and you are just making life harder on yourself. But if the slots are just a shade too low, that string will buzz! I have the right tools, and I lowered the first fret action to where it should be. This made the banjo much easier to play. If you don’t know how, do spend $20 getting a guitar tech at a music store to do it for you. It’s worth the investment in playability. Also two of the strings pulled off the tiny dents in the bridge meant to hold them in place, so I used a file to cut all the slots in the bridge a tiny bit more. For the first and fifth strings, I also angled the slots toward the tailpiece. This solved the problem. Oh, I also rounded over the outside corners of the nut and the bridge with a little file and sandpaper so they wouldn’t dig into me. A sharp edge biting into my finger interferes with my concentration. Just took a few minutes.5. Tuners. The tuners aren’t expensive, but they will do, and they are very light—nice in a travel banjo. Some people here think the solution is to install banjo planetary tuners, but it isn’t. The real problem is that the strings weren’t put on properly, so they aren’t really locked in place and are slipping a little. Go on YouTube and find out how to properly lock strings when installing. If you do, one or two wraps of string is plenty, and they won’t slip, and they stay in tune much better. These may be cheap guitar or uke tuners, but they are still 1:12 tuners, compared to 1:4 planetary tuners, which tune up fast, but are hard to fine tune. I’d much rather have open-back guitar tuners than heavy sealed tuners, and I’d rather have guitar tuners than banjo tuners. So stop complaining and learn to put on strings properly.6. Strap. Yes, it’s a cheap uke strap, but it’s fine for this travel banjo. Most banjos don’t have any strap buttons. This has one on the neck, which is nice. Some complained that this strap only has a string to tie it to a banjo pot hook. But that’s been one of the standard methods for decades! You didn’t know? If you don’t like that, figure out where you want the strap to be, unbolt the closest pot hook, pull it up, insert it through the hole in the strap, and bolt it back together. (See photo of the strap on my beautiful Bart Reiter Whyte Laydie banjo.)7. Extras. Extras are nice for beginners. That may be what makes a sale. If a wrench is a little rusty, big deal. Just wipe it off. No problem. These things happen. The strings may work. I just throw them away and use a new set. I would recommend GHS Professional Banjo Strings PF 160 Medium for this banjo. They are are slightly heavier than the light gauge strings most banjo players use, but the neck is shorter here, so they may be a better choice. You can buy them here on Amazon. I had trouble with the tuner that came with the banjo. Barely usable. I tossed it. I use the tiny Planet Waves tuners. Not real easy to read, but tiny. The plastic picks that come with the banjo are the right size for a five year old. Actually, they don’t sound too bad. However, I recommend Ernie Ball Picky Picks for all fingerpicking because of their sharp ends give a souped fast attack and sound best. Thumb picks: Fred Kelly Delrin Speed Pick, Medium, is the best I’ve found for banjo and dobro. Someone complained that the picket on the gig bag isn’t big enough to hold the tuner and other supplies. Really? It’s meant to be sleek, not a backpack. Leave your tuner on the headstock where it belongs. Leave the wrench at home—you won’t often need it. Find a little coin purse on here to hold your picks. Maybe use some Velcro to attach it to the strap. As for the little pocket, just keep a spare set of strings in there. That’s all you need.In short, with a little work, a serious banjo player can for a tiny expenditure have a decent enough instrument to take on vacation that will fit nicely in an overhead bin. The tone is quite bearable. For a beginner, especially a child, this isn’t a bad place to start. This is under 3 lbs., while a professional banjo may be 10 to 15 lbs., plus the case.

My son has every guitar you can think of and he was begging for a banjo. But this is a Christmas gift. Arrived quickly. Still has not learned how to play it but wants to lol

Pretty small banjo, looks more for kids, but does the job

Great little banjo. I play it daily and it works great. Perfect for on the go.

:( really wanted to love this little banjo. Arrived cracked. I’ll try to fix it…

So like the headline says, I've a clawhammer banjo player, have owned a LOT of banjos over the last 20 some odd years. Omes, Chuck Lee, Mike Ramsey, Bart Reiter, Deering, Gold Tone, etc... .all of them open backs.I got this one in lieu of another Deering Goodtime to use for traveling, it's smaller, lighter and definitely cheaper. I will say this banjo is an EXCELLENT value for the money for the most part. Overall the construction was good, nice finish, fingerboard is nice, etc. There were a few minor things, mostly with the 'resonator' on the back. Keep in mind, the 'resonator' on this one doesn't have any sound holds like a traditional banjo resonator, it's basically a thing circle of plywood screwed onto the wooden pot in back.Which brings my first QC complaint, where they screwed the resonator to the pot (they advertise it as removable), the screws they used (they are tiny) actually split the thin little pot in a few locations. Not a big deal, but not something encouraging to see.With that said, the resonator removed does warm up the tone some, like most of us clawhammer players like. But keep in mind its still a very 'tinny' sounding banjo. Very bright.The next complaint are the tuners. As others have said, they just aren't that great. I believe they'd be better suited finding some open gear tuners of a bit better quality for the same price. Or even charge a little more and get you some decent tuners.Lastly, the setup is a bit tricky. They give you a nice little measuring template thingy to show you the bridge positioning. However, keep in mind this is just for reference and you still need to 'tweak' the final position (you can find videos online on how to do this). That's where this thing gets very touchy, where just a fraction of an inch will be enough to move the reference note (for intonation) too far one way or the other. I never could get it exactly accurate.But with that said...it really isn't that critical I don't guess, but banjo guys will know what I mean when I say it's just....annoying.Anyway, I would NOT recommend this for a beginner banjo player either. Just too tricky to set up, too tricky to tune and keep in tune, and honestly a small fingerboard like this is a pain to play. Get yourself a full size banjo first, then go from there. It'll be a lot easier.For the seasoned player, Again I will say you get your moneys worth this one for sure, as it's a nice little banjo. Just don't expect perfection.

Remarkable sound. Easy setup. Mostly good quality materials. Highly recommend.

no suena bien el banjo