Most banjo players own one 5-string and know exactly what they want next. The best gifts for banjo players are either a new member of the family (a banjo uke, a tenor, an open-back) or a way to be heard on stage. Every pick comes from our rankings, with tonight's Thomann price. For the full price picture, see how much a banjo costs.
Gifts for banjo players under $300
Gewa VGS Manoa Banjo Uke, $140
A concert banjo ukulele with a closed maple shell and an 8-inch head: ukulele chords, banjo snap. #10 of 18 alternative design ukuleles.
Harley Benton HBJ-24 Short Scale Tenor, $263
A 4-string short-scale tenor banjo with a case, for Irish sessions and jazz. #22 of 106 banjos.
Harley Benton BJ-65Pro 6 String Banjo, $279
A 6-string banjo tuned like a guitar, with a solid maple body: a good gift for the guitarist friend who's always borrowing the banjo. #39 of 106 banjos.
EMG ACB, $285
A noise-free humbucker pickup made for 5-string banjo, with mounting hardware and batteries included. #12 of 39 magnetic pickups for acoustic guitars.
Bigger gifts for banjo players
Gold Tone ABS Banjo-Resonator Mic, $368
A dynamic microphone on a gooseneck that mounts inside the resonator, with a preamp pedal for bass, treble and volume. #11 of 11 miscellaneous pickups.
Deering Goodtime, $637
A 5-string open-back banjo with a maple rim, the classic choice for clawhammer and old-time music. #11 of 106 banjos.
Gold Tone EB-5, $950
An electric 5-string banjo with a mahogany body, a small 8-inch head and a humbucker, for loud stages where a full-size acoustic banjo would feed back. #5 of 106 banjos.
Questions
What is a good gift for a banjo player?
A banjo ukulele like the Gewa Manoa ($140) is fun for any banjo player; a pickup is the useful one for gigging players.
What do you get a banjo player who has everything?
The other kind of 5-string: an open-back for a bluegrass player (who usually owns a resonator banjo), a resonator banjo for an old-time player, or an electric banjo.
How we picked. Every product comes from an AudioFu ranking, scored on demand, price, specs and brand; specs from Thomann's product data. Prices are converted from euros at the European Central Bank rate and updated every night, as are the ranks.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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