Vangoa 5 String Banjo 26 Inch, MINI Travel Banjo Beginner Kit with Remo Head, Open Back & Closed Solid Back with beginner Kit, Comfortable Carrying Bag

It’s a great banjo for a beginner like me! I am very happy with the banjo. It comes with everything you need (although I did purchase better fitting finger picks). I know some say it doesn’t hold after tuning - which I found true between plays. But it hasn’t happened while I am playing. Just gives me more tuning practice. :) I would recommend this banjo to others.

Got this for my GF. She's just learning and seems to like it very well. It's economically made. But not a cheap toy. Tone is good and holds tuning quite better than expected. I'm might get one for myself in the near future.

We have an update from the previous review. We received the banjo initially because it did not come with the beginner's kit. This made the banjo unplayable because it had no bridge or picks. The company reached out to us and offered a full refund. After a couple of days of back and forth messaging, they offered to ship us the missing items. We received the package within a week or so and everything is going great! I really appreciated the customer service reaching out to us after seeing our old review and issue! Just for others to know, this banjo is about the size of a ukulele. Be sure to tune it correctly (and frequently) to the notes you want. If playing like a regular banjo of DBGDG it does have more of a "twang" sound to it when playing on different frets which changes how it sounds overall. This is good for beginners with all the included components and extras.

I have to say, for $125 I wasn't expecting much. And out of the box it was very difficult to play. As I travel ALOT in my job as a touring guitar tech, I wanted a banjo that would fit in my suitcase, and figured it was worth a roll of the dice. Being a professional guitar tech, I was afforded the ability to make this little banjo (what I would call) usable. 1st I had to shim the neck a bit to bring down the action. Then I put heavier gauge strings on it, so I could tune it to open G and still feel some resistance while picking. I built a set of strings that are 11, 28, 18, 14, 11. Also I had to cut down all of the nut slots significantly, (including the high G 5th string). The high G should rest ON the 5th fret. It was way too high. In fact all the nut slots were so high, that when you fretted any string on the first few frets, it would press the string so far sharp, the fretted notes were very sharp and out of tune. Due to it's size (and my fat fingers) it's still going to take some getting used to. As it sits now, it plays fairly well. For $125 I'd say, after a proper setup, it's well worth the price. And there's a ton of accessories included. I'm quite happy with my purchase.

This is a great little 5 string banjo ukulele. it has the sound of a ukulele which doesn't sound like a quality banjo, never the less is a very pleasant sounding instrument. For a small child wanting to learn to play the banjo, this might be the right size to start out with. If your an adult wanting to learn, it really is to small to try to learn on. For an experienced banjo player, this little instrument is a lot of fun to play. I had to move the bridge back about an inch to correct the intonation and tune it but very little else to start playing it. You won't need to take it to a professional to set it up. quick tip. measure the distance from the nut to the 12th fret and then move the bridge so there is the same distance between the 12 fret and the bridge. Then tune the strings and start playing. I bought it to take on a cruise, just to keep my fingers in condition without having to lug around 20 lbs of banjo and case. After the cruise, I have a grandchild or two that may want to learn to play.

Admittedly, I am still learning to play banjo; a more experienced player might know better. But this seems perfect for a beginner like me. First, the kit comes with everything you would need to get started (well, except lessons. But you're on the internet--go find some!). The banjo was carefully packed and arrived in pristine condition. I did have to tighten the bolts on the resonator and placing the bridge was a bit tricky (again, I'm new to this) but this was basically ready to play right out of the box. Six weeks or so later and I am thrilled I chose to learn banjo and bought this one for my first. It sounds great (even my friend who has played guitar for decades says so), looks great, and I love playing it! My one small complaint is that the two nuts/clips for the strap have both come loose at different times, meaning I had to completely remove the resonator and retighten them. I wish those bolts were a little longer. So now I have to obsessively check them to make sure they're still tight.

Ok, the bad first, the nut is cut really sloppy, the frets slightly stick out from the neck, and the tailpiece is NOT a banjo tailpiece, it’s made to take guitar strings with a ball end not a hoop like banjo strings. I couldn’t figure out why it was such a pain to keep in tune but then I looked and it came installed with hoop type strings which were anchored to a screw holding the tailpiece on so it was pulling the other strings out of tune. It did come with guitar type strings so I’ll have to see if that helps. Now the good, the case/gig bag is pretty durable looking with nice padding, the tuners are pretty decent (once you tighten up the screws), has a decent quality remo head, and a decent banjo bridge. If you don’t mind doing some setup work then this is a fair deal, otherwise I’d buy something like a Gold Tone as those aren’t that much more expensive and usually come with perfect setups. Not sure if I’m returning it or not, going to try different strings and see if it will stay in tune. EDIT: I AM returning it, it just will NOT stay in tune, I would have to put more money into it to get it playable. EDIT: I actually received an email from the manufacturer so kudos to them for reaching out. They asked how they could make it right or offered a full refund, I opted for a refund so I’ll edit comment again if that happens. EDIT: they came through with another email issuing a refund and said they would let their team know about the tuning issues and were very understanding and even offered me a discount on a different banjo, I will add a star just for the fantastic customer service alone! Maybe someone else will have better luck with this banjo, after all the price is decent.

Great banjo and reasonable Price. But metal finger picks included are Too soft of a metal to be usable, more Like tin foil than metal picks.

Ok for a child tried to return it post office said it would cost me 60 pounds to send it back what a ripoff stuck with a banjo i don't wont

Alles, was man zum Banjospielen braucht. Das Paket ist wirklich komplett. Alles drin, von einem Tuner über Ersatzsaiten bis hin zu den Picks und einer Tasche. Das Banjo lässt sich in normaler G-Stimmung stimmen. Der Hals ist kürzer, aber er ist komplett mit allen Frets. Ansonsten klingt es wie ein Banjo und es ist sogar recht laut. Nur die Nut ist nicht richtig eingekerbt gewesen. Die Saiten lagen in einer dünnen Kerbe oben auf und beim greifen der Seite veränderte sich der Ton gleich um zwei Noten, da man mit herunterdrücken der Saite die Spannung gleich mit ändert. Ganz besonders bei den Saiten 1-3. Der Abstand der Saite zum Hals war viel zu groß. Hier half ein spezielles Feilenset für diese Zwecke, wo man die Kerbe abgestimmt auf die Saitendicke tiefer feilt. Die Saite sollte dicht über dem Hals sein, ohne dass sie beim spielen schnarrt. Ist das getan, ist alles prima. (Feilenset: 9,90 Euro, Leere: 5 Euro) Es ist ein guter Begleiter, wenn man auf Reisen ist, da es nicht so viel Platz wegnimmt. Und es ist natürlich leichter, als die großen Banjos. Ob es deswegen gut für Anfänger ist, weiss ich nicht, denn man spielt es, wie jedes "große" Banjo auch. Ich finde nicht, das es auf Grund seiner Größe einfacher zu spielen ist. Man muss hier besonders mit der linken Hand mit spitzen Fingern spielen, damit man wirklich nur eine Saite berührt. Und für den Preis ist die Qualität gut. Sollte man aber nicht mit einem Banjo vergleichen, was ein paar hundert Euro kostet.

The bottom-line is that this is a high quality instrument at a fantastic price. Pop in the bridge, tune it up and start playing real banjo tunes, because this is a real banjo. This is about the size of a tenor ukulele and has a higher pitch than a standard banjo, although you can loosen it up a bit. The bindings are nice, not cheap looking, and the fret work is solid and finished. The tuners are high-quality no-name brand, you will have no trouble with them keeping tune. All other metal gear is likewise high-quality, no-name brand steel and the wood is indeed real.

EL INSTRUMENTO LLEGÓ EN LA PARTE TRASERA CON UN FISURA, PARA EL PRECIO QUE TIENE, HUBIERA ESPERADO EL PRODUCTO EN BUENAS CONDICIONES

As a beginner, I had no idea which banjo to select. After spending weeks reading about the instrument, I decided on this one because i) versatility - I could remove the resonator if I wanted; ii) price - hard to beat; iii) it came with a good selection of accessories; and iv) some good video reviews online. What I didn't expect i) how incredibly well made this was (I'm no expert, but I think most people would agree this is a very well constructed product); ii) how nice it sounds (again, no expert, but this sounds very pleasant to me; iii) the included finger picks (if you're going to learn picking first) are poor - it would be advisable to pick up a set of National metal/plastic picks; iv) the strap has a chemical smell to it and was completely unusable; v) buy a stand - at least for me, I'm far more likely to play if all I have to do is pick it up instead of struggling to take it out of the zippered bag; vi) after about a month of fine tuning, I have barely touched the tuners! I've had it now for about five months and I actually find it easier to play than a guitar and not significantly more challenging than a ukulele (I started guitar, banjo and uke at the same time.) The uke, I purchased based on advice that it's the easiest string instrument to play, but now that I've had both for about the same time, I would say the learning curve is about the same; different technique, but similar technical difficulty. Most beginner uke lessons start on strumming chords and accompanyment (sing/play); being a poor singer, I had trouble finding *complete* songs that sounded good solo/fingerstyle on the uke. Not so with the banjo. Even though I had never previously heard many of the songs I'm learning, the banjo sounds great and I'm enjoying it much more than the uke.