Mahogany, Walnut, or Maple? Which Wood For your Banjo?

These are three most types of woods for banjos.  There are all sorts of other woods for banjos these days.  Cherry, White Oak, and Bamboo….I’m not sure about that last one but there are all sorts of new woods out there.  I’m only concerning myself with the top three most common banjo woods.

Types of Wood For Banjos

Mahogany

Mahogany is the lightest and less dense of the woods.  If weight is of concern, mahogany banjos work great for standing up.

Soundwise, mahogany banjos tend to be the most mellow.  The sound can be dry but also have a nice deep sound.

Mahogany can have less sustain than maple but also have great note separation. 

Examples of Mahogany Banjos:

My RB-250 is a mahogany banjo.  Still my favorite banjo by the way 🙂

Examples of other Mahogany banjos: Gibson RB-3.  Gibson RB-75.  Old Gibson Bowties.  Recording King RK-75 Elite

JD Crowe and Don Reno played mahogany banjos for portions of their careers.

PERSONAL OPINION:  For me, mahogany is hit or miss.  If the maker hasn’t done their job, they can have a certain “cheap” sound to them.  I also find that quality mahogany has a certain look to it that I can’t put into words well.  Good mahogany has a nice rich look to it.  Cheap mahogany, well, looks cheap and usually you can hear it in the banjo.  The banjo will lack any sort of ring and clarity.

The best mahogany banjos are incredible.  I’d say they are my favorite.  At the same time, I find I have to go through a couple of mahogany banjos to find one that speaks to me.  I’ve played a lot of mahogany banjos over the years, including rare pre-war Gibsons.

My personal preference with mahogany banjos is to run a tighter head and thinner bridge.  For me, this balances out some of the mellowness.

If jazz or classical music is your thing, a mahogany banjo works great for that.  Many people use mahogany banjos for clawhammer.  It depends on what sound you are going for. It certainly makes a fine bluegrass banjo with a good setup.  After all, people like J.D Crowe and Don Reno used mahogany banjos at various stages of their careers. 

Walnut

There are a couple of walnut varieties used in banjos.  There’s Black walnut and there is Claro walnut.  My Romero banjo is made of Claro Walnut.  Claro walnut usually has a bit more figure to it.

Personally, I haven’t played too many walnut banjos I didn’t like.  It didn’t matter who made them. 

Examples of Walnut Banjos

Huber Workhorse WN-3, Gibson RB-4’s, and the Stelling Staghorn. 

I’ve found that most walnut banjos have a good sound.  There is some sort of consistency with walnut banjos unless the maker just did an awful job.

Walnut banjos are often defined as being in between mahogany and maple banjos.  My experience is they are somewhat closer to maple than mahogany.  They have an up the neck clarity similar to maple to my ear.  Slightly less harsh up the neck with less overtones all around. 

Walnut banjos usually have less bass than mahogany and lacks some of the mahogany deepness.

Weight

Certain strands of walnut are heavy just like maple, so it will be harder to hold up on those long gigs!

Walnut makes a good bluegrass or clawhammer banjo. It’s an all around great pick if you aren’t settled on what styles you want to play yet.  If someone told me I had to buy a banjo site unseen without playing it, I’d probably opt for a walnut banjo.

Maple

Maple is denser and heavier.  If you want a light-weight banjo, I recommend mahogany over a maple banjo.  If I know I’m doing a 3 hour gig, I do my best not to take my Earl Scruggs model.

Maple seems to amplify everything (including the bad stuff).    I think you have to keep new strings on a Maple banjo more often.  Old strings on a maple banjo sound bad!!   If you want an instrument you can play and never do any maintenance on, skip maple.

With a mahogany banjo, you can run some strings half rusted, a loosened head, and get away with it much more than a quality maple banjo.

Maple is the great amplifier. It going to pick up everything you put into it. This is why I say you can’t get away with playing messy on a maple banjo.

Examples of Maple Banjos:

My Gibson Earl Scruggs is made out of maple. 

Gibson Granada’s are made of maple.  The Recording King Rk-35 is made of maple.

Soundwise, maple has a clarity up the neck that mahogany can lack.

At the same time, maple banjos can be harsh and lack depth with the wrong setup.  It can have that “ringing in your ears-ping ping ping” sound that can be annoying in the wrong hands.

I find that my maple banjos have a very narrow range of setup where they sound good to my ear. The head tightness range is much more narrow.

I tend to like maple banjos for clawhammer playing.  I think it’s because clawhammer banjos are set up looser and the maple helps combat some of that with enhanced clarity.  Also, open backs are lighter so the maple is less of a concern weight-wise.

With maple, you might find yourself having to tame the overtones (thicker bridges can be a good thing with maple banjos). Hence, why I use a Buckeye Cherry Banjo bridge on mine!

My Scruggs model didn’t sound good when I first got it.  I felt like it took a few years to get settled in and have some sort of mellowness where melodic style worked on that banjo.  I still feel like I have to be on my game with that banjo more than the others.

This is nothing but a personal opinion but I find the maple banjo makes a great bluegrass banjo and when I want to play other styles I find myself reaching for something else. 

Which Wood Should You Pick?

I can’t and won’t tell you what to buy.   Mainly because I own one of each and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.

What I’ve given you is my personal experience after playing banjo for over 30 years.   This is from having loads of banjos in my hands.

My advice is to go pick a few and decide for yourself.  At the same time, you might want to consider who your favorite players are and what they played.  What sounds seem appealing to you?  YouTube is no substitute but it can be a good start for comparison shopping. 

Part of the process is the visual aspect of it as well.  There are certain strains of mahogany and walnut I don’t like the looks of, so I wouldn’t consider them.

The wood of the banjo is just one component.  It works in conjunction with the banjo tonering, strings, bridge, etc.  Within reason, you can make most banjos sound mellower/sharper/ to some extent.  However, you aren’t going to get a maple banjo to sound like a mahogany one.  Hence why I think it’s important for a banjo buyer to understand the differences. 

This is not always the case, but maple banjos tend to be more expensive than mahogany banjos.  Walnut can be cheaper or more expensive than maple, depending on the quality of wood. 

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