Folk Music Center — Attraction in Claremont

This place is a local gem - everyone that works there is so awesome, kind, and loves music. I brought my prize Tim Davis handmade custom banjo in for service. It's a one of a kind instrument with amazing tone, but it was buzzing all over the fretboard and no matter how I tried to adjust it (truss rod, coordinator rod, bridge height, head tension), I could not fully remove the buzzing without making serious intonation & playability sacrifices.

I brought my banjo in and talked with David Millard first, and he methodically and thoroughly went over the issues I was experiencing with my instrument. He let me know that he'd have a look at the banjo, but that the shop's banjo expert, Henry Barnes would do all the work.

Later, I called and talked to Henry over the phone, and I was really impressed with his depth of knowledge on banjo setup, and how quickly he was able to diagnose the issues with my banjo. It turns out that often, with handmade instruments, the luthier will send out the instrument without a full set up because shipping can sort of jack things up. So, I'd been playing for a year and a half on a half set up banjo.

Once Henry had gotten to work on my banjo, we had another phone conversation where he explained everything that he'd been able to do. It turns out my banjo had some high frets that needed to be filed down, my fifth string pip was too high, the truss rod was out of whack, and the nut was too high. He fixed everything for an exceptionally reasonable price.

When I picked up my banjo, I was blown away with how much Henry had improved it's playability. All of the issues I experienced were totally resolved. No buzzing anywhere. Barely any changes in intonation when I capoed or used my fifth-string railroad spikes. Amazing low action with no buzzing. Henry worked magic on my banjo, and now the playability is as good as the tone.

It is so difficult to find a good banjo repair person - but I can whole-heartedly recommend the folk music center's Henry Barnes for all of your banjo repair and maintenence needs.

I am a very, very happy customer. I wish I had found this...

Ripped off!!! I would never have a drum reskinned here again. I was so excited that I found what seemed like a reputable place to trust to reskin my Djembe. At first I was excited to play it again but that feeling was quickly deflated when I realized he put the rings way to high making it flush with the head so when you play the bottom of your hand hits the ring and rope knuckles through the drum skin. With there being no gap between the rim top of the drum and the drumhead rings/rope knuckles this causes bruising of the hand and makes it impossible to fully utilize the drum to its full potential. The head was not the white haired I wanted and was left overhanging super long and uneven. To top it off the original handle that was nice and tightly wound properly was gone and some ratty handle in place of it that consisted of a rope that had knots tied along it. It's really sad because this one of a kind Djembe with its wide ranging tones from the sharpest rim tones that can cut through the loudest drum circle to the deepest bass vibrations over powering some the loudest sound systems even making my DJ friends envious! Now I play it and it's just not the same after playing for a while and my hands getting beat up and bruised it makes me not even want to play it anymore. End result, now I have to pay someone else to reskin my djembe properly and bring it back to its...

The Folk Music Center in Claremont is the sweetest place for the most interesting musical instruments from around the world. Most of the instruments you can actually play; some of them you have to ask before you do. I always enjoy pulling something off the wall and jamming with a couple of my buddies when we get the chance to hit the place together. If you're a music buff, you will completely enjoy your time at this store and probably will have a hard time leaving!

Coolness factors:

1. Ben Harper (from Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals) actually owns the Folk Music Center now (he purchased it from his grandfather before he passed away) and Ben's mother now runs the place.
2. My buddy works there so I've had a few things signed by Ben (sweeeeeet!!!).
3. The FMC actually builds there own instruments from scratch, including instruments designed and made by the guitar builder that are quite...