The Sierra is available in Maple or Mahogany. The Maple has a brighter/crisper sound, while the Mahogany is more mellow. It is the neck itself that is mahogany.
He plays a mahogany version in the first video and describes the sound as "drier". Both videos are great as you get to see and hear him play as well as talk about the Sierra. The second video is also a mahogany instrument.The showroom I spotted turns out to be the Maple model. People say that this is essentially the same as the Calico ($5799) or the Maple Blossom ($4999) with a plainer look and much nicer price.
Compared to the 6 pounds of the Goodtime 2 ... you can look at it two ways. One is that it is only 5 pounds more, the other is that it weighs almost twice as much
We started producing the original Sierra with the Mother of Pearl dot inlays in 1990 and changed the name to the Sierra in 1993. At that time it had the original Deering tonering.
The Sierra remained the same until we updated our tonering in 2006. The way to tell which tonering is in the banjo is most easily by looking at the top angle of the ring where it contacts the head. If the angle is a tighter angle, more of a point, it is the tonering we made from around 1983 until 2006.
The more rounded angle at the top would be the new '06 tonering that we started producing in 2006 and the first year that we made those tonerings we did not put in the 20 holes. In 2007 we added the 20 holes to that tonering.
One tip I can offer is that if you are looking at a Deering banjo and want to know what tonering is in it, if you study the head where the tonering touches it, you can see that the original tonering we made shows just over 1/16" contact with the head and the new '06 tonering you will see more like a 1/4" contact with the head. You can see the contact through the surface of the head.
We hand carved our necks until 2003 when we first programmed them to be carved on the CNC. This stabalized our neck shapes so that we could offer consistent quality and feel in the shape of the neck. Previous to that we had Monday necks where the shape was not as good as we wanted. So 2002-2003 we were in a learning curve to apply new 3D technology to the art of banjo neck making. We threw away a lot of necks in that process.
We then made slight revisions to the shape of the neck of the Sierra as well as many of our other necks in 2007 - 2008, we moved the thumbstop back slightly so that the Paige or Elliott capos work with the banjo better and perfected the neck shape.
At some point around 2005 we changed the co-ordinator rods from brass to steel because brass rings more and adds to the overtones of the banjo. So steel rods improved the tone.
We changed to the new patented Deering tailpiece around 2003 I believe, this tailpiece is designed to have all the advantages of the Presto and Kershner tailpieces as far as being light and shaped like the Presto and being adjustable like the Kershner but we solder the bend so that the Deering tailpiece will not break like the others do.
We improved the armrest design to make it sleek and artistically beautiful sometime around 2006.
We started making our own tension hoops in house around 2008 so that the notch spacing is more accurate and the shape of it does not break heads.
As you can see, we have made many changes over the past number of years. Most of them have been inspired by Jens Kruger who is working with us as part of our R and D team and testing each aspect for performance in the field and giving Greg his insights and recommendations to improve our banjos.
Greg Deering can tool up and build anything and that is his gift. Jens Kruger can play and bring the best sounds from a banjo and has a wonderful insight into the sounds that a banjo can produce, he also greatly understands the structure and materials and how they affect the tone. So the two men working together have been a match made in heaven for the banjo world, and for Deering banjos.
After finishing the post about the changes in the Sierra over the years I forgot probably the most important change. That took place in January of 2009 when we were able to start shipping Sierras and all the Deering banjos with our new violin grade maple rims that we make in house.
The importance of this almost cannot be overstated. You see, for all these years banjo makers have believed that hard rock maple was the secret to a great sound, we even believed that for many years. Until Jens Kruger researched it very carefully and found that the prewar banjos selling for huge sums were actually made with red maple, yes, naturally that is available in Michigan and the North East - this is what is called violin grade maple because it is the same wood that the European violin makers have imported from the USA or harvested a similar wood in Europe for the making of violins. This wood has a resonant quality when matched with the right tonering design that produces the most desireable banjo sound. The kind of sound that people pay 50,000 dollars for. That is now what we are using in all Deering banjos since we set up to steam the wood and do all the bending and gluing in house.
Mahogany Neck (but mine has a Maple neck) Natural Ebony Fingerboard 22 Pressed In Nickel Silver Frets Original Deering Designed Engraved Inlays Slender Deering Neck Shape Fully Adjustable Truss Rod Deering Planetary Banjo Tuners Deering Geared 5th String Peg Satin Finish
Deering -06- 20 Hole Bell Bronze Tone Ring Three-Ply Violin Grade Maple Rim True Tone Deering Tailpiece Deering Brass Notched Tension Hoop 11” Top Frosted Medium Crown Head 24 Round Hooks and ¼” Hex Nuts One Piece Cast Zinc Flange Slender Shaped Armrest Nickel Plated Hardware Satin Finish
Maple Stained Brown White Binding Satin Finish Includes a Deering Hardshell Case Tuned:g,D,G,B,D in standard tuning Can easily be tuned in other tunings as well.
Neck Width at the Nut 1 1/4” Scale Length Nut to Bridge 26 1/4” Resonator diameter 13 7/8” Overall Instrument Length 38” Weight Approx. 11 lbs
There was a mistake in the listing. The banjo is correctly photographed but, it is a MAPLE Sierra and not a mahogany banjo. We just got this one in from off the production floor last week. If you are okay with the maple variant, I will get it sent to our shipping department so that it can be on its way to you.The surprise in all that is that it just came off the production floor a week before being shipped to me. So it was actually not in the showroom getting played and banged around, but they spotted these defects (which I am unable to find) and decided to sell it at a discount with some other banjos (that probably were showroom items) in a Presidents day special sale of "showroom" banjos. Maybe, maybe not. After looking it over, it seems to me that they sold me a perfect banjo right off the production floor for the showroom price. Amazing.
As of 2-2024 the full price for the Sierra is $3199. The showroom price is $2399 (25 percent off). If this seems like a lot, consider the absolute top of the line from Deering -- the Gabriella for $32,999.
I confirmed my order 2-21-2024 and have it in my hands 2-24-2024.