Home	Grove CIty Weather	Columbus Zoo	Nasa Site	JPL Mars Site	Iwin Weather Site	Linux Site
Welcome to N8LHG.COM .

Warren Yates Rattlesnake Banjo.

I ordered my Rattlesnake Feb 24th, 2006, it arrived on May 28th, 2006. These are some of the construction pictures. Mine is the black fingerboard banjo. I have been lucky enough to see my own banjo being built by hand by Warren Yates. Not everyone gets that chance. The Yates Rattlesnake is one of the best sounding, easiest playing, full featured professional banjos I have ever seen, heard, or played.

The soundtrack you hear looping on this page is me playing a part of Foggy Mountain Breakdown on my Yates Rattlesnake banjo (one section looping - it is 1.3 meg in length).

Rattlesnake Banjo with Curly Maple Neck and Resonator with Sunburst finish.  

Three-ply Maple Rim

D-Tuners are Keith Banjo Tuners

Ebony Fingerboard with Radius.  Mother of Pearl inlay in the Kudzu and Snakes design. Radius fingerboards have a more comfortable feel according to musicians; many professional players are going to them. With the strings on a curve at the bridge, it seems to be easier to pick the strings

Wide / Tall Frets    Wide frets are more comfortable to the fingers as they slip along the strings.  Wide frets last longer before having to be reworked.  Tall frets have different advantages; frets being tall can be reworked more times before they would need to be replaced.  Frets being wide and tall have more mass causing more sustain and volume to the banjo.  Low frets allow your fingers to touch the fingerboard causing confusion as to what you need to feel.  When the fingertips touch the string and the fingerboard, we tend to mash harder to be sure that we are feeling the fingerboard.  With the tall frets, we only feel the string; therefore, we mash only enough to contact the string to the fret.  This allows the fingers to float reducing fatigue and increasing speed of movements. 

King Pin Radius Bridge  This bridge is made of only the finest materials.  Mountain maple grown in the high elevations of Yugoslavia where the cold climate causes tight growth rings. This wood is grown on the shady side of the mountain and is air dried 20 years before sold.  This light weight, stiff, material has the ability to transfer sounds that are clean and pure with added volume.   

Metal Parts Nickel Plated 

Fifth String Spikes

Tone Ring   Tone Ring Installed in this banjo is the New Yates Venom tone ring. The Yates Venom tone ring has a full range of tones that bluegrass pickers demand. Notes are even across the entire fingerboard with clarity to please even the most discriminating musicians. This powerhouse can be played ever so softly for those beautiful full tone notes and in an instance respond with that blast of bluegrass power that dominates the stage. This tone ring truly takes the tone of the banjo to the highest level. When the extra sounds come from the banjo, the extra ability and enjoyment will come to the player.

T-Wrench for tuning the head

One hard shell TKL arched top case. 

One real Rattlesnake rattle  With each Yates Rattlesnake Banjo, you will receive a genuine Rattlesnake rattler.  There are many theories about using these rattlers; from improving the sound of your instrument, to bringing luck.  Weather the claims are fact or fiction (a little of both, I imagine), it sure can't hurt!  I hope this small gift of gratitude will add to your musical enjoyment for years and years to come.

(#8 serial number)

(Warren Yates displays My #8)