Six Hundred Years of Knowledge goes into Deerings New Banjo Tonering

Deering Banjo Company and Jens Kruger join forces with the Reutschi Foundry of Switzerland in developing the next evolutionary improvement in Banjo tonering design and elevating the beauty of banjo tone to a brilliant, classical purity unheard of in today’s experience.
Born in Switzerland at one of the oldest bell foundry’s in Europe, well known for casting huge church bells, Deering’s new tonering was researched by Jens Kruger, one of the finest banjo players in the world, working alongside with Rene Spielmann-Dober of the Reutschi Foundry. By analyzing tonerings from earlier eras, discovering the various tonal factors involved in their structure, and isolating the important principle that the density of the molecular structure of the tonering and the consistent crystallization of the bronze throughout the casting plays a key role in improving banjo tone, a new and highly improved banjo tonering was evolved.
Bringing their six hundred years of experience in casting bells to this project, the Reutschi Foundry spent many hours testing castings and experimenting with different techniques to develop new methods to cast a banjo tonering that is as dense and consistent in structure as a huge church bell and has the tonal qualities usually only attained in huge castings – it rings with the full range of tone that makes it blend well with other instruments.
While Deering’s new Jens Kruger tonering from Switzerland comes with a value of more than six times the cost of Deering’s quality American bell bronze tonering. Janet Deering comments, “For the discriminating ear of professional banjoists and musicians who play with them, the increase in price is minimal compared to the impressive level of improvement in the quality of tone. With the release of this new tonering we are raising the standard for all professional banjos to achieve an overall higher level of excellence and take their place with main stream instruments like the violin, the piano and the classical guitar which have been around for hundreds of years and undergone considerable advancements to achieve the tones that have made them what they are. I believe that as people hear the sound we are now able to achieve with our new tonering, the banjo, America’s beloved instrument, will rise to the forefront of American culture.”
With the new Deering-Jens Kruger tonering the banjo sounds beautiful when played delicately and when played in a hard driving song; it cannot be over powered. It’s like driving a race car or riding a thoroughbred horse. It can take all you can give it and rise to meet the needs of whatever the player wishes to express. The even tone across every string and all the way up the neck , and the more consistent tone regardless of right hand placement make it a professional players dream come true.