This amazes me

[Thomas Craven]

Now that I have a reasonable replica of a back in the day banjo . . . they are not that loud. Hollywood strikes again?

Tibilt

[Dave Culgan]

I always figured that the early minstrel performers wages were directly related to how loud he could play. The louder the sound, the larger the auditorium he could book. Thus all of the effort to get a tight banjo head, and all of the inventions and developments that eventually led to the modern banjo. But as for the ones we play, you can whack these things pretty hard without breaking them. There is a lot of dynamic range available there.

[Chris Propes]

What determines volume more than anything else is the material of the bridge. You want to make sure the bridge is made of a hard wood and not something like pine. I learned this the hard way.

[Joel Hooks]

This kind of goes against the grain, not to mention my personal experiences. Care to expound?

Chris Propes said:

What determines volume more than anything else is the material of the bridge. You want to make sure the bridge is made of a hard wood and not something like pine. I learned this the hard way.