Postcard

Comment by Strumelia on December 6, 2016 at 8:05pm

lol...

http://harmonias.com/Merrywang_banjo.html

Comment by Paul Draper on December 6, 2016 at 8:46pm

Hahaha great page, and very informative! You mean, this is not the correct way to play the merrywang?

Comment by Strumelia on December 7, 2016 at 10:49am

Fashion alert:  Note festive ribbons tied to the peghead.

Comment by Joel Hooks on December 7, 2016 at 11:32am

British?  

She is holding a "zither banjo."

Comment by Paul Draper on December 7, 2016 at 1:19pm

Is it a 4 stringer?

Comment by Joel Hooks on December 7, 2016 at 2:38pm

Zither banjos were (are) 5 string banjo with a "tunneled" fifth string.  The peg heads usually have guitar three-on-a-plate tuners, also called "patent heads."  They were strung with wire first, second and fifth, gut third and wrapped silk fourth.

They were made popular in the 1880s by the inventor Alfred Cammeyer (an American banjoist that moved to England) in England and continued to be made until the factory was bombed during WW2.  Most of the ones that were produced were of the low quality "trade goods" variety.

If you would like to hear "period" recordings of one then search youtube for Olly Oakley.  That is what he played.

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