BANJO THRILL-CAM

[Ian Bell]

When do we get the live feed from the Pry Barn in Antietam?

Sure wish I was there!

[Nicholas A Bechtel]

Man I really want an Ashborn, I think that is what Carl plays. Awesome sound! Thanks for the pictures razyn!

[razyn]

I can never remember the name of my wife's hammered dulcimer teacher, Karen Ashbrook, because I always want to call her after one of these instrument makers.  (Not necessarily the one who actually existed.)  Also, the said wife used to spin wool on an Ashford wheel.  But, you got the idea.  Ash-whatever, the guy who made guitars and banjos.  The point of Peter's presentation was that he was going after two separate and almost entirely unrelated markets.  Nice upper class parlor type musicians bought guitars; rowdy working class music hall types bought banjos.

[Steve Jeter]

wow,  well at least there are pics for us who were not there, maybe next year. Looks like a lot of fun.

[razyn]

Not "Ashford" BTW, "Ashborn". Mine is an exact copy of Bob Winan's shown in the third pic down. I fell in love with the sound of Bob's...and Jim Hartel captured its essence in mine, which looks, plays and sounds like its twin.

@ Trapdoor, the third pic down is Pete Szego's Ashborn.  Dr. Bob's is in the fourth pic.  Here's another shot; all five of these were brought by Szego (along with all those guitars).  His Ashborn is on the left end (the rest are no-names).  It was mentioned by Greg that only six have been found, so 1/3 of the known Ashborn banjos (and the only known Ashborn guitar) were on display.  Also Dr. Bob played his, in the concert a couple of hours later, but I didn't get a picture of that.

[Greg Adams]

What a great event we had. So many excellent conversations, presentations, and performances. Thanks for posting these pictures and the positive feedback.

To clarify, in the notes I keep about extant banjos, they include:

Extant Bouchers: approx. 43

Extant Ashborns: approx. 10

All 5 of the banjos pictured above are of the "no-name" category, meaning we don't know who the builder was. The banjo on the left is not an Ashborn, though it does have a similar peghead. 

[razyn]

Well anyway it's the one that was in pic 3, that Trap said his reproduces.  Otherwise, I yield; cf. my comment about pic 1 (what these guys don't know... isn't known).

[Trapdoor2]

While I indeed got my pic count wrong, I did say mine is a reproduction of Bob Winan's. As Greg notes, the one in the pic with Pete isn't an Ashborn. No matter. I agree, the knowledge base there is amazing.

[Elaine Masciale]

Mark, we missed you.  As always, the Banjo gathering was utterly amazing.  So much talent, so much networking, so much fun - SO MUCH MUSIC!!!!!

[Trapdoor2]

LOL, Elaine...I keep looking at the pix and thinking, "Damn, I miss everybody!"