Ring, Ring the Six String Banjo

Comment by Rob Morrison on August 5, 2014 at 8:32am

Fred Oster found this circa 1850's banjo in an antiques store in London.  It was in rough shape, but most all of the pieces were there.  I purchased the banjo from Fred, and with a little help from my friends, restored it to playing condition.  Tim Currin made the pegs, Mark Brumsey welded the cracked tension hoop, and I made the tailpiece, the bridge, and reinforced the internal structure so that it could be tuned up to pitch.  The black finish, flush brass position markers, mahogany fingerboard veneer, mahogany resonator, and all the hooks, nuts, shoes, and tension hoop are original.  Everything on the instrument is hand-crafted.  There are no manufactured or mass-produced parts.  The instrument is tuned to Briggs' high bass tuning with the lower bass string tuned an octave below the third string D.  This banjo spans a full three octaves. 

Comment by Paul Draper on August 5, 2014 at 8:55am

The 6th dimension! Love the added bass.

Comment by Strumelia on August 5, 2014 at 8:40pm

Wow, what a surprise when you hit that bass line!   Great going, Rob, sounds fine!

Comment by Rob Morrison on August 6, 2014 at 9:59pm

Sorry, I was just trying to figure out how to use the "like" function.

Comment by Mark Weems on August 6, 2014 at 10:08pm

Rob - If you can't like yourself, well then just who can you like? Interesting video - don't think a 6 string has been played here before - nice to hear how it sounds. Keep em' coming!

Comment by James Pentecost on August 6, 2014 at 10:17pm

Rob- Like man, it's like fine to like yourself. But, someone of your advanced years should probably not be playing with the buttons.

Comment by Strumelia on August 6, 2014 at 10:32pm

I'm feeling older and stupider by the minute today.   lol

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