Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

I was intrigued by this banjo made from a tambourine in Denver in 1868. The scale is considerable shorter than the other banjos on display.

Views: 208

Comment by Bart McNeil on August 11, 2011 at 9:15am
This tambourine banjo interests me because I just built a banjo using an old tambourine myself. I left the janglies on mine so that I can take it off and put a gourd head on it as soon as I make one... The tambourine works fine however. Just looks a little goofy.
Comment by Bart McNeil on January 9, 2012 at 5:02pm

What I found fascinating abut these pictured banjos and my own experiments with building similar ones is that although I have no sophisticated  power tools or metal working skills neither did the builders of these... and I can build banjos which look and probably sound exactly like these banjos using essentially the same tools they used:  Hammer, hand saw, chisel, vise, threading dies, drills, hack saw, metal from hardware store and scrounged wooden parts from broken furniture. Tack heads or gaurd banjos are of course simpler (tools and material wise).

Comment

You need to be a member of Minstrel Banjo to add comments!

Join Minstrel Banjo

About

John Masciale created this Ning Network.

© 2024   Created by John Masciale.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service