Ever hear of a Banjoline?

[jaxson50]

 

 

[daveinspain]

Guess it never caught on....

[Versatile]

Very interesting post

 

There are echoes here of the tenor guitars recently featured...

 

Several forum members play mandolin and/or banjo, tenor guitar and some fiddlers too...

 

The chord voicings make for interesting sounds

 

And jigs/reels etc are much easier to play...

 

V

 

[milod]

Not in that sorta format.

 

I do have an old, old banjolin - no "e" at the end - that's a mandolin neck and stringing on a banjo body.

 

m

[jaxson50]

I saw one of those Ric's in a shop back in the 70's, never seen one since, I have seen acoustic banjolins, looks interesting.

[Izzy]

It sounds Hawaiian...like a Ukelele or something.

[jaxson50]

I agree Izzy, it has sort of a surf music twang to it.

[milod]

Peabody was a heck of a four-string banjo picker. The things were mostly fiddle tuned and he was perhaps the best at taking what most considered a rhythm instrument into a solo role for Dixieland type music.

 

In the last piece on the vid I found it interesting that he brought kinda a Chet Atkins sorta sound to the piece.

 

I think Peabody's skill with the "plectrum" banjo kept him going well after the instrument essentially became irrelevant to where music was going. It worked well as a rhythm instrument in a non-amplified dance gig pre WWII that may not have had a drummer to go along with brass and reeds. But neither the banjo nor Peabody's electric instrument could make the shift even into swing, let alone '50s pop and rock styles. Ditto functionally the tenor (4-string) guitar that's basically a guitar version of the plectrum banjo.

 

The guitar, on the other hand, is a lot more versatile if - and I emphasize "if" - its players see it as a more versatile instrument that can almost be a portable all things to all musical styles. The guitar itself has that capability; the question is whether the guitarists of the next 20 years will make necessary stylistic and conceptual transitions.

 

m

[jaxson50]

Milod, after watching the video I did a web search for banjolin's, what I found is that the one on the demo video, the one made by Ric to Peabody's specs is much different from the traditional acoustic banjolin. The original form, and the ones being sold today look more mandolin neck on a banjo body, with a very short neck. Peabody's had a neck more like a tenor guitar, strung with octave strings. Just looks like a fun axe to have around, I enjoy pickin on my gutbucket once in a while just to get a different tone.

[milod]

Yeah, I think that's why Eddie added the "e" to the end of the name for his electric instrument.

 

My old banjolin needs work and parts I'll get to some day, but it's really a mandolin neck on a banjo body, played as a mandolin. It's heavier and, if strummed, louder than most A body mandolins I've played, and sounds like a ... mandolin banjo. The banjo thing to me seems to add different overtones.

 

Eddie's thought, it appears, is basically to make an electric 4-string "plectrum" banjo. If one chose to do that, how would it be done?

 

My guess - and this is just a guess - is that he figured the 4-string guitar that's also fiddle tuned (as the 4-string banjo and mandolin) was too "thin" in tone and that the doubled strings would add some thickness on an electric guitar. I notice there still are six strings on his piece, just reoriented.

 

BTW, my wife found something half-similar at a ranch region country store - a cheapie 60s-era (I'm guessing there) 12-string flattop guitar with the neck shaved down to be about a tenor guitar width! It's a cute wall hanger, but one must assume that at some point, somebody took it seriously.

 

m

[darling67]

Oh, banjoline, why can'tcha be true?

[surfpup]

Hmmmm... one of the guys in Leftover Salmon plays an electric banjo

- it has an odd name that I forget...