A new spin on “Don’t shoot the banjo player”

D and I worked our butts off this weekend on the property. I have to say, I find it so enjoyable to be out with the tractor and chainsaw and horses. At least at the end of the day you can see what you accomplished.

Anyhow, I came in about 5:30 this evening, feeling like a truck had run me over. Repeatedly. Took a hot shower, fixed dinner and fell into my easy chair to check my mail and watch some football. Hot chocolate is on the stove. Ahhhhh.

My Old time music newsgroup sent a great link. If you have any softness in your heart for the banjo, spaghetti westerns, Lee van Cleef, cheesy movies… well you are gonna love this. Just remember – don’t mess with the banjo player!

Zepp Demonstrates Clawhammer

Well, the weather is colder and leaves are turning. The barn is coming along (look for another post in a day or two) but with winter's onset I start the cocooning phase which, for me, always turns back to music. A few days ago I posted about Donald Zepp and how he has just recorded some short videos showing the right hand technique for playing clawhammer banjo. This is a blessing for people trying to learn the clawhammer technique. The right hand is really hard to figure out since you just cannot decipher what it is doing when you watch someone play. So, Zepp had his hand recorded from the back, through a transparent banjo head. He strikes the strings with his middle finger and painted the fingernail white so this would stand out to the viewer. From his website you can download the video so you can play it at any speed you wish. You'll have to get a banjo and try it for yourself!

Donald Zepp is a treasure

Ok, so I do not actually know him and have never met him. But down in Wendell NC, by way of Lord-knows where, is Donald Zepp who owns a little music shop called Zepp Country Music. Zepp sells a lot of banjos and other instruments, and he has a deep knowledge of the characteristics and history of old time banjos and banjo music. He is also one of the finest players I have ever heard. Zepp has not put out a CD, but he does record tunes on some of the banjos he gets in stock – showing off the sound of some of these historic and freshly made beauties. Fortunately for all old-time music lovers, Zepp puts the recordings on his store's web site.  I must have 20 of his tunes on my iPod. Want to hear a 1923 Tubaphone playing "Winder Slide"? How about "Old Molly Hare" on an OME Jubilee? Doesn't get much better than that. And now I see Zepp has put some lessons on YouTube. Thanks Zepp. I hope one day I can come to your store and meet you and bring my 1911 Tubaphone number 3. It would be nice to hear it played by a master.

The new banjo rim

One of the new things on my "boy this will be fun to do" list is trying my hand at some instrument building ("lutherie"). Not that I am a woodworking genius, but I do love wood and music and instruments and I like trying to make things. A few years ago I "made a banjo" by basically assembling many pre-made parts. It was a great exercise – I learned how an open-back banjo is put together, and I got a lot of parts I could re-use if I decided to do some things from scratch in the future.

Well, I am looking at making a couple of banjo necks out of some lovely curly cherry I have. I need to laminate some pieces (I plan to use walnut and maple veneer strips), then cut them out with a bandsaw – which I do not have. I do not have much in the way of tools yet. I have no interest in making the pots. This is something even very good banjo makers usually purchase pre-made. I do have a neat 10 15/16" 1929 Bacon Peerless tenor that I can use for one pot. And I have the 12" banjo I assembled and I'll get the hardware from that. So, I need two necks and one 12" rim.

I stumbled across a really cool 12" rim on ebay a few weeks ago.

I knew about the builder since I had seen his site before. He does really lovely work. This rim is in walnut with a cocobolo end cap and pre-made/pre-attached wooden (cocobolo) tone ring. I won the auction and Mark, the builder, agreed to make a walnut dowel stick and do some other pre-drilling for me for an extra fee. The rim came last week and I think it is gorgeous. The cocobolo is a brown/yellow swirly color and even the maple has some figure. With the curly cherry neck and a finish of tru-oil, I think this will be really lovely when finished. As long as I do not mess it up too much! Mark has offered to help me via email when it comes time to fit the new neck to the pot. I hope to start in a week or two. It will take me a long time; I plan to go very slowly and be patient. Wish me luck!