Don't Forget Cigar Box Banjos
Cartoonist Charles Schultz said that, in order to get a good start in life, "as soon as a child is born, he or she should be issued a new dog and a banjo." In this quote from Peanuts Guide to Life, Schultz was not thinking at the time about cigar box banjos, but two questions still need to be considered from his remarks. The first, of course, is the dog type. The answer, of course, is a beagle. The second, which type of banjo, needs more information before answering.
Banjos are made from a host of materials, metal and wood primarily, with some plastics and combinations using each. There are also banjos made from other instruments like ukuleles, guitars or mandolins. It seems there are more banjo types than dog types. One banjo uses a bass in a standup version that is definitely far more than just a drumhead with strings, often the very definition of banjo. String quantities are another wide variable, with one, three, four, five, six or ten. Many of these combinations use open backs, others use closed backs, some with pickups for amplification, others without pickups. The combinations available can boggle your mind.
Cigar box banjos often get lost in the shuffle. They are often simple instruments that long ago were made by beginning players from whatever components they had available at the time. Often the first exposure a beginner had to music was from a cigar box made from scratch. Today cigar box banjos can be made from scratch or from a building kit that has all the basic components. Even though they are relatively simple to make their quality of sound and playability doesn't suffer. It depends on the effort and commitment to excellence the builder is willing to make. Whether made from scratch or from a kit, the builder can let his or her creative imagination run wild while building a unique, well playing instrument.
It is true that "good sounding banjo" is a subjective term dependent as much on the music you're trying to produce as it is on the banjo itself. It can range from plunky hollow and incisive to piercing and painful, especially in the beginning. Mark Twain once said that a gentleman is a person who knows how to play a banjo but doesn't. But as Mark Twain also knew well, that inimitable banjo sound is exactly what makes playing a banjo the matchless experience that it is. Cigar box banjos don't play quite as loud as a conventional banjo, but with care and craftsmanship you can create that uniqueness in a well playing instrument that is both rich and responsive, often with a deeper, mellower sound.
In 1971 country music sensation Freddie Hart peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard chart with his hit "Easy Lovin'". Freddie was one of those well known people who are not so well known for their banjo playing who got their first exposure to making music with a cigar box instrument. Growing up in Loachapoka, Alabama in a large, sharecropping family of fifteen children, Hart got started musically by cobbling out a cigar box instrument using strings made of wire from the copper coil of a Model T Ford.
For others, the roots of their iconic musical style were developed from the very rudiments of instrument making, creating what would scarcely be considered a musical instrument today. Jim Reeves, the youngest of nine children, made his first instrument from a cigar box and rubber bands. Stringbean Akerman made his first banjo from a shoebox with thread from his mother's sewing kit.
Even Carl Sandburg, who Thomas Lask declared "the American bard," played his own brand of music, especially early in his life. Sandburg is quoted as saying, "My first stringed instrument was a cigar box banjo where I cut and turned the pegs and strung the wires myself." Before the banjo, he tried his hand at a willow whistle, then a comb with paper over it, a tin fife, a flageolet (a type of wooden flute), and an ocarina, none of which he played very well, including banjo, but all of which helped define who he really was.
Only the minutest part of their gift of originality may be what ties these artists together, and these early-in-life experiences being the spark that kindled that originality. But if you can identify in the minutest way with that experience, than my work here is done. Are you ready now to go find a beagle? - 18418
Banjos are made from a host of materials, metal and wood primarily, with some plastics and combinations using each. There are also banjos made from other instruments like ukuleles, guitars or mandolins. It seems there are more banjo types than dog types. One banjo uses a bass in a standup version that is definitely far more than just a drumhead with strings, often the very definition of banjo. String quantities are another wide variable, with one, three, four, five, six or ten. Many of these combinations use open backs, others use closed backs, some with pickups for amplification, others without pickups. The combinations available can boggle your mind.
Cigar box banjos often get lost in the shuffle. They are often simple instruments that long ago were made by beginning players from whatever components they had available at the time. Often the first exposure a beginner had to music was from a cigar box made from scratch. Today cigar box banjos can be made from scratch or from a building kit that has all the basic components. Even though they are relatively simple to make their quality of sound and playability doesn't suffer. It depends on the effort and commitment to excellence the builder is willing to make. Whether made from scratch or from a kit, the builder can let his or her creative imagination run wild while building a unique, well playing instrument.
It is true that "good sounding banjo" is a subjective term dependent as much on the music you're trying to produce as it is on the banjo itself. It can range from plunky hollow and incisive to piercing and painful, especially in the beginning. Mark Twain once said that a gentleman is a person who knows how to play a banjo but doesn't. But as Mark Twain also knew well, that inimitable banjo sound is exactly what makes playing a banjo the matchless experience that it is. Cigar box banjos don't play quite as loud as a conventional banjo, but with care and craftsmanship you can create that uniqueness in a well playing instrument that is both rich and responsive, often with a deeper, mellower sound.
In 1971 country music sensation Freddie Hart peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard chart with his hit "Easy Lovin'". Freddie was one of those well known people who are not so well known for their banjo playing who got their first exposure to making music with a cigar box instrument. Growing up in Loachapoka, Alabama in a large, sharecropping family of fifteen children, Hart got started musically by cobbling out a cigar box instrument using strings made of wire from the copper coil of a Model T Ford.
For others, the roots of their iconic musical style were developed from the very rudiments of instrument making, creating what would scarcely be considered a musical instrument today. Jim Reeves, the youngest of nine children, made his first instrument from a cigar box and rubber bands. Stringbean Akerman made his first banjo from a shoebox with thread from his mother's sewing kit.
Even Carl Sandburg, who Thomas Lask declared "the American bard," played his own brand of music, especially early in his life. Sandburg is quoted as saying, "My first stringed instrument was a cigar box banjo where I cut and turned the pegs and strung the wires myself." Before the banjo, he tried his hand at a willow whistle, then a comb with paper over it, a tin fife, a flageolet (a type of wooden flute), and an ocarina, none of which he played very well, including banjo, but all of which helped define who he really was.
Only the minutest part of their gift of originality may be what ties these artists together, and these early-in-life experiences being the spark that kindled that originality. But if you can identify in the minutest way with that experience, than my work here is done. Are you ready now to go find a beagle? - 18418
About the Author:
Get more information about cigar box banjos or buying and building a banjo here, or email me at walker@papasboxes.com and I'll send you a follow up with photos.
posted by X - Men at
12:44 AM
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