Since we have a nice little group forming let's see what kind of instruments everyone has.
2 banjos - Gold tone CC-OT, Oil can banjo with saga neck that my hubby made.
Started out with 3 finger Scruggs style and played that for about 2 years, then had my daughter and quit. Started back up in late 2009 playing clawhammer. Love it and can't live for more than a couple days without playing my banjo.
16 Comments |
 | RatLer says:
2/2/2011 3:21:03 PM
3-banjos,Austin, two bottle caps I started with and played for 35 years, Mando, guitar, autoharp, dulcimer, couple harminicas.
|
 | Marc Nerenberg says:
2/2/2011 6:41:24 PM
I have 6 banjos:
- A 1961 Seeger Long Neck (once borrowed from me and performed upon for one song by Pete Seeger himself);
- A 1910 Fairbanks "Electric" with Nylgut classical strings;
- A late 1800's "Dobson" fretless, strung with Nylgut Minstrel strings and low tuned;
- A nameless tiny 5 string with a resonator converted from a banjo ukulele, strung with Nylgut Minstrels, and also low tuned for its size;
- A small fretless with a very old pot (pre-1918) from a banjo mandolin and a custom made neck strung with Nylgut classicals;
- An identically small sized fretted banjo with an equally small pot attached to a 4 string neck converted to 5 strings.
I've had all of these for over 30 years, but until recently only the Long Neck was in top shape and adjustment. This past year I spent a lot of time and effort perfecting the set-up on all the rest. It's like I suddenly got five new banjos for a couple of hundred bucks in repair fees!
I also have all twelve keys of harmonicas...which are very expensive to maintain, since I have to buy a new harmonica every time I blow out a note, and the kind I use are approaching $50 a piece. The first harmonica I bought (back in the Stone Age, apparently) cost me 75 cents!
I also have an assortment of other instruments that I barely touch any more, being sufficiently busy with banjo and harmonica, such as dulcimer, autoharp, kalimba, various African banjo-like instruments, balaphone, piano, etc.
|
tom elder says:
2/2/2011 7:47:19 PM
I gotta 14 x 20 room inside a much bigger metal shed.It is wood heated,no phone no computer.very rustic.I'm going to get it cleaned and give a tour,let you folks see the whole shebang.
Mark my deceased brother blowed the harp,i been giving some of your stuff a listen,do you have any of that here?
|
| Marc Nerenberg says:
2/2/2011 8:12:10 PM
I play some harmonica on the following songs on my page:
In the Music Section:
I Shook Hands with the Devil;
The Fox;
Charlie and the School Bus.
In the Video Section:
Times Ain't Nothin' Like They Used to Be;
Nothing Left to Do;
My Creole Belle; Photos of the Family;
Needed Time;
Delia.
Generally, there's only a little bit of harp in any given song. Probably the most developed harmonica part is on The Fox.
|
tom elder says:
2/3/2011 3:44:58 AM
that fox is by far the best version i have heard.i remember the big burl ives hit
|
| Marc Nerenberg says:
2/3/2011 4:16:26 AM
Thank you Tom. I am, indeed, very happy with that version of The Fox, which evolved over a few years of playing that song.
|
 | pickinchik says:
2/3/2011 5:28:18 AM
WOW I'm drooling here people!!! Tom get that video up soon. I want a dulcimer, my husband says he's going to build me one once his cigar box guitar is done. I hope, I hope.
Marc - wow, had no idea about harmonicas. Playing both the banjo and harmonica at the same time and singing too, awesome!
Let's keep this roll call going. What ya got?
|
| pickinchik says:
2/3/2011 5:29:20 AM
Hey RatLer- What do you mean when you say bottle caps? Don't laugh at me I'm pretty lame on "music-speak", LOL.
|
| RatLer says:
2/3/2011 9:33:16 AM
picinchick...banjos with aluminum pots that look like bottlecaps (old fashion pop bottle caps). Generally cheap Asian made banjos....
|
 | TonyS says:
2/3/2011 4:26:41 PM
Hmm - Gold Tone OT800 Long Neck (see group) A Guild Jumbo 12 string (1998), Harmony, asian copy nylon and catalogue electric (with little amp) guitars, Saga mandolin needing set-up, several harmonicas but not a real player, Hohner Melodica and of course a new Yamaha keyboard because............I'm the PIANO PLAYER!
|
 | Paul R says:
2/3/2011 6:45:57 PM
Okay, here goes:
Guitars: 1972 L'Arrivee dreadnought, 1983 L'Arrivee L-27 (cutaway), the 1929 Martin 2-17 is still here temporarily, although I gave it to my daughter when she turned 17 back in '99, black 1980 Les Paul Custom, 1968 ES-335 12-string, Hofner Beatle bass, cheap "Guyatone" lap steel guitar.
Banjos: Orpheum No.1 circa 1910, 1970s Liberty bluegrass (arch top, top tension), 1974 Oskar Graf fretless, Clarophone (Gretsch) open-back tenor, turtle shell and stick "banjo" my late parents brought back from Morocco in '73
Others: 1974 or '75 Ibanez mandolin (2-point), Oscar Schmidt autoharp, 1974 Oskar Graf dulcimer, a harmonica or two, various percussion items(a pair of bongo-sized ceramic drums that my wife's late parents brought back from either Spain or North Africa, washboard, parade snare) a few tin whilstles that will most likely never be played even semi-competently, some weird African stick-gourd-bow thingie that a friend gave me, a couple of "Kalimba" thumb pianos.
|
| Marc Nerenberg says:
2/3/2011 8:30:05 PM
That "weird African stick-gourd-bow thingie" sounds like a Zeze, and East African instrument that sort of a cross between a banjo and a fiddle...with really high action! I have one of those!
|
| pickinchik says:
2/4/2011 6:43:33 AM
wow, these are some amazing instruments!! I know the long neck is from Seegar right? Can someone tell me what is the purpose of having that longer neck?
|
| Marc Nerenberg says:
2/4/2011 6:48:15 AM
It gives you more keys by virtue of moving the capo. The neutral position is with the capo at the third fret, and you can move the capo up or down from there, getting all keys using just G or C timings, without having to capo higher than the 4th fret.
|
| Marc Nerenberg says:
2/4/2011 6:51:27 AM
That word "timings" should have been "tunings" ... Stupid autocorrect spellchecker!
|
| TonyS says:
2/4/2011 10:56:18 AM
Pete Seeger had a voice he called a "split tenor" so he had John D'Angelico, I believe, famous "jazz" guitar maker in NYC (the D'Angelico New Yorker now costs as much as a car) add 3 frets, making the open position E. Come by the Long Neck group and listen to Marc!
|
Post a Comment
|
You must be logged in and a member of this group to post a comment.
|
