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Permalink Reply by Rob on January 22, 2010 at 1:11am

Ron

What most people are thinking of when they say banjo is the 5 string banjo used in bluegrass and old time music. There are several types of 5 string banjos as well as 4 string and even 6 string banjos but I won't get into all that. A typical 5 string banjo has 4 strings running the full length of the neck and a shorter 5th string that is a drone string. That short 5th string and the tuning (I tuned mine g'DGBd' ) is the principle difference when someone talks about a cbg vs. a cb banjo. The banjo is also played very differently and traditionally they have a tensioned head like a drum head that is the resonator instead of wood, though a cb banjo would use the box as a resonator just like on a cbg. It also has a different type of bridge but I am not sure how that affects the sound.

So to sum that up... a cb banjo has a 5th drone string that is shorter than the 4 other strings, uses different tunings than a guitar, has a different type of bridge and is played differently generally using a thumb pick and finger picks.

I have never built (yet) or played a cb banjo so I don't know how much like a traditional banjo they sound, but I have made a banjo out of a cookie tin that sounded great, not that I can play it very well.

I might have missed something as I am an banjo beginner (usually play dulcimer guitar) but that is how I understand it.

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 22, 2010 at 3:25am

The discussion about "drone" 5 th string applies to 5 string banjos... but that is not the essence of a banjo... What makes a banjo a banjo whether 4 or 5 string is a tympanic membrane that is place over the top of a resonating chamber.... when you have that, whether the membrane is skin, plastic, or even metal and (I think this is essential) the bridge is located at the center of the membrane (this creates the rounded yet twangy tone and allows the sound to vibrate uniformly within the resonator) you have a "banjo". Calling a 5 string CBG a "banjo" without a bridge centered on a resonating membrane, it not accurate. Might be good marketing, but it's not a "banjo".

JMHO,
well forget the humble part,
the best,
Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 22, 2010 at 4:52am

Thanks Sam, I think I got it. Yes, I just seemed like had to have something to give it that Banjo sound. Which make sense because this would also make it sound diferent form a reso.
Plus the string tuning will add to that.
Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on January 22, 2010 at 5:24am

I built a 5-string "banjo" that is in all ways like a banjo except that it has a plywood head. I was going to make an honest-to-goodness tensioned "skin" head, but making all the tensioning hardware seemed like too much work at the time. I saw a Youtube video of a guy playing a "Backporch Instruments" plywood banjo, and it sounded pretty good. Mine is almost exactly like the ones produced by that company, except I used a chunk of PVC drain pipe for the body.

Thing actually sounds pretty much like a banjo....

But I agree, the essence of a banjo is a stretched skin or synthetic "head".

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on January 22, 2010 at 5:33am

In my humble opinion...
This is an excellent example of a really traditional CB Banjo build. Was one of the latest featured instruments. Whatta build.

Interestingly enough, I read that the word banjo is African in its origin.

Wikipedia.org
Banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.[1] The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore" or from an early anglicisation of the Spanish word "bandurria", though other research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for a bamboo stick formerly used for the instrument's neck.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 22, 2010 at 9:11am

Well this was what I was getting at the skin with the bridge on it has a banjo look and is closer to the original idea.
The wood instead of the skin was what was throwing me off. I guess if it is wood and round it still looks banjo, once it gets square it is looking like a CBG which was what was throwing me off, but now through this discussion I can se how it gets from round skin to square wood.
I will have to add it to my to do list of CB builds.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 22, 2010 at 9:19am

Wes, that is a very nice build, so many of the CBG here reflect a great attention to detail and imagination, very refreshing to see that "their are no rules" produces such instruments.
I hope 150 years from not their are still no rules. Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 22, 2010 at 1:24pm

Wes,

This is where a difference of opinion makes for good conversation. From my point of view, this is a CBG that happens to have a banjo neck... I believe that the most defining characteristic of a banjo is the tympanic "skin" with a friction fitted bridge in it's middle...

No matter what you call it, that is a sweet build....

the best,

Sam

Wes Yates said:

In my humble opinion...
This is an excellent example of a really traditional CB Banjo build. Was one of the latest featured instruments. Whatta build.

Interestingly enough, I read that the word banjo is African in its origin.

Wikipedia.org
Banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.[1] The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza. Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore" or from an early anglicisation of the Spanish word "bandurria", though other research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for a bamboo stick formerly used for the instrument's neck.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on January 23, 2010 at 8:16am

Sam, you hit it on the head, a CBG with a banjo head is what I am seeing. Not to insult anyone, they do sound mighty fine.
Cheers Ron.

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