#fretlessbanjo

[banjofilia]

[retrofret]

Just arrived a 1975 Frank Proffitt Jr. 5 String Fretless Banjo. Made in Watauga County, North Carolina. This handmade "Mountain Banjo" was made by Frank Proffitt Jr. in the style of his father Frank Proffitt.⠀ ⠀ #retrofret #retrofretvintageguitars #fretlessbanjo #5stringbanjo #banjo #frankproffitt #banjolove #banjosofinstagram #mountainbanjo #frankproffittjr #carrollgardens (at Retrofret Vintage Guitars) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWE2hogoiR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1j1nuv8qkvkgt

[seedersinstruments]

Got to make a classic late 1800’s style ebony bridge for a London made T. Bostock fretless banjo. Fits the style and era of the instrument well and actually sounds excellent on this banjo. // #banjo #luthier #restoration #fretlessbanjo (at Seeders Instruments)

[banjofilia]

Banjo

William Esperance Boucher, Jr. (American, 1822–1899) about 1845–55

Source: MFA Boston

[banjofilia]

Boucher Five-String Fretless Banjo

source: Smithsonian, National Museum of American History

This banjo was made by William Boucher, Jr. in Baltimore, Maryland in 1846. It is a Five-String Fretless Banjo, with a wood shell, red painted metal hoop, 6 brackets, and friction pegs. Stamped on back of the neck:

W.BOUCHER.JR BALTIMORE

William Boucher was a drum maker and musical instrument dealer in Baltimore, Maryland. He became the first commercial maker of banjos, perhaps through his association with the celebrated minstrel banjoist Joel Walker Sweeney.

His instruments were important in standardizing the form of the banjo in its transition from a homemade rural instrument to urban commercial manufacture. The basic shape and string arrangement has changed little up to the present day. Boucher’s design copied important features of earlier home-made African American instruments: the skin head, short thumb string and fretless neck. He added a scrolled peghead similar to those used by guitar makers W. Stauffer and C. F. Martin, and replaced the traditional gourd body with a thin, bentwood rim construction with screw-tightening brackets similar to that used for drumheads. Boucher’s innovations were well-adapted to commercial mass-production and urban musical tastes and played a large part in the subsequent worldwide enthusiasm for the banjo.

These commercial “improvements” were never adopted by many traditional rural musicians, who continued to make good sounding instruments that were entirely adequate for their musical needs from locally available materials, at little or no expense.

[banjofilia]

OME Banjo Catalog, 1994

[seedersinstruments]

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I figured I'd combine a sound clip of the trickster half fretless banjo with the last banjo tune of the week. Here's 'Wildhorse' from the fiddling of Dave Bing. // #banjo #banjototw #clawhammerbanjo #fretlessbanjo #luthier @cwdeanbanjos @dustyleeelmer @cumberland_banjos @zacpelo @dustyleeelmer @brettratliff @d.cassells (at Seeders Instruments)

[thelittlegiants]

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Catching up with banjo tune o't week John Hardy #littlegiantsmusic #btotw #fretlessbanjo #leonclercbanjo #oldtimemusic