A Look At 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.
Many different types of high quality banjos are available. There are metal ones, some use wood and plastic; others involve a combination of each. There are banjos that have their beginning with other instruments, ukuleles, guitars or mandolins. There is a stand up type made from a bass, definitely not your father's drumhead with strings. String sets vary too--there are banjos with one, three, four, five, six, up to ten strings. They come with open backs or closed backs, with or without pickups for amplification. Considering all the possibilities can boggle your mind.
When considering all the possibilities, don't forget the cigar box banjo. Many well known, very gifted players got their start playing on a cigar box. Made from scratch using discarded components, they were simpler to build and became the spark that ignited many players' life experience. Today cigar box banjos are still made from scratch or from a building kit that has all one needs. Add to that the builders own creative imagination and the result is a high quality, well playing instrument that equals the effort and commitment to excellence that is partnered with that imagination.
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.
"Easy Lovin'" was a 1971 country hit that peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard chart by Freddie Hart. Hart was one of many well known people who are not so well known for their banjo playing, but got their first exposure to making music with a cigar box instrument. He grew up in Loachapoka, Alabama in a large, sharecropping family of fifteen children. Freddie said he got started musically by cobbling out a cigar box instrument using strings made of wire from the copper coil of a Model T Ford.
Other artists used the very rudiments of instrument making as the root of their iconic musical style, creating what would shunned by many today as less than basic musical instruments. Stringbean Akerman made his first banjo from a shoebox and stings made using thread from his mother's sewing kit. Jim Reeves, the youngest of nine children, made his first instrument from a cigar box and rubber bands.
Many who had no claim to playing any instrument well experimented early with cigar box banjos. Carl Sandburg, recognized as the American Bard, 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 before developing his own brand of music early in life using the banjo. He 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", and these experiences helped define who he really was.
Whether famous as recording artists or famous as something else, what ties all these folks together is their unquestioned gift of originality. If even the minutest part of that originality was sparked by their early-in-life experiences playing a simple cigar box banjo and if you can in the minutest way identify with that experience, then my work here is done. Now let's go see if we can find a beagle. - 23815
Many different types of high quality banjos are available. There are metal ones, some use wood and plastic; others involve a combination of each. There are banjos that have their beginning with other instruments, ukuleles, guitars or mandolins. There is a stand up type made from a bass, definitely not your father's drumhead with strings. String sets vary too--there are banjos with one, three, four, five, six, up to ten strings. They come with open backs or closed backs, with or without pickups for amplification. Considering all the possibilities can boggle your mind.
When considering all the possibilities, don't forget the cigar box banjo. Many well known, very gifted players got their start playing on a cigar box. Made from scratch using discarded components, they were simpler to build and became the spark that ignited many players' life experience. Today cigar box banjos are still made from scratch or from a building kit that has all one needs. Add to that the builders own creative imagination and the result is a high quality, well playing instrument that equals the effort and commitment to excellence that is partnered with that imagination.
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.
"Easy Lovin'" was a 1971 country hit that peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard chart by Freddie Hart. Hart was one of many well known people who are not so well known for their banjo playing, but got their first exposure to making music with a cigar box instrument. He grew up in Loachapoka, Alabama in a large, sharecropping family of fifteen children. Freddie said he got started musically by cobbling out a cigar box instrument using strings made of wire from the copper coil of a Model T Ford.
Other artists used the very rudiments of instrument making as the root of their iconic musical style, creating what would shunned by many today as less than basic musical instruments. Stringbean Akerman made his first banjo from a shoebox and stings made using thread from his mother's sewing kit. Jim Reeves, the youngest of nine children, made his first instrument from a cigar box and rubber bands.
Many who had no claim to playing any instrument well experimented early with cigar box banjos. Carl Sandburg, recognized as the American Bard, 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 before developing his own brand of music early in life using the banjo. He 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", and these experiences helped define who he really was.
Whether famous as recording artists or famous as something else, what ties all these folks together is their unquestioned gift of originality. If even the minutest part of that originality was sparked by their early-in-life experiences playing a simple cigar box banjo and if you can in the minutest way identify with that experience, then my work here is done. Now let's go see if we can find a beagle. - 23815
About the Author:
Additional information is available about cigar box banjos and how you can build one here, or you can email me and I'll send you a reply with some pictures walker@papasboxes.com
posted by X - Men at
12:46 AM
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