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Thread: One Sweet Banjolin

  1. #1
    Unrepentant Dilettante Lee Callicutt's Avatar
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    Default One Sweet Banjolin

    Just surfed across this one: http://www.romerobanjos.com/09176/09176.html

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    Mandolicious fishtownmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Thats a mandolin banjo. There is a difference.

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    Registered User jim_n_virginia's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Now thats two words you don't see together very often ... "sweet" and "banjolin"

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    Unrepentant Dilettante Lee Callicutt's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Quote Originally Posted by fishtownmike View Post
    Thats a mandolin banjo. There is a difference.
    My mistake!

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    Registered User Givson's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    I'll bite. What's the difference between a mandolin-banjo, a banjolin, a manjo, a bandolin and a banjo-mandolin? I thought they all had a banjo pot with a mandolin neck.

    Perhaps it's the goat hair.

    Of course there are those odd Pohlman instruments with a mandolin body and a banjo neck. I don't know what they are called.
    When 'good enough' is more than adequate.

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Hang on a sec. As far as I understand:

    That is a banjolin. Banjolin is a small banjo, with 8 strings tuned in fifths.

    A so called manjo, is an all wooden instrument, shaped like a banjo, strung and tuned like a mandolin. Picture a mandolin with a round wooden body.

    I have seen both called a banjo mandolin, or a mandolin banjo.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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    funny....

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    Moderator JEStanek's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Well, whatever it is called, it's gorgeous. That's a fine looking example. He builds some with great voices too, I listened to some of the sounds. I really liked the 12"rim goatskin head with nylon strings and the fretless models. Real warm. Thanks for posting this. Wish he had a sound clip of the Mandolin Banjo he built.

    Jamie
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  8. #8

    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    I believe that's a mandolin banjo. A banjolin has only four strings.

  9. #9
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Here's a pretty exhaustive Wikipedia exposition:
    Banjolin
    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    The three instruments described below are named "banjolin." It should not be mistaken for the mandolin-banjo, nor is it to be confused with the Banjoline.
    The Banjolin is a name applied to several different types of stringed instruments:
    1. A "banjolin" is a type of 4 string banjo, pitched in the same register as a mandolin popularized in the 1920s. It is tuned and played the same as a mandolin. The major difference it has from a Mandolin is a 10.5- to 11-inch banjo-body which serves to amplify the instrument relative to a standard mandolin (especially important in the days before widespread electric amplification).
    The banjolin has 4 strings (as opposed to the mandolin and mandolin-banjo which have 4 courses). The scale length and tuning are identical to the mandolin (low to high: GDAE).
    The instrument was designed for use in banjo orchestras. Later it appeared occasionally in jug bands...the 'younger brother' of the tenor banjo. Banjo hybrids normally take their names from the Banjo- prefix, and then the second half of the other instrument's name, such as banjocello and the banjitar, which has led to the belief that the banjolin is a sort of Mandolin/Banjo hybrid. The Banjolin is actually a 'violin banjo'. Fretless banjolins are therefore more likely to crop up. Banjolins should not be confused with the Banjo Ukulele (Ukulele), due to their larger head size and shorter scale length in comparison.
    2. A "banjolin" is a type of banjo patented by John Farris in 1885, available then in soprano, alto, tenor, and bass models, all either "quartette" (four-string) or "quintette" (five-string) (see external link below).
    3. A "banjolin" is a type of bowed fretless zither (see fret and external link below).


    However, the term "banjolin" is widely used for the mandolin-banjo, so I don't think its use here was really a mistake. With regard to the "opposite" instruments, mandolin or mandola bodies with 5-string banjo necks: August Pollman, who first developed them in the 1890's, called them "mandoline banjos." The current similar Gold Tone instruments are called "banjolas."

    The "banjoline" mentioned above was an electric instrument developed by Rickenbacker. It was made for Eddy Peabody, had six strings in four courses (two double, two single), and was tuned like a plectrum banjo. Here's a picture.

    And, with regard to the subject of this thread, it's a beautiful instrument, but I could do without the "liver spots" on the head -- makes it look a bit leprous...
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    Mandolicious fishtownmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Sergio Saldivar View Post
    I believe that's a mandolin banjo. A banjolin has only four strings.
    Exactly! Tuned GDAE like a mandolin.

  11. #11
    Mandolicious fishtownmike's Avatar
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    Default Re: One Sweet Banjolin

    I have a few of each of these instruments and the 4 string banjolins actually have a better sound then the 8 string mandolin banjos. And since none of mine have adjustable struss rods or even unadjustable the 8 stringers have major tunning stability issues so they do nothing but basically make nice wall hangings.

  12. The following members say thank you to fishtownmike for this post:

    joni24 

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