A nice English banjo image

[markj]

Greetings,

This is another item from my collection. The musician's name is lost to history, but the photographer's backmark indicates he lived in, or around, Bermondsey, Southwark, London, which was decidedly not the most fashionable location in that city.

Judging from information contained in "A Directory of London Photographers 1841-1908," the location stated for Mr. John Hatherill's gallery on the back of the image indicates he "traded" there c.1869-1876. Hatherill apparently had a long career as a photographer: 46 years (1862 until at least 1908) and operated at several locations in South London.

Needless to say, I'd be very grateful for further information about the 5-string banjo shown in the image.

Enjoy,

Mark Jaeger

[Rev]

Re: A nice English banjo image

I believe that is a six string banjo. It appears like it has a short sixth string, similar to a modern five string.

[markj]

Re: A nice English banjo image

Hi Lawrence,

By Jove, you're right. One of the tuning pegs didn't register on me when I initially looked at the photo. From what I've read, six- and seven-string banjo variants were popular in England at least as early as the 1860's. Here's an interesting site on British banjo makers:

http://www.whitetreeaz.com/vintage/brit1.htm

I'm supposing the banjo seen in the photo is a six-string "smooth arm" (fretless?) instrument. Some knowledgeable soul might even be able to identify the maker based on its design.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Danny]

Re: A nice English banjo image

Hi Lawrence... From what I've read, six- and seven-string banjo variants were popular in England at least as early as the 1860's...I'm supposing the banjo seen in the photo is a six-string "smooth arm" (fretless?) instrument. Some knowledgeable soul might even be able to identify the maker based on its design...Regards, Mark Jaeger

Mark -

A highly respected researcher and writer on the topic, Prof. (Bob) Winans, commented on this type of banjo just last week on an early banjo forum (to quote):

“... The British 7-string banjo was indeed played in the stroke style, as well as finger style. When the British got seriously interested in... "fancier solo playing," they moved away from the 7-string and back to the 5-string, but now with raised frets.

The 7-string banjo was not tuned as though it were a guitar with a thumb string added. The standard tuning was gGCDGBD. The top four strings duplicated the raised-bass tuning of the 5-string; the sixth string was an octave below the third string; and the fifth string was a whole tone below the fourth string. The raison d'etre of the 7- string banjo was not 'fancier solo playing,' but the accompaniment of singing. The extra bass strings accomplished several things to facilitate singing. The fourth and fifth strings meant that the player had both low bass and raised bass tunings without retuning, and, combined with the low G string, had a lot more options for getting appropriate bass notes for many different keys so that it was easier, again without retuning, to play in keys suited to the player/ singer's particular vocal range, and to readily switch among keys in performance... I have an English 7-string made around 1860 which has a fine 'banjo' sound.

For further clarification, neither the 7-string banjo nor the guitar-banjo should be confused with the 'zither' banjo which came in in the 1880s. The zither banjo, the invention of an American from Brooklyn named Alfred Cammeyer, has a six string guitar style peghead (usually slotted with geared tuners...) but no thumb-string peg because the fifth string goes into a tunnel around the fifth fret and comes out to be attached to one of the tuners in the peghead, and one other tuner in the peghead has no string attached to it...”

Quoting another poster, Marc Smith, on that early banjo site and a player of early banjo himself, apparently English-style banjos with more than 5 strings were “... popular enough to generate at least a couple tutors and some sheet music. The Ellis tutor for 6 and 7 string banjo is available for download in the 'tutors' section of www.classicbanjo.com "

I myself have photos (jpeg's) of similar banjos I've gathered over the years if you would like me to send them to you. Hope this helps.

Dan Wykes

p.s. Best to search for Winans material at your local library or bookstore and read his books if this topic fascinates you.