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BRC Activities, Cell Perches & HVO

Preserve the Environment: Tiny Steps

March 12, 2022

Banjo pickers are eco-friendly. Scratch a Bluegrass musician, and you will find an environmentalist underneath. The BRC workshop was founded 11 years ago, but we overlooked its 10th anniversary last year while distracted by the pandemic. Over the past decade, unused spare parts have steadily accumulated in the workshop. To avoid dispatching these materials to a land fill, our 10th year of business will be celebrated belatedly by the purposeful re-incorporation of extra materials into inventive mini projects.

The local community art league has an annual “Tiny Things” competitive show each Spring where artists submit works measuring no more than 8x 8 inches in size. As a banjo clearly exceeds these dimensions, the BRC craftsman decided to apply left-over inlay inventories into decorating cell phone holders and submit these tiny entires into the yearly competition. Hopefully, these inlayed and practical desktop items would be of interest to the judge adjucating the exhibit, gallery visitors, and musicians. What banjo player would not want a smartphone stand to check-out online picking turorials?

Last year was our first occasion to experiment with this modest eco-strategy, and “The Lair” was accepted (above) into the springtime Tiny Things show. After the annual community exhibit concluded, this prototypical and planar pine model was gifted to an out-of- state friend. The dragon image on the front was so fearsome, that the new owner reported months later that the family dog had mauled the piney item beyond repair one night.

Despite the almost poetic Viking`s demise of The Lair, a peaceful array of leaping dolphins had resided quietly on the flip side. To see previous dolphin-themed BRC banjos, enter “dolphin” in our home page search engine.

This year, the BRC craftsman has ambitiously fashioned two upgraded desktop items for submission to the Tiny Things exhibit. Both feature a sturdy center post secured with wood glue and a stout rebar-like screw. The smaller cedar model (below) entitled the “Unicorn Cell Perch”‘ measures just over 3 inches at the base.

It is inlayed with enamel-covered laser cut wood images and some mother of pearl stars.

If you look closely, you might recognize the inlays that appeared on the “Unikorn” and “Moonshine” banjos previously depicted on the BRC website.

Another slightly larger and even more rugged red oak iteration for this year’s competition is entitled the “Tree of Life Cell Perch.”  It measures just over 6 inches in length and is decorated with mother of pearl leaves and iconic Tree of Life symbols.

The leafy mother of pearl inlays may remind you of our “Time for Tea” and “Tea Leaves”  BRC banjo. The aforesaid 5-stringer can be reviewed by entering “tea” in the search engine on our home page. It is hoped that the serene imagery on this year`s fortified smartphone holders will not provoke canine reactions.

The BRC focus remains building art show crafted banjos at modest prices for entry level buyers. Although desk top cell phone stands with fingerboard inlay decorations could potentially attract a niche market of stringed instrument musicians, or perhaps evolve into a profitable franchise for pet chew-toys, these diminutive but sturdy items will mostly be devised in our workshop around the time of the annual Tiny Things art show. This mini project is our small step to preserve the environment.

From the BRC: Be well, be safe, be eco-friendly.

P.S. Have a happy St. Paddy`s Day.

 

Bio

Thanks, Bro

February 26, 2022

About 60 years ago, two guys went to a fire sale and purchased damaged banjo parts to construct longneck open back 5-stringers like Pete Seeger had. They taught themselves how to install calfskin heads while listening to Seeger on Weavers albums and Eric Weissberg with the Tarriers. The twosome journeyed toWashington Square in NYC to hear the live folk music gathered there on Sunday afternoons, and they visited Izzy Young`s Folklore Center at 110 MacDougal St. in Greenwich Village. The brothers frequented the Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs to study the picking skills of visiting performers at this now historic venue which remains the longest operating folk music coffee house in the US. Years passed, and their career paths led to becoming busy bone doctors, and the road of life settled them living a thousand miles apart.

The older sibling (right) gifted his younger brother a vintage archtop Mastertone, and the younger guy gifted his older brother an archtop Stelling Masterflower. In the above photo, the twosome sport fun T-shirts from the BRC archives. These guys love archtops.

Throughout the many years in their mutual equations, the two siblings share a life-long love of music and song. Even one of the grandkids is getting a hand into their music these days.

Despite the cautionary advice offered above, it is not unknown for these two guys to exchange a banjo joke by email. Thanks, bro.

 Another calendar year has flown by since those youthful banjo days of yesteryear, and attached is the BRC founder`s all-time favorite birthday card.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and be thankful.

Banjo Kid Pledge

Banjo Kid Pledge at Home

February 12, 2022
With the recent covid surge, the Gainor & Friends musicians have again stepped down from the bandstand at the Broadway Brewery where we have played benefit gigs for the Children`s Hospital on Sunday afternoons for more than a decade. During our tenure at the family-friendly brewpub, the BRC gig master has enjoyed sharing the fun “Banjo Kid Pledge” with families dining in the restaurant. For more details, click-on “Banjo Kid Pledge” in the Categories menu on our home page or enter “pledge”  in the search engine.
To observe Valentine`s Day at this beginning of yet another pandemic year, the BRC founder has initiated an option that the Pledge can now be administered remotely with youngsters at home by any parent who has purchased or been gifted a banjo from our workshop.
The oath can be easily accomplished by a parent reciting with their youngster and siblings, ” I promise to always do what my mom and dad say.”  The new inductees are then congratulated with, ” You are now a Banjo Kid forever.” This vow is non binding and can be renewed at anytime.
Hopefully, somewhere in the not too distant future, the G&F band will step-up again onto the microbrewery bandstand to resume its benefit gigs and on-site Banjo Kid Pledges. In the meantime, we celebrate Valentine`s Day with a special thank-you to our faithful readership.
                                                                                                                                                         From the BRC: Be safe, be well.
Art Shows

Savoring the Past

January 29, 2022

The annual winter Food Show at the local community art league is entitled “Savor” this year. In this juried exhibition, artists are challenged to express their connections with appetites and sustenance. In addition to an opening reception, the show is later formatted as the “Let Them Eat Art” gala evening fundraiser where local chefs and bartenders (mixologists) offer their entrees and beverages in a contest judged by the votes of the gallery guests. The BRC founder fashioned a “Moonshine” banjo for these savory events.

Twenty-seven years ago, the BRC craftsman formed his Bluegrass band “Gainor & Friends” to play benefit gigs for the Children`s Hospital. In its early days, the group was called the “Moonshyne Reunion” for a while. These musicians are pictured below while providing entertainment at a hospital picnic circa 2004.

The Moonshine 5-stringer fingerboard features bolts of white lightening and topsy-turvy jugs reflecting a potent beverage within. These laser cut wood images spill all the way down the fretboard amidst an occasional star.

As always, BRC banjos have a signature inlay on the heel of the instrument for the eyes only of the musician.

The opening reception was postponed because of the omicron surge, so the art league Director taped a video tour of the Savor exhibit for the artists and patrons. Displayed at the entrance of the gallery, the Moonshine banjo was the very the first work that she presented to the online viewers.

To benefit the Children`s Hospital in 2004, the BRC gig master recorded a solo album of original songs entitled, “Hartsburg Anthology”. An  aged fiddler reminisced that many decades previously, moonshine “white lightening” liquor was sold by the gallon not too far from the rural village of Hartsburg. A sound file of the song “Moonshyne Reunion” from the CD is below.  Enjoy. (copyright 2004)

 

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, best wishes on Groundhog Day.

 

Vega Martin Stories

VM Long Neck Folklore Banjo

January 15, 2022

N.J. says:
January 2022

Dear BRC: I have a Seeger SS-5 Folklore Model 1972 Economy Model # 130041 that I would like to sell. I am the only owner. Purchased the instrument from McCabes in Santa Monica in the early 70’s. Might you provide me with a starting point for a price? It is in perfect condition. Thank you, NJ

BRC replies:

Dear N.J. -Thank you for the prompt and detailed photos of your Vega Martin long neck (SS-5) Folklore Model banjo with serial number 130041.Your 5-stringer appears to be a transitional instrument assembled in 1970 not long after C.F. Martin purchased the Vega franchise on May 15, 1970. According to available data, the last Boston-built banjo in the Vega line that was manufactured in 1970 bore S.N. 130048. Like your instrument, it was probably constructed from inventory inherited by the Martin Company.  After C.F. Martin purchased the Vega brand, yellow stickers identifying the new ownership and displaying the traditional Vega six-digit serial number appeared inside the pots for a while. The letter “M” preceded the serial number denoting Martin proprietorship (in nearby fine print) while its factory in Nazareth, PA, retooled to begin building the newly acquired banjo line.
The first serial number in the C.F. Martin luthier log book is #130248 which was recorded in 1971, and a new system of numbers (#2-1945) was initiated in 1972. In general, all banjos assembled or manufactured at the Nazareth, PA, factory routinely have a C.F. Martin decal on the back of the peghead- which is absent on your banjo. Per my files, the highlight “VEGALON Weatherproof plastic heads are standard equipment” first appears in a 1961 Vega flyer when the plant was located at 155 Columbus Avenue in Boston. It was a standard issue during that decade and is again cited in the 1968 catalogue.
According to the Vega catalogue of 1968 from the Needham Heights factory near Boston, MA, the long neck economy Folklore Model, which is styled after the more expensive Pete Seeger (P.S.) Model, sold for $270 without case.  It featured a 10-ply maple rim, a heavy notched tension hoop, a 3-piece maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, pearl dots, a shaded mahogany finish, nickel-plated parts; but the type tone ring not specified. In the inaugural 1970 Vega Martin banjo catalogue, the long neck Folklore Model was nearly identical in design to its Boston era predecessor, but it had adapted the “Wonder” model metal tone ring. The SS-5 listed for $285 in the 1971 VM price list. An estimate of the current worth of your banjo might be around $1-1.5K depending on condition. Of note, the Vega long neck Pete Seeger Model (P.S.) banjos manufactured during the Boston era in the 1960s (each featuring bell brass Tube-a-phone tone ring, bracket band, and notched tension hoop) are valued collectors` items these days and priced in the neighborhood of $2-4K or more. For additional history on the Vega Martin family of long neck instruments, please enter “long neck” into the search engine on the home page of my Banjo Rehab Center website. Thank you for sharing your banjo and its story with the BRC readership.
With appreciation, Barry

N.J. says:

Barry- Extraordinary review and commentary about my 5 string. It is your knowledge and expertise that is so commendable and appreciated.

Gratefully, NJ