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Art Shows

The 4th

July 1, 2020

Heralding the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend, a festive hot air ballon recently passed over our dock just outside the back door of the BRC workshop.

The sprawling 62nd annual “Art in the Park” weekend festival hosted by the Columbia Art League this summer was cancelled. Its Veterans Art Pavilion, co-sponsored by the United Veterans Foundation, was presented online as a virtual exhibit. The BRC founder, a USAF veteran, had his “Freedom Eagle” banjo accepted into the show.

Take a guided tour of the pavillion at https://columbiaartleague.org/veterans-art-pavilion

BRC banjos have a signature mother of pearl inlay on the heel of the neck for the eyes-only of the musician.

A life long student of military history, the BRC founder has walked battlefields in the US, Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia. While tinkering in his workshop, he listens to audiobooks about these engagements and the participants.

From the BRC, we wish you a restful and peaceful holiday weekend.

Vega Martin Stories

Bluegrass Special Order

June 21, 2020

From the BRC Mailbox:

Dear Reader- Thank you for the detailed photos of the vintage V-41 Vega Martin banjo. This item was initially announced in a 1971 C.F. Martin price list for $850 without case, and thereafter it appeared in the Vega Martin 1972 catalogue. The shop logbook does not record this model instrument actually being manufactured until 1973, and it was advertised again in the 1976 VM catalogue.

The V-41 was the less expensive version of the fancy gold-plated and engraved V-45 banjo (retail $1650) designed to match the D-45 guitar. Both these models of banjo were available by special order only and reportedly fathered by Mike Longworth to attract the Bluegrass market.

The V-41 had a rosewood resonator and pot, and the resonator had a pearl abalone trim on its back edge. The neck was mahogany with a bound ebony fingerboard that featured distinctive hexagonal mother of pearl inlays. The metal parts were chrome-plated, and the heavy flat head tone ring was brass. Your banjo serial number 785 was one of a pair of V-41 five-stringers manufactured in 1974 per Shop Order #2187 in Nazareth, PA.

The last V-41 parts were made in 1977 and shipped to Japan for assembly. C.F. Martin produced only twenty-eight V-41-5 banjos, two V-41-P plectrums, and one V-41-T tenor banjo.

My estimate is that your single-owner instrument is probably worth around $1450-1750 these days. Thanks again for sharing the story of your unique and historical banjo.

In this circa 1975 photo, the new V-41-5 owner visits an iconic site in Pennsylvania.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and keep on picking.

Jamming

Keeping the Music Alive

June 14, 2020

Music is the medicine of the mind. John Logan (1744-1788)

Laughter is the best medicine in the world. Milton Berle (1908-2002)

Life and love go on, let the music play. Johnny Cash (1932-2003)

What endeavor addresses these above quotes? Answer: A Bluegrass jam session.

With the coronavirus pandemic that has afflicted our world, artful activities have gone into hibernation. The BRC founder and fellow musicians have worked together to keep our music alive with Safe Bluegrass picking, singing, and clogging convened at outdoor fresh air venues like a neighborhood lakeside shelter house and a city park pavilion.

Two weekly jam sessions have been reinstituted with attention to some guidelines: masks mandatory, social distancing observed, limit to 10 people, bring your own hand sanitizer and beverage, feel sick-stay home. Weather reports are studied beforehand, and local public health updates are monitored. Feedback is always welcomed. 

A third weekly jam session was on the eve of being reinaugurated but has been postponed because the jam host was sidelined by an equestrian mishap. Our well wishes and prayerful thoughts go out to our fellow musician who is on the mend and will hopefully rejoin us soon. Music heals.

To All: be safe, be well, and keep the music alive.

Art Shows

Spring into Summer

June 6, 2020

This month, the local art league presents its “Flora” competitive show as a virtual exhibit. The Roman goddess of spring was Flora, a name that means flowers, and wildflowers abound along the highways of the Show-Me State. A commercial garden called the `Missouri Wildflower Nursery` is located in the Lake of the Ozarks region near the rural township of Brazito.

The BRC workshop submitted a banjo entitled “Ozark Spring” which was accepted into the juried competition and displayed (above) on a wall of the virtual gallery flanked by faux windows.

On the instrument`s peg head, a small butterfly curiously approaches the stem of a giant white rose (right). The sun and a flower are inlayed on the truss rod cover, and leafed-out greenery appears immediately at the first fret space.

Along the fingerboard (above left), the aforementioned themes are echoed as the sun, flowers, small butterflies, and plush leaves mark harmonic intervals.

The new owner collects her “Ozark Spring ” banjo from the BRC founder while both wear personal protective masks (below right).

Despite these uncertain times, the summer months arrive beneath sunny and unusually blue skies which bathe a doe and her fawn perusing our lakeside garden at daybreak.

The BRC workshop wishes all our readers good health and peace.

Vega Martin Stories

Bicentennial Banjo Revisited

May 23, 2020

From the BRC Mailbox:

Dear Reader- Thank you for sharing the detailed photographs of your mint-condition Vega Martin V-76 banjo and its documents. This model of a commemorative 5-stringer and its matching D-76 guitar celebrated the US Bicentennial year of 1976 and represented C.F. Martin`s first foray into a limited edition series. The company planned to manufacture a total of seventy-six V-76 banjos as well as 1,976 issues of the D-76 guitar.

The outer rim of the banjo resonator had a unique strip of herring bone marquetry, and there were thirteen mother of pearl (MOP) stars on the fretboard representing the original 13 colonies. Engraved on the tailpiece and truss rod cover was the number “76.”

There was a MOP eagle on the peg head, and also on the back of the resonator. A commemorative brass plaque with the owner`s name and special Bicentennial production number of the banjo (#53 in your case) was placed on the back of the headstock, and these data were entered into the Martin Archives.

Your banjo with its factory serial number 1577, located on the interior of the rim, was one of a lot of sixty V-76 banjos built in early 1976 per Shop Order 2287 in Nazareth, PA. According to the Shop log book, a total of eighty-one V-76 instruments were ultimately made, as well as an additional seven V-76E banjos designated for employees only.

C.F. Martin overestimated the market for the V-76 and D-76 instruments, and both were overpriced. This eventuated in an unsold inventory for the factory and its distributors. My spouse reflects that the marketplace was likely still clouded by the turmoil of the recent Vietnam Conflict. Having served active duty military in the late 1970`s, I proffer that this theory may well be explanatory. The Martin Company was thereafter wary to venture into limited edition series for years. C. F. Martin did not publish its suggested retail prices after 1971, so the original price tag on the V-76 is not readily known. At this writing, the factory is currently shuttered because of the pandemic, and maybe you could email them after they reopen to ask if their Archives might shed any light on the 1976 pricing data for the V-76 banjo.

Because of the pristine condition and thorough documentation of your instrument, my estimate is that its current worth in about $1.7K. Hope this helps.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and be picking this holiday weekend, and be thankful to our service men and women.