Archives:

Bio

Zooming Banjos

April 25, 2020

As challenging public health issues make us homebodies, the BRC founder and spouse interact with grandchildren and their parents in Texas, Illinois, and Missouri, simultaneously via Zoom link-up.

Strumming his long neck Ode banjo, granddad leads the virtual family reunions in sing alongs of familiar animated kids` tunes. The youngsters happily dance on the sofa at home while moms and dads join the grandparents in a noisy and spirited chorus of “You are My Sunshine.”

The lakeside BRC domicile, where our kids grew up and the grandchildren visit each summer, has an almost year-round audio backdrop of a noisy flock of Canada geese. These honking avians recently vanished from the neighborhood leaving a discernible silence.

Only a Great Blue Heron, a couple of hawks, and an occasional bald eagle now patrol the silent waters. Canada goose couples are monogamous, and the March through May nesting season explains their disappearance and quietude. The female goose builds the nest and incubates the eggs, and the gander guards it. Sometime soon, the newly expanded families will proudly ply our lake in linear flotillas of fuzzy goslings bracketed by noisy and watchful parental honkers.

In the meantime, the grandkids send artful notes of appreciation to Grandpa Doc between the Zoom songfests.

Hopefully, our grandchildren will be able to revisit these familiar Missouri environs sometime this summer and watch the goslings growing-up.

In these uncertain times, the BRC founder wishes all our readers Peace and good health. Stay positive and don’t let those strings get rusty.

BRC Activities

Gear-Up the 5th

April 11, 2020

Vintage banjos from yesteryear feature a friction type non geared 5th string tuning peg with a 1:1 ratio as seen in this original nickel-plated tuner on a Vega Martin VIP-5 banjo manufactured in 1975. Some collectors prefer to leave these original parts in place to sustain the value of a classic instrument.

As seen in this 1994 gold-plated Stelling “Masterflower” 5-stringer, modern banjos come routinely out-fitted with a 5th peg bearing a rounded gear box with fine-tuning ratios.

In his workshop experience of installing modern geared 5th string tuning pegs, the BRC founder has encountered a couple of banjos in which it was discovered that the truss rod within the interior of the neck was oddly positioned and blocked proper seating of a contemporary tuner. When inserting a newer tuning device, the BRC craftsman prefers that the rim of its rounded gear box sits firmly on the outward slope of the neck at the fifth fret. This facilitates the geared tuner to be stable and snugly secured in the peg hole which has been lined with a mix of wood glue and sawdust. Rubber band compression protects its alignment during an overnight drying phase.

On the rare occasion when the truss rod preempts proper seating of the new tuning peg, the BRC founder fashions a wooden collar to act as a spacer and stabilize the replacement tuner. Shaped somewhat like a signet ring, this collar is constructed by stacking thin layers (about 1.8 mm thick) of maple veneer united with wood glue. The buttressed “Show-Me” ring is then gently sculpted with sand paper.

The above vintage 1968-69 Baldwin C banjo originally came from the factory with an old fashioned 1:1 ratio friction 5th tuner, but the truss rod location prevented proper seating of a replacement geared tuning peg. The Show-Me collar was installed to stabilize the new 5th string tuner and is hardly visible to the viewer.

On the underside of the Baldwin C neck, the buttress of the ringed Show-Me collar is barely detectable to the eyes of the musician and does not interfere with musicianship.

The above banjos are part of his antique and active instrument collection, and the BRC founder wishes all our readers to be safe and be well. Peace.

CD songs

Hard Times Come Again No More

March 28, 2020

A very nice lady who purchased a BRC banjo forwarded a playful “sign of the times” to our workshop offering a moment of mirth in these uncertain days which are reflected in a classic and familiar tune.

It’s a song a sigh of the weary/ Hard Times, Hard Times come again no more

Many days you have lingered around my cabin door/ Oh, Hard Times come again no more

Thank you, Stephen Foster (1826-1864) who also wrote the banjo favorite “Angelina the Baker.”

Attached is a sound file of an optimistic song written and performed by the BRC founder to help cheer us through this difficult pandemic terrain (copyright 2005). Enjoy “Show Me a Smile.”

 

One day last week, temperatures in our town climbed up to 77 degrees bathing the newly blossomed daffodils and tulips trees in sunshine. In the lake behind the BRC workshop, fish reappeared from their wintry depths to feed in the clear shallows. Joggers on the shoreline paths nodded cheerfully to standoffish dog owners waving hello while walking their pets. Neighbors chatted from afar. It was a bright spring day that whispered sometime ahead we will reemerge from these confinements and recapture our future. Meanwhile, we must “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life.”– The Carter Family

From the homefront, the BRC founder wishes our readers Peace and good health.

Art Shows

A Busy Season

March 21, 2020

The BRC workshop produced a couple of 5-stringers for exhibition at the community art gallery this Spring. The “Terrapin” banjo was donated to a fund-raising Patron Party in support of the Art League. Surprisingly, it was conspicuously displayed as a frontispiece on a central pillar at the entrance of the exhibit hall. The Terrapin will be raffled-off at a gala auction that has now been postponed.

Also this later Spring, the gallery is opening a juried show entitled “Visual Mixtape” that has challenged members to submit entries mirroring the master artists who influenced their works.

The BRC founder has entered a “High Lonesome Sound” banjo to reflect the unique sonic quality of Bluegrass music and its distinctive lineage of pioneer musicians like Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and the Stanley Brothers.

Amidst the tuning pegs on the headstock is a treble clef that is pierced by a bolt of lightening and surmounted by the profile of a wolf`s visage.

Clawed wolf paw prints track along the fretboard among gold stars and paua abalone treble clefs.

For the eyes only of the musician, the “Hi-Lo-So” banjo neck has a large paw print on its heel which is a signature location for a mother of pearl inlay on BRC 5-stringers.

By request, the Art League has asked for a small photo of the artist who influenced each member`s submission to be posted with the work in the now rescheduled exhibit. The BRC founder provided a picture of himself taken at a banjo camp with Grammy Award winner Eric Weissberg- his boyhood banjo hero.

Banjo Kid Pledge, G&F Band

The Banjo Kid Pledge

February 27, 2020

During our Sunday afternoon benefit performances at the local brewpub, parents often bring their children to the bandstand to see and hear live music up close.

In between songs, the BRC founder will step down from the mini stage to greet the families and encourage the kids to freely strum his banjo. When the child becomes acquainted with the instrument and the parents have photoed the fun interaction, he then offers the youngsters to take “The Banjo Kid Pledge.” With their right hands raised, the children are invited to recite, ” I promise to always do what my Mom and Dad say.” The new inductees are then instructed, “You are now a Banjo Kid forever.”

Although non binding, this oath extends into adulthood and can be renewed on any Sunday afternoon. The above siblings recently returned with their parents to the brewpub brunch to reprise their recitation of the aforesaid vow. As they posed for the above ceremonial picture, a woman dining at the adjacent table pleasantly surprised us with her fashionable banjo earrings, and she took a photo of the kids` pledge reenactment. She then made a generous donation to the Children`s Hospital in the open banjo case stationed for tips in front of the G&F bandstand.