BRC Events

Using his long neck banjo and a customer`s newly acquired instrument as teaching tools, the BRC founder (center in photo) was an invited speaker at this month`s meeting of the Midwest Woodworkers Association. He lectured the assembled craftsmen on his 4 R`s of banjo building:

1. The banjo must look right and have an aesthetic charm appealing to the personality of the owner.
2.  The instrument must feel right to the buyer. The BRC open back model weighs only 4 lbs., and this entry level lightweight can be easily handled by beginner students.
3. The fingerboard must  play right with low `action` of the strings. The fretboard is the dance floor where the digits, like the legs of a ballet dancer, must be able to accomplish their tasks with comfort, ease, and accuracy.
4. The instrument must sound right to the expectations of the customer. The BRC open back models have a woody, chubby sound preferred by clawhammer enthusiasts, and the resonator banjos have featured a snappy pop favored by Bluegrass pickers.

After a Q&A session, the BRC founder concluded the presentation by performing his `Variations on Greensleeves` on the MWA member`s new banjo (left center). In a very cordial thank-you note a few days later,  an executive officer of the Association graciously reported, “Your deep musical knowledge, your fine workmanship, and your good cheer have inspired us all”.

As winter closes in upon the Heartland, the BRC workshop staff wishes all our faithful readers overflowing blessings of the Holiday Season. Enjoy the recent local press clipping about the Banjo Rehabilitation Center in the below link.

http://www.voxmagazine.com/music/two-local-luthiers-revive-banjos-and-mandolins/article_b9046154-5f94-5f3f-83b5-b01b557ad825.html

Since the BRC homepage was first uploaded online in April of 2011, the website has accrued 500K visits. The workshop staff thanks our faithful readers and the Vega Martin Banjo Info mailbox correspondents for frequenting the BRC. To celebrate this special milestone, we are introducing the `Starry Night` model 5-string starter banjo. The designation of this objet d`art is a natural because “Van Gogh” rhymes with “banjo”.

The famous celestial `Starry Night` canvas was limned in 1889, only a few years after the banjo club at a prominent women`s college in Boston was photographed as seen below (click to enlarge). The celebrated  Van Gogh painting was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in 1941.

To further salute our 0.5M site visits, we share a few delightful comments left by gracious readers in our Vega Martin Banjo Info mailbox:

In the process of searching for other banjo information, I unexpectedly- and joyfully stumbled upon your site…fascinating.  Tom, May, 2014

What a cool specialized page! -Ander, July, 2014

Great information and even better advice. -Bob, July, 2014

Keep up the great job and helping promote the legacy of Martin made Vega banjos. -Ron, August, 2014

I`m happy to find Banjorehab as it is the first site I`ve seen to have useful information on Vega-Martin banjos. -Mike, Sept., 2014

Thanks for all the helpful information. Found your site while looking for more banjos like mine. -Roger, June, 2015

Hello. Just found this wonderful site. Thank you for all the information. -Robert, June, 2015

P.S. In closure to this special webpage occasion, the BRC founder was designated a ‘banjo whisperer’ by our young workshop Director of R&D (yellow suit) for repairing or restoring 24 banjos since the inception of the website.

In the Show-Me State, the musings and writings of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) are revered as canon. With another birthday milestone approaching and bringing the BRC founder deeper into the uncharted terrains of senior citizenry, he turns to a philosophical  assessment by Missouri`s favorite son who summed-up this journey:

“Old age is mind over matter. If you don`t mind, it doesn`t matter.”

 At a recent  and  pre-birthday business meeting, the BRC founder painstakingly briefed our youthful CEO on projected FY2015 budgetary shortfalls. Grim  austerity measures and workshop staff down-sizing were proffered but discarded by the ever-optimistic CEO who recharged the flagging esprit de corps of all BRC personnel with another  timeless injunction

“When you want genuine music–music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whiskey, go right through you like Brandreth’s pills, ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pin-feather pimples on a picked goose,–when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!”- Mark Twain, San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle, June 23, 1865.

Reader Quiz: Because of his wit and iconic authorship,  what is the definition of a gentleman attributed to humorist Twain? Answer below.

Header Note: “..twixt us twain…” (meaning `between us two`) from Act 2, Scene 1, Taming of the Shrew by Will Shakespeare.

Quiz Answer:  A gentleman is someone who knows how to play the banjo and doesn`t.

 Check-out 2 Comments

For his first accomplishment in BRC Research and Development, our new director (pictured below) has developed the Peace Dove K model banjo for kids. This throwback instrument has features of a late 19th century classic 5 stringer. As the old-fashioned neck has no truss rod and will bend with metal strings, the instrument is outfitted with gut strings- which are gentle on little fingers.  Made in Italy by Aquila, modern Nylgut strings are applied and tuned to low E. This gives the banjo a funky low-down sound probably  reminiscent of the minstrel days.

The neck is figured with fluttering mother of pearl doves, and a large snowy bird carries the international peace sign on the peghead (click to enlarge).

The interior of the cherry pot is rimmed with shiny  washers to make the back of the banjo equally  interesting to young eyes.

At the base of the neck, it is planned to have each pot laser-etched with the owner`s name (e.g., `For Bubba`) followed by the Latin inscription: Pax doveum banjus per enfanti which roughly translates `Peace Dove banjo for kids`. This 5 stringer is light weight and suitable for years of wall-hanging until little fingers grow big enough to fret the fingerboard. Watch for it on eBay.

The BRC founder and his  band performed their annual Holiday gig on the psychiatric ward of the university hospital this week with songfests for the adult and children patients.  Starting with a jazzy  `Greensleeves` instrumental, the staff and patients were entertained with a mixture of Seasonal singalongs and Bluegrass standards.

From the our archives, we pause to offer a Yuletide greeting card (Cleo Inc., A Gibson Greeting) sent to the BRC founder about 20 years ago by a boyhood pal and fellow musician. It is one of our favorite treasures, and we hope you enjoy it and all your Seasonal remembrances.

The workshop staff wishes its faithful readers a a Prosperous and Healthy New Year.

All the Best pickin` in 2015.