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mattn - Posted - 11/08/2009: 07:10:53
Right around Halloween time, my banjo became haunted. Here's a lutherie mystery for the season:
I've got a JB which has been played hard; there are small divots in the fretboard, the bone nut is starting to splinter, and the bridge is getting some real abuse from a Kershner tailpiece cranked way down. This banjo has a short, wide neck and high action, and the same goatskin head it started its life with. The tuners are Five-Stars, which have been stripped down to bare brass. It carries medium heavy strings with a phosphor bronze 4th. I keep it on a wall hanger which does not touch the tuners, but sometimes they get bumped going in or out of the hanger.
Here's where the ghost comes in. Earlier that day we had played a radio show and ended the set with an F tune. For this particular tune, I like to tune the banjo down a whole step. The strings get very floppy and buzzy, but it works OK for a short while. A few hours after getting home, I was playing around and went to tune up to G-ish. I was just doing it by ear and got the banjo almost right. Everything sounds in tune. The only thing that is off is the 4th string, which sounds maybe a quarter step too low.
So I turn the knob a bit and check. Hmm, it still sounds a bit too low. Turn the knob again. Still sounds low (by about the same amount!?) Repeat two more times. All the while, I can feel the string tension increasing (or is it my imagination?). Finally, I check the 3rd string against the second to discover... it was two steps sharp!
That is, while I was tuning my fourth string, some phantom was tuning my third string up by the exact same amount!
I've played the banjo plenty since then, and the ghost hasn't returned.
Today, I realized that there is no such thing as ghosts. Can you figure out what was going on?
Matt
NDJohn - Posted - 11/08/2009: 07:19:18
Matt,
I'm afraid I have no immediate answer or help for you, but I just can't wait for Mike Gregory to find this thread... :-)
Best,
John
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Miller
ej.miller@ndsu.edu or ejmiller@ideaone.net
Edited by - NDJohn on 11/08/2009 07:19:37
Dogfeathers - Posted - 11/08/2009: 08:04:27
Matt,
I think that your JB banjo is indeed haunted. This can be a very dangerous situation and the safest way to deal with this is to send it to me. I perform exorcisms on haunted JB banjos, but the process requires that I keep it for several years to be sure that it does not get "re-possessed". Don't be fooled by the any resemblance of a temporary recovery, it is indeed possessed and you may be in harms way. Save yourself and your band mates while you can. The area where you live in the Finger Lakes region is famous for banjo possessions. Richie Stearns may be able to confirm this. Contact me off list to make arrangements for shipping.
Happy Frails,
Dogfeathers
SF Bay Area
Edited by - Dogfeathers on 11/08/2009 08:09:37
fynger - Posted - 11/08/2009: 08:38:07
Fynger Lakes ??
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Have you hugged your Banjo today ?
Polle Flaunoe - Posted - 11/08/2009: 09:09:14
Matt,
I don´t believe in any Gods, Angles, Ghosts, Phantoms, Santa etc. - but I´ve still experienced the same mystery as you several times - LOL!
However - it turned out every time, that it was me turning the wrong peg. He-He!
Kindly regards
Polle
mike gregory - Posted - 11/08/2009: 09:20:41
quote:
Originally posted by NDJohn
Matt,
I'm afraid I have no immediate answer or help for you, but I just can't wait for Mike Gregory to find this thread... :-)
Best,
John
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Miller
ej.miller@ndsu.edu or ejmiller@ideaone.net
Found it. On a purely practical level, if there's no such thing as a "Ghost", what do I ask for, over at the video store, when I want one movie with Demi Moore, Patrick Sawyze, and Whoopi Golbderg in it? On a banjo-related level, tuning a banjo should be done with the same precision one might wish to exercise in a crowded restroom during power failure at a Nudist's Convention. Before you start twisting,be absolutely certain that you haven't grabbed the wrong knob.
mattn - Posted - 11/08/2009: 09:52:42
I am shocked that any of you could think that I was turning the wrong knob! What of the oft-touted exceptional intelligence of the banjo player?
Don't forget, I was turning one knob but two strings went up in pitch. Clear evidence of paranormal activity.
As for the haunted banjos of the Finger Lakes, this JB indeed used to belong to Richie. Maybe he realized it was haunted before he passed it along...
mike gregory - Posted - 11/08/2009: 09:57:54
Never having been in a restroom during a blackout, I have no authority upon which to have based my advice.
I withdraw that portion of my response.
Now, what do you suggest I do about getting the right video?
Dogface - Posted - 11/08/2009: 10:14:12
I had the same thing happen to me on my Ode tenor. What it turned out to be was a slipping tuner. It kept wrapping wire around the peg but was slipping inside causing it to go flat right away... Eventually I kept breaking strings. I replaced that tuner and all is fine.
Thanks,
Mark
If there are no dogs in heaven then when I die I want to go where they went...
Will Rogers
fynger - Posted - 11/08/2009: 10:23:19
Watch a dif'rent movie Mike
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Have you hugged your Banjo today ?
mike gregory - Posted - 11/08/2009: 12:08:03
quote:
Originally posted by fynger
Watch a dif'rent movie Mike
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Have you hugged your Banjo today ?
What other movie has all three of them in the same film?
uncle.fogey - Posted - 11/08/2009: 14:12:14
Going on a pilgrimage to Trumansburg sounds like the right idea. There is a very high waterfall Tunkannock fall) there, and I believe that if you were to tune the banjo to the sound of that waterfall and play a few tunes as dictated by the sound of the water, the problem would be exorcised. (you would have to change your strings after doing that)
A man wouldn't need many plastic heads in a lifetime.
Kenneth Logsdon - Posted - 11/08/2009: 15:53:19
???no problem, just tune a couple guitars and you'll notice the same effect...!
KL
BTuno - Posted - 11/08/2009: 16:54:37
I can honestly say Mike made me LOL! Very funny, and prolly right on point, as usual!
3fingers - Posted - 11/08/2009: 16:56:50
This should be handled with extreme caution. During the design phase of these banjos some aspects were "borrowed " from Ivo Shandor especially in the metals used both in the pot and the truss rod and while not probable it is possible that what you have there is a kind of Gozer cell phone. A direct line to Gozer the Gozerian. So please be very careful especially if Gozer takes the shape of a giant Sloar and just remember if Gozer asks you if you are a god remember to say YES.
Craig
http://www.myspace.com/borrowedtyme2
Come along down to the barnyard lets have us a little banjer pickin
Jeremiah 6:16
Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8 10:9, 10:13, 1st John 5:10-13.
mike gregory - Posted - 11/08/2009: 18:22:08
"Goll-lee, Sargeant!
All I did was ask him if he was a god!"
-Gozer Pyle, USMC-
mastertone250 - Posted - 11/08/2009: 20:34:08
who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!...Love that movie
"Surround Yourself With Good Muscians". -J.D Crowe
“Nobody is a legend, we all put our pants on one leg at a time.” - Sonny Osborne
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