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CW HARTER - Posted - 10/24/2010: 22:57:40
Ok I am new to the Banjo world and being stuck in Alaska away from the world. I keep seeing "PER WAR banjo" my question is and it should have be asked before I am shure. What War and why is pre war so emportant.
steve davis - Posted - 10/24/2010: 23:03:20
All brass was needed for the war effort(WW2),so materials became scarce...especially the highest quality metals after 1941.
CW HARTER - Posted - 10/24/2010: 23:12:00
So the Per War means it has a Brass tone ring or other parts and because Brass is a good toner the banjo would sound differant. So there must be a time when the brass came back! So the banjos that where made in the time of the brass shortage must have been made with steel? or some other metal that was not as emportant to the war effort.... thanks
Bill Rogers - Posted - 10/24/2010: 23:51:13
Do a search on "pre-war" and you'll find all you possibly want to know in previous posts, many of them archived.
dmiller - Posted - 10/25/2010: 00:05:01
quote:
Originally posted by CW HARTER
Ok I am new to the Banjo world and being stuck in Alaska away from the world. I keep seeing "PER WAR banjo" my question is and it should have be asked before I am shure. What War and why is pre war so emportant.
"Pre-War" as pertains to bluegrass instruments, refers to instruments made before WWII.
Emiel - Posted - 10/25/2010: 02:28:51
This is referred to most often in relation to Gibson banjos. After WWII the quality of Gibson banjos came to a decline. The banjos just didn't have that (or one of those) pre-war sound(s) any longer. With the beginning of the so-called Greg Rich Era the quality standards were restored. If you want to know more about that "Era", do some searching here on the Banjo Hangout...
Edited by - Emiel on 10/25/2010 02:29:15
beegee - Posted - 10/25/2010: 05:04:33
Actually, I never heard the term applied to banjos until many years after I heard it applied to Martin guitars. There was a definite difference in Martins made prior to 1945 and the notion caught on. It eventually caught on in the banjo world and morphed into a characterization of tonal quality and quality of construction and materials rather than a chronological category. There are a lot of ebay sellers who use the term "pre-war" for any old banjo made in the 20's-40's even though the term doesn't mean much outside the world of Gibson bluegrass banjos and those made to emulate them.
The Old Timer - Posted - 10/25/2010: 07:17:52
I was hearing about "pre-war" banjos in the late 1960s, when they started to be copied outright by a number of luthiers and parts suppliers. I too wondered "which war?", I was just a kid.
banjer5 - Posted - 10/25/2010: 08:41:32
Fascinating subject "pre-war" and one that has been visited often here. It actually pertains mostly to Gibson's banjos and the war is WWII. I (among other thousands) sought one for years. I've now got mine (a 1932 TB3) and some REAL collectors like Jim Mills have a stable full of them.
Fred
Ronnie - Posted - 10/25/2010: 08:45:23
5 string banjos weren't popular in the 1930's and they didn't make very many. Most you see are copies or plectrum or tenor banjo conversions.
Edited by - Ronnie on 10/25/2010 08:46:01
f5loar - Posted - 10/25/2010: 09:02:17
Earl played one.............nuff said. that's all you need to know about them there prewars.
bhrb75 - Posted - 10/25/2010: 12:46:29
Earl who?
El Dobro - Posted - 10/25/2010: 15:47:38
Earl Scheib, he'll play any banjo for $39.95.
vtyankee5 - Posted - 10/26/2010: 04:01:56
Earl Scheib closed his doors in July 2010. Shops are now independently owned.
pickNgrin - Posted - 10/26/2010: 05:21:39
WWII was a turning point in American manufacturing... materials, processes, manpower, you name it, they all changed. If you search a while on the phrase "pre war" you will find that a lot of collectors look for pre war stuff:
instruments
cars
guns
pinball machines
coke machines
phonographs
model trains
dolls
the list goes on and on
Basically, if it is manufactured and collectable, the prewar stuff tends to be the most desirable to collectors.
-matt
BlueBanjo28 - Posted - 10/26/2010: 06:34:13
some will swear up and down that the metals were different back then. I don't see how. An element is an element. Then, a fellow shipyard worker (older guy) told me that the old battleships
with the thick hull had steel that was different than the steel we have today. It gets harder because of the carbon they used in it to get the oxidation out. Now they use some other oxidation
remover.
pickNgrin - Posted - 10/26/2010: 08:39:46
quote:
Originally posted by BlueBanjo28
some will swear up and down that the metals were different back then. I don't see how. An element is an element.
An element is an element, that is true, but the alloys and the smelting process could be significantly different.
-matt
bobbybanjo - Posted - 10/26/2010: 14:16:58
And both wood and metal aged! No telling how much difference that makes with banjos; aged wood sure made a difference with violins!
steve davis - Posted - 10/26/2010: 14:36:04
I'm pretty sure the pre wars today sound much "bigger" than they did
when they were first made.
Age of wood helps a lot.
NYCJazz - Posted - 10/26/2010: 16:45:51
The "prewar" era was also the golden age of banjo innovation.
• the drone string was dropped.
• Steel strings became standard.
• The resonator became a standard feature.
• Many different tone rings were developed.
The banjo, in the Jazz era of the twenties, was the most mainstream of American stringed instruments, The banjo outsold the guitar until well into the thirties. There was money to be made in the design and manufacture of high quality, innovative instruments.
In the postwar era, Bluegrass emerged as a dominant era of banjo use. By that time, manufacturing quality in the USA had declined, or moved overseas. The banjo had become an important niche instrument.
I think it is a shame that so much importance has been put on these classic instruments, rather than the building of new ones. American craftspeople of today should be celebrated and supported (and not just the ones who make copy necks!)
