Jean-Louis - Posted - 11/23/2012:  15:21:59

does anyone have any idea about the maker of Django Reinhardt's banjo? thank you.

revellfa - Posted - 11/23/2012:  15:30:32

Guitar-banjo it looks like to me. No idea of the maker but somebody will probably know.

5stringpicker2 - Posted - 11/23/2012:  20:11:31

Looks like an English Banjo called a Zither. It actually has 5 strings with the 6 peg not used.

google.com/search?hl=en&su...gSj44DABw

( I  )====='----<::)

rcmoore - Posted - 11/23/2012:  20:56:43

At first glance I too thought that might be a zither style banjo. But on closer inspection, and looking at a better quality photo of that same pose, it almost certainly is a banjo-guitar. The instrument in this picuture appears to have a standard size head. Zither banjos from that time period almost always had an 8 inch or smaller head. Also,there are several references stating that he played a banjo-guitar. I have no idea who might have made the instrument.
Bob Moore

banjocollector - Posted - 11/23/2012:  23:48:04

The shape of the peg head looks typically French, and the fingerboard looks as if it could be plastic?

The hoop looks interesting.

Nothing I see in that photo says made in England.

Derek

banjocollector

banjonz - Posted - 11/24/2012:  01:05:33

quote:

---

Originally posted by banjocollector

The shape of the peg head looks typically French, and the fingerboard looks as if it could be plastic?



The hoop looks interesting.



Nothing I see in that photo says made in England.



Derek



banjocollector

---

I concur! To me it looks like a 12" or larger pot, slotted peghead with standard hooks. The reso looks like it comes up almost up to the top of the tension band.

skip sail - Posted - 11/24/2012:  05:56:38

yep.its a different beast than it first appears in the photo. Unusual thing,probably awful to play,which is why Django set fire to it,unfortunately the plastic head was highly flammable,a terrible conflagration ensued,and Djangos banjo pickin' fingers were burnt off,neccesitating a switch to guitar.

banjocollector - Posted - 11/24/2012:  06:46:32

Skip,

It is a 6 string guitar banjo.

I don't think he ever played 5 string or plectrum - but what a what a player!

Derek

banjocollector

JRushing - Posted - 11/24/2012:  07:33:24

6 string guitar banjos were popular with the jazz crowd, gypsy and otherwise, long before there revival in pop-country. I would assume it would be in a quest for volume in that setting.

Edited by - JRushing on 11/24/2012 07:34:12

Ernest M - Posted - 11/24/2012:  08:01:15

Wikipedia knows all: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt

Banjo guitar

Jean-Louis - Posted - 11/24/2012:  08:53:10

There is no doubt that Django was playing a 6-string guitar. There are early recordings of him to document this. The question is: what is the make of the instrument in the picture?

Rettro - Posted - 11/24/2012:  13:29:13

Your question as to who made Django Reinhardt's banjo guitar got under my skin.  So I asked my friend Dick Spottswood, that walking encyclopedia of musical history.  He did not know for sure but says that a number of those instruments were being made around 1927 and used in recordings.  He says Gibson made some in 1927.  My research on Google shows that there were a number of British makers.  Dick tells me that Papa Charlie Jackson recorded Salty Dog Blues with a six string banjo guitar and that that version of the song did not have a chorus.  He says that Sam McGee recorded with a banjo guitar along with Uncle Dave Macon.  He also says that Sylvester Weaver who wrote Steel Guitar Rag recorded with a banjo guitar.  He tells me that during the time that Django Reinhardt was making those recordings, he was poor and living in a Paris neighborhood.  The recordings were made with his musically talented neighbors.  I would assume that he would not have the financial wherewithal to own a Gibson instrument and it is more likely one of these older European makers: John Abbott, Van Allen, and many many others. 

Jean-Louis - Posted - 11/24/2012:  14:52:18

Here is another picture taken in France in the 1930's to add to the banjo-guitar topic. Any idea about the make of this banjo The player?