Roy5string - Posted - 04/05/2013:  11:15:39

I know its only been a year since the loss of Earl

but has anyone heard what will happen to his Granada.

I hope it gets put on display at a proper place and not

sold to the highest bidder.

Thanks

Roy

Oalbrets - Posted - 04/05/2013:  11:35:45

I have been told that Randy has the Granada.

kmwaters - Posted - 04/05/2013:  12:45:14

I heard that too. I was expecting that at some point it would go to the memorial in Shelby NC that they built for Earl.  I think they actually call it the Earl Scruggs Center and was formerly a courthouse.

Edited by - kmwaters on 04/05/2013 12:46:53

RB3WREATH - Posted - 04/05/2013:  12:57:21

Lets stop this discussion before it gets out of hand again. Randy Scruggs is Earl's son!! he plays the banjo it doesn't belong on display.

Joe

Steven M - Posted - 04/05/2013:  13:47:36

Morbid topic, let it rest.

Randy Escobedo - Posted - 04/05/2013:  14:05:02

One day when Earl's family wishes it will be in the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

Roy5string - Posted - 04/05/2013:  14:11:57

I was just asking a question about the most famous

banjo of all time.I don't understand what is morbid

about this.I don't see these kind of replies when Don

Reno's banjo is discussed.Thank you Randy for telling

us it will be in the country hall of fame someday.

Roy

Oalbrets - Posted - 04/05/2013:  14:19:30

You didn't do anything wrong Roy, I wouldn't sweat it. It was only a question.

Jeffmontana - Posted - 04/05/2013:  17:09:05

I think it would honor Earl's memory if the banjo were used to make some new recordings. 

pick it - Posted - 04/05/2013:  18:27:55

quote:

---

Originally posted by RB3WREATH

 

Lets stop this discussion before it gets out of hand again. Randy Scruggs is Earl's son!! he plays the banjo it doesn't belong on display.

Joe

---

so don't reply,don't sensor others.

Hankon5 - Posted - 04/05/2013:  22:09:33

I thot Roy had a nice point! It would be an honor to see Ear'l banjo ai his memorial museum. No mater where it is, it is a legendary axe to view or be played with respect for the master.

banjo.A - Posted - 04/05/2013:  22:58:17

I see nothing morbid about this topic at all, I would think most if not all of the people on the hangout would want to know whats happening with that famous banjo. Adam...

Emiel - Posted - 04/06/2013:  01:27:12

Nothing morbid at all. Now, if this discussion took place before Earl died, there would be some morbidity... And I think we had those discussions here...

RB3WREATH - Posted - 04/06/2013:  03:55:28

quote:

---

Originally posted by pick it

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by RB3WREATH

 

Lets stop this discussion before it gets out of hand again. Randy Scruggs is Earl's son!! he plays the banjo it doesn't belong on display.

Joe

---

so don't reply,don't sensor others.

---

This is in response to the thread that started like this the day after Earl died.

Arch Stanton - Posted - 04/06/2013:  22:05:44

I can't see why some people freak out and get on the "morbid" rant just because it's Earl Scruggs.  I mean, nobody thought it was morbid and weird when Steve Martin announced he was buying John Hartfords banjo.  Is it just the "Earl" thing?   Is it less morbid to see Steve on stage playing a dead guys banjo than it is to ask a question about Earl's on a forum?

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 04/06/2013:  23:17:49

quote:

---

Originally posted by Arch Stanton

 

I can't see why some people freak out and get on the "morbid" rant just because it's Earl Scruggs.  I mean, nobody thought it was morbid and weird when Steve Martin announced he was buying John Hartfords banjo.  Is it just the "Earl" thing?   Is it less morbid to see Steve on stage playing a dead guys banjo than it is to ask a question about Earl's on a forum?

---

Well, when you stop to think about it, just about every one of us that's currently playing a prewar of any sort is pretty much sure to be playing a "dead man's banjo".  (And I can't speak for anyone else, but after I'm gone I hope somebody -or several somebodies- continue to play the heck out of mine until they turn to dust.)

But the reason some folks are unhappy with this thread is that the last time it came around -shortly after Earl's passing- there were some harsh words exchanged by posters who felt that they knew best what should happen to Earl's banjo; and not much of anyone wanted to compromise or listen to the other guy's viewpoint at all.

That doesn't seem to be the case this time around.   (Thank goodness.)

~Pete

phb - Posted - 04/07/2013:  01:52:23

What I cannot understand is that people don't seem to think about the obvious: Earl Scruggs most probably included his banjo in his Last Will and opinions about what should happen to it don't matter at all.

SWCooper - Posted - 04/07/2013:  04:17:46

Knowing Earl, he flat left it to Randy,  and Randy will have to decide. If it were me, I'd keep ownership but loan it to the Scruggs museum or the Hall of Fame, so I didn't have to worry about possession of such a valuable artifact. But, it's not me.

I have a lot of old banjos, one of which clearly belonged to a professional and was played many hundreds of hours. I do find it strange to own something that intimate that belonged to a dead guy. I don't care what happens to my instruments after I die, but I am tempted to leave a note about myself with my favorites. Maybe tuck it under the truss rod cover.

wbelm - Posted - 04/07/2013:  06:26:32

Roy this is a fine question and topic, one of interest to many of us. I have heard some stuff, but could not post it at this time. Maybe something will be made public fairly soon. This thread could serve to help this along. Being a huge Scruggs fan, I would love and expect the Granada to be preserved and displayed for public enjoyment. As usual Sarah said it well.

You guys that think the subject is inappropriate, stay out of it and let us enjoy it. Go play your banjo or something.

rdawsoniii - Posted - 04/07/2013:  08:07:32

Personally, I would hate to see Earl's banjo in a museum....except for short periods of time in special displays.

A fine banjo like Earl's should be played....not retired and just looked at.

SWCooper - Posted - 04/07/2013:  08:36:31

I honestly don't know how good a banjo that would be in anyone else's hands. Has anyone at the Hangout ever played it, or heard someone else play it?

Rick Polston - Posted - 04/07/2013:  09:28:44

The Scruggs Family will let it be known when they are ready - until that time we all have the ability to enjoy it through videos and recordings  ;-)

Jeffmontana - Posted - 04/07/2013:  10:16:51

I would really be interested in playing the banjo. I played a $212,000 Loar mandolin. It just sounded like me playing my $600 Eastman. I suspect if I played Earls banjo I would also be underwhelmed.

Turnabout945 - Posted - 04/07/2013:  10:19:04

Musical instrument museums really turn me off.  Grab the Canon 5D, take a picture of it with the 50mm f/1.2 L lens, make a life size print of it, and put that in the museum.  Or make a replica if someone thinks it needs to be in a museum that bad.  If it's good enough to be in a museum, it'd be even better if someone was playing it.

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 04/07/2013:  10:33:00

quote:

---

Originally posted by SWCooper

 

I don't care what happens to my instruments after I die, but I am tempted to leave a note about myself with my favorites. Maybe tuck it under the truss rod cover.

---

A rather short note full of tension, then?

~Pete

Jeffmontana - Posted - 04/07/2013:  11:08:49

Has anyone here played Earl's banjo? Maybe it has had so much work on it over the years it is worn out.

grich - Posted - 04/07/2013:  12:08:14

Jeff

Your right it's had so much work done to it over the years that even I can make it sound bad ..... and that ain't good ! Cause Damn

larry p - Posted - 04/07/2013:  12:18:57

Earl 'wore it out' from 1948 until 2010, but it's a LONG ways from being 'worn out' - of that much I'm certain (unless something dreadful has happened to it in the last couple of years)...

lp

facebook.com/THE.BOOK.OF.EARL

Jeffmontana - Posted - 04/07/2013:  12:26:32

I forgot Greg Rich restored it. I am sure the banjo is fine. It would really be interesting to hear from people who have picked it. 

Steven M - Posted - 04/07/2013:  13:34:56

What an insensitive bunch...


YES IT IS MORBID,

How do you think the relatives would think about you all pawing over Earls instruments.

wbelm - Posted - 04/07/2013:  13:44:09

I have played it, way back when I was a kid in the Flatt and Scruggs days. Sounded like me playing a banjo. I know lots of professional and professional caliber banjoist that have played Earl's. They pretty much convey that Earl was the major factor in the sound and the tone. They also have heard Earl play their banjo only to hear that it sounded like Earl playing his Granada. Of course most of these guys were hearing Earl test drive their "30s flathead".

Earl has said that he nearly always, if not always, recorded with that same Granada, although several necks were used. For "Foggy Mountain Banjo", recorded in Nashville on August 11 and September 9, 1960, (which should be a National Holiday) Earl played with a mahogany neck (except for possibly Groundspeed, recorded in an earlier session January 1959) Seems as though he used another Granada while his was being Gibsoned up with refinish, bow-ties, etc.)

Jeffmontana - Posted - 04/07/2013:  13:57:24

It seems the banjo went through a lot. Different eras, necks and refinishing. The history is fascinating. 

Jeffmontana - Posted - 04/07/2013:  14:01:25

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steven M

 

What an insensitive bunch...





YES IT IS MORBID,



How do you think the relatives would think about you all pawing over Earls instruments.

 

I am interested because I emulate Earl. We discuss his banjo to get clues to be like him. His family should consider this an honor. We are not trying to buy his banjo. 



 

---

robbyboone - Posted - 04/07/2013:  16:18:15

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jeffmontana



I would really be interested in playing the banjo. I played a $212,000 Loar mandolin. It just sounded like me playing my $600 Eastman. I suspect if I played Earls banjo I would also be underwhelmed.

---

I can't say that you'd be underwhelmed.....it would be something just to touch the instrument and a person would have to be in awe just to be in it's presence, but you and Anderson have touched on an absolute truth. This has been discussed here many times but in this case it deserves yet another mention. When you hear Earl, J.D or anyone else play, you are hearing THEM and very little of the instrument. Anybody playing a quality instrument will pull themselves from it.......again, that's a QUALITY instrument, let's not try to compare a $200.00 Asian import to a pro level instrument. I never had the pleasure of playing Earl's Granada, but I have had the pleasure and honor of playing all three of J.D.'s prewars and Sonny's Style 3, Curtis's Betsy and a few others that I can't think of right now.......they ALL sounded amazing like my own banjo........I didn't hear the men that owned them in ANY of them, just me. Other side of the coin, when J.D. played my Style 3 it sounded exactly like J.D. I once sat in Frank Neat's shop and handed back and forth between J.D. and myself Franks Granada.........same banjo, TOTALLY different sounds coming from it. All this said to say that Earls Granada is the Holy Grail for how a flathead should sound in most our minds.......but ONLY in Earl's hands.

Robby

Edited by - robbyboone on 04/07/2013 16:24:34

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 04/07/2013:  19:38:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steven M

 

What an insensitive bunch...





YES IT IS MORBID,



How do you think the relatives would think about you all pawing over Earls instruments.

---

Wow.

Now if only someone had actually been "pawing over Earl's instruments" instead of just discussing his banjo,,,

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 04/07/2013:  19:42:37

quote:

---

Originally posted by SWCooper

 

I honestly don't know how good a banjo that would be in anyone else's hands. Has anyone at the Hangout ever played it, or heard someone else play it?

---

I plunked on it for about five minutes back in the mid '60s but I'm primarily a clawhammer player and it only impressed me as being a very heavy banjo that belonged to Earl Scruggs.

It was that last part that was special.

~Pete

Arch Stanton - Posted - 04/07/2013:  21:32:49

Well if it's "morbid" for some I suppose we should change the subject.

What are they gonna do with Earls '76 station wagon?   :)

SWCooper - Posted - 04/08/2013:  03:23:07

I'm sure I never touched it. Earl didn't take that banjo everywhere with him. In person, I probably heard Earl play somebody else's banjo more often than that one, usually whatever banjo my father had at the moment. The two of us were racking our brains the other day, trying to remember what that banjo was. He got a Baldwin in 1970, but before that...neither one of us can remember. It wouldn't have been good. Maybe something from Sears.

The point is, Earl always sounded like Earl. So much so, I hadn't really  thought about his banjo much until I started hanging out here.

Ebanjo - Posted - 04/08/2013:  14:45:37

Bill,
According to Jim Mills' book, Earl played a flat head style 3 when the Granada was sent back to Gibson. I just wonder if Earl recorded any tunes with it? The Granada sure sounded good woth the mahogany neck. Aw heck, it sounded great with any neck that was in it because right hand was doing the pickin'.
Eric Ellis

Ebanjo - Posted - 04/08/2013:  15:02:27

I meant 'with the mahogany neck" and " because of the right hand that was playing it". That's what I get for posting right before supper.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Eric Ellis

Edited by - Ebanjo on 04/08/2013 15:04:48

Roy5string - Posted - 04/08/2013:  15:55:23

This is a request for Mr.Larry Perkins.I'm sure Larry played the Granada many times and would like to ask how would you consider

the sound of Earl's banjo as just another pre war flathead.Please give me your impression on the sound of the banjo,not counting

Earl owned it and not Earl's right hand doing the picking.I would like to know how it would stack up against other great pre war flatheads.

Roy

Edited by - Roy5string on 04/08/2013 15:57:11

bbanjoboy - Posted - 04/12/2013:  06:39:21

Here's a couple things to mull over....

Since Earls banjo was purchased used, I would venture to say that at some point he was playing a 'dead guys banjo' so now, if it ends up being played, the player would actually be playing two dead guys banjo...

As far as mueums go, I can say this... I saw Bill Monroe many, many times.. he was my hero. I firmly believe that without Bill, we wouldn't have had Earl.. at least not in the same light as we do now.. Bill brought the music up a few keys and gave Earl a stage to present.. at any case, I was in awe of Bill.. still am. and so one day while in Nashville I thought I'd check out the hall of fame.. never had been there.. thought it would be all touristy.. but it was actually a quite pleasant experience. They had a lot more bluegrass stuff on display than I had imagined.. so I strolled through, checking it all out.. THEN almost at the end, I came to the case that had 3 or 4 instruments in it.. a real 'centerpiece' and low and behold, there was Bills mandolin.. I can't even remember what the other 2 or 3 guitars in the case were... I'm SURE that they were VERY significant, but I was so struck by seeing Bills mandolin in such a prominent place that I was actually speechless.. It almost brought me to tears. It was wonderful and there is no other place that it should have been. I know that Skaggs played it after Bills passing, and some others did as well.. I'm sure glad that it didn't end up in Ricky's possesion or anyone elses for that matter. I really wish that nobody every played it after Bill passed away.. to think that the last hands that brought that music from it were Bills would have been a pleasant thought. At any rate, I said all that to say this.. I know that a lot of folks want Earls banjo to 'be played' and I understand that.. but watching somebody on stage play that banjo would NEVER EVER have the same effect as walking up to it in a trusted, safe, respected place for generations to be inches away from such a historical piece. There are lots of great banjos out there. nobody needs to play this particular one... nobody will ever make it sound like Earl... On the other hand if the family wishes to keep it as a treasured heirloom, that's perfectly understandable ..especially since there are musicians in the family..

Just a thought for 'what if'...  if it does end up at the hall of fame.. how would you like to walk around a corner and see a display featuring Bill, Earl, and Lesters stage clothes with their personal instruments ? Perhaps even wax figures wearing the stage clothes and instruments all side by side in front of WSM microphones! Talk about a centerpiece. I know that Marty Stuart donated Lester's guitar, I know they have Bill's mandolin.. so Earls banjo = even if only on loan.. would be an amazing thing to see.. with some great tunes being piped in .... to me that would be much more impressive than to see some Earl wannabe on stage with the banjo...

country frank - Posted - 04/12/2013:  06:53:51

How about this then, imagine that the worlds supply of Stradivarius violins where never played after the passing of their respective [and no doubt very talented] owners.

How would we know what a Stradivarius was supposed to sound like today?

Sure there would be recordings, but no new music from the worlds finest violins?

Surely that ain't right.

bbanjoboy - Posted - 04/12/2013:  07:05:21

Nobody in the stradivarius world as far as I know, reinvented a way to play the instrument.. to me that's a mute point.. if it weren't for Bill, an F-5 Loar would be just another old mandolin at a guitar show worth maybe a couple thousand bucks.. If it weren't for Earl, a prewar 5 string flathead would be just another old timey clawhammer banjo worth maybe a couple thousand bucks... There are VERY few instruments of that provenance that actually changed the way the world looks at how they should be played... and those extremely rare pieces should be protected and revered.. imho

country frank - Posted - 04/12/2013:  07:25:20

Not arguing with you here Kenny however i think you take the point that there is a counter argument to say that an instrument should be preserved AND played.

Why cant the two go hand in hand?

Hankon5 - Posted - 04/12/2013:  07:46:10

quote:

---

Originally posted by bbanjoboy

 

Nobody in the stradivarius world as far as I know, reinvented a way to play the instrument.. to me that's a mute point.. if it weren't for Bill, an F-5 Loar would be just another old mandolin at a guitar show worth maybe a couple thousand bucks.. If it weren't for Earl, a prewar 5 string flathead would be just another old timey clawhammer banjo worth maybe a couple thousand bucks... There are VERY few instruments of that provenance that actually changed the way the world looks at how they should be played... and those extremely rare pieces should be protected and revered.. imho

---

Well said!

bbanjoboy - Posted - 04/12/2013:  08:13:39

Not exactly sure how you could play it and display in the hall of fame simultaneously?..... perhaps it could make the short journey to the Ryman from time to time after museum hours...

country frank - Posted - 04/12/2013:  08:21:07

Or pros could play it on occasions.

pick it - Posted - 04/12/2013:  09:05:31

If any of us has/played/owned a pre-war Gibson we have then played a dead mans banjo. is one mans life more special than the other.we all are equal in Gods eyes no one more special than the other each one is special..I see nothing morbid about the matter.