From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 03/26/2014:  02:46:55

When I see Pete Seeger playing the banjo in his last years, there were no markings on the neck or on the peg head. this was different from what he played early in his career. Also he had a very unusual bridge that was mounted on what appeared to be double arches and for some reason it even looked like it might have been glued on the head. Can anyone tell me what was his last banjo, where the neck came from, about the bridge, and where and if the banjo will be displayed somewhere? I wonder how much Pete tinkered and was particular with his banjo's or if he just grabbed it and played.

Thanks,

Ken

Edited by - From Greylock to Bean Blossom on 03/26/2014 02:48:19

jlsorbit - Posted - 03/26/2014:  05:38:46

Theres a good interview in the March 2014 edition of Banjo Newsletter where he discusses the banjos he played, including that neck and bridge:  banjonews.com/2014-03/intervie...2000.html

BNL: What kinds of banjos have you played over the years.

 PS: I had a Whyte Ladie until 1949 when it got stolen in New York: I went in for a cup of coffee and didn't lock my car. So I tried a Paramount and I tried two or three things I didn't like. Before that I had a Stewart, but in 1940 I jumped off a freight train and broke it. All Stewarts have a sweet tone and I remember reading S.S. Stewarts book and he says, 'Only a boor would use steel strings' on a banjo. I had bought the Stewart for $5 and in the fall of 1940 I bought the Whyte Ladie in the same pawn shop for $10. But when I lost that I realized how expensive banjos were getting -- they had gone up to several hundred dollars apiece! So I ended up with a Vega pot and a hand-crafted neck: the nice man who ran Vega sold the pot to me at cost and I bought a yard long piece of lignum vitae for $40, which was 3 x 4 inches in diameter. And I got [jazz-guitar builder] John D'Angelico to rough out the neck with his band saw. Then I took a wood rasp and I rounded it off: I never have varnished it cause lignum vitae takes a natural shine and you don't need to. When I took it back to the shop, D'Angelico's assistant put in frets and a fingerboard for me. But there was a misunderstanding: I had wanted a banjo with nothin' on it, but he put on an ebony fingerboard. He thought he was doing me a favor -- he put on that fingerboard and he also put the frets on so the bridge had to be way down close to the tailpiece and it had much too brilliant a tone. So I had to take it back. He said 'It will look ugly' but he agreed to put in the frets again for me so that the bridge could be positioned closer to the center of the pot. About eight years ago, this same fellow put in a set of Grover pegs for me, and also a geared fifth. Other than that the banjo has been the same since it was made.

 I do have an unusual bridge, which was designed by Stewart Jameson. It's made of fiberglass and I've kept it glued down with Elmer's glue, cause it used to skid around. Jameson made two or three others but he wasn't able get into mass producing them.

 At another time, a fellow named Ernie Morris put in a movable 5th string capo for me without asking me. It didn't hold the string down tight enough, so I went back to using just a screw. I used to be able to tune very quickly. I also used to be able to frail, but now I don't do it so much anymore.

 Over the years I have been given quite a number of other banjos, but I've given them all away. At the first MBA in 1997, I bought a Thornburg gut-string gourd banjo: I should also give that to someone who will play it .

 [Editor's note: Pete's Vega pot was built c. 1955. The bridge on his long-neck was originally set about 2 inches from the tailpiece, and he brought it back to about 4.5 inches from the tailpiece. You can still see the outlines on the fingerboard where the original fret-slots were filled in.]

Enjoy!

raharris - Posted - 03/26/2014:  07:45:51

Thanks for that informative post, Jack!

Two things surprise me -- that Seeger hadn't used a geared 5th string peg for the majority of his career and that he glued his bridge.

I can see an un-geared fifth-string peg on a Thornburg, a gourd banjo or some other historically-oriented banjo, but on a performance quality five-string?!  Demonstrates what a master the man was.  I have a hard enough time tuning with geared peg, and I've never been able to tune with the ungeared variety.

And gluing a bridge?  I'd be afraid of compromising the head. Still, it has to make tuning easier.  Does anyone else glue their bridge or know of someone who does? I'm curious about how wide-spread this practice is!

jlsorbit - Posted - 03/26/2014:  08:11:17

What surprises me is how crude Pete Seeger's banjo was.  If you look closely at the picture, it has a strap made out of rope that is attached to an eye screw on the side of the neck.  And we think we need to spend $3 to $5K on a banjo to sound decent.

coalandice - Posted - 03/26/2014:  08:18:09

On Flickr here

flickr.com/photos/28722563@N05/7603412090/

there are some fairly recent images
of Pete with what might be the banjo
he played more frequently in his later years.
I believe you can look at the images full size
although Flickr has changed their format recently
making some things less apparent/intuitive then
they used to be.

There's a fair amount of discussion here on the hangout
about the more famous of his bridges, attempts to duplicate
it, and you can get a copy of the article about it in Frets
from June of 1987 pages 60 - 62 from your local library,
as well as the Fretboard Journal article
from Fall 2009 - although for a while the text of that article
was available free on the Fretboard Journal website - about
the more famous/iconic of his banjos, the Vega pot with the
home made Lignum Vitae neck.

DH#52 - Posted - 03/26/2014:  08:40:33

I wonder when he changed heads--which he did periodically--whether it was a little difficult to remove the bridge from its glued down position without risking breaking it or whatever.

Steve

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 03/26/2014:  08:46:06

Jack,
Thanks for the very informative article.
Ken

Jim Yates - Posted - 03/26/2014:  10:29:30

quote:

---

Originally posted by raharris

Thanks for that informative post, Jack!

Two things surprise me -- that Seeger hadn't used a geared 5th string peg for the majority of his career and that he glued his bridge.

I can see an un-geared fifth-string peg on a Thornburg, a gourd banjo or some other historically-oriented banjo, but on a performance quality five-string?!  Demonstrates what a master the man was.  I have a hard enough time tuning with geared peg, and I've never been able to tune with the ungeared variety.

And gluing a bridge?  I'd be afraid of compromising the head. Still, it has to make tuning easier.  Does anyone else glue their bridge or know of someone who does? I'm curious about how wide-spread this practice is!

 

---

When did geared fifth string tuners come into common usage?  I recall seeing two banjo players in a workshop at the 1964 Mariposa Folk Festival (Winnie Winston and David Rea?) talking about their banjos, both Mastertones and one of them saying, "You've gotta get one of these new geared fifth string pegs.  They're great."

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 03/26/2014:  10:54:32

Pete was the first to admit he didn't take good care of his instruments. He changed the head when the bridge wore through it, I think. The advice "a drop of Elmer's glue on the edge of the bridge will keep it from sliding around" is in his banjo book.

Joel Hooks - Posted - 03/26/2014:  15:49:28

I rub the feet in powdered rosin (prepared from a cake of violin rosin) and it holds solid.

quote:

---

Originally posted by raharris

Thanks for that informative post, Jack!

Two things surprise me -- that Seeger hadn't used a geared 5th string peg for the majority of his career and that he glued his bridge.

I can see an un-geared fifth-string peg on a Thornburg, a gourd banjo or some other historically-oriented banjo, but on a performance quality five-string?!  Demonstrates what a master the man was.  I have a hard enough time tuning with geared peg, and I've never been able to tune with the ungeared variety.

And gluing a bridge?  I'd be afraid of compromising the head. Still, it has to make tuning easier.  Does anyone else glue their bridge or know of someone who does? I'm curious about how wide-spread this practice is!

 

---

coalandice - Posted - 03/27/2014:  07:28:42

quote:

---

Originally posted by DH#52

I wonder when he changed heads--which he did periodically--whether it was a little difficult to remove the bridge from its glued down position without risking breaking it or whatever.

Steve

---

If it was Elmer's school glue, or even wood glue

it would dissolve easily enough with vinegar or

denatured alcohol 

mikehalloran - Posted - 03/27/2014:  07:53:44

Elmers sticks to wood but not very well to plastic. A small drop, as Pete suggests in his book, does a nice job and the bridge comes off when you need.

Kroll geared pegs show up in catalogs in the early '60s. Were they available earlier? I've not seen any mention nor a '50s banjo that had one OE.

Pete's banjos are often seen with Grover Perm-A-Tension friction pegs with the familiar button. They work well enough. I used one for years but never loved it. They're still available new and I've a few used in my parts box with plastic buttons and metal ones like Pete's. I bet quite a few of us do. The vintage ones have Pat. Pending cast in the top of the button. I'm not certain about the current ones.

I put one of those vintage metal buttons on a Grover geared 5th when I put it on my PS-5. My '60s ODE has a Kroll 5th.

Edited by - mikehalloran on 03/27/2014 07:58:25

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 04/06/2014:  16:54:23

Here are some good pictures of his banjo:

folkways.si.edu%252Fima...%252F%252Ffolkways.si.edu%252Ftoo...B700%3B647">folkways.si.edu%252Fima...%252F%252Ffolkways.si.edu%252Ftoo...B700%3B647" target="_blank">google.com/search?q=pete+seege...700%3B647