Anthony Boadle - Posted - 04/17/2020:  00:38:36

I've never seen an Ivory Queen banjo, only eBay pics...but I'm fairly sure they had MOP resonators?

calfskin - Posted - 04/17/2020:  03:48:02

the banjo with paul in photo is a Windsor, but would not be the one with perloid back there were English made banjos with white ish perloid resonators and f/boards the commonly found one is called " the broadcaster " and i think another one is john grey but not all. Remember also that a very important influence on the beatles was the singer Lonnie Donegan who had several uk hit records on 78 he was marketed as "Skiffle " this was pretty much " american old time music " hits included cumberland gap rock island line ,battle of new orleans ,dont you rock em daddy o and many more ! he played the banjo and sang but not a 5 string ! he played a strummed plectrum and this is likely what influenced Lennon and even if his banjo was a tenor it would be used for strumming chords

G Edward Porgie - Posted - 04/17/2020:  04:50:14

quote:

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Originally posted by guitarbanjoman

I hear you, Joel. I am a fellow lefty playing righty.



But, guys, bear with me here...



Imagine that you are a left-handed multi-millionaire who wants to buy a plectrum banjo...



...imagine without blinking, you could buy yourself literally any plectrum banjo in the entire world...



...dozens of them! hell, you could buy the whole factory...



... so what kind of plectrum banjo would YOU choose?



... would it be a right handed “tunnel” model five string Windsor Premier...



... which you buy specificslly in order to play left-handed with its “tunnel” facing down?



I think most of us here would say that is pretty ridiculous....



...that there must be some other reason why Paul McCartney would own such a silly-ass kind of banjo...



Well, I can only think of one reason... how about you guys?

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I can think of a few reasons why a millionaire might have such an instrument. #1 would be that he simply wanted to try one out and didn't want to bother with having a banjo custom made.  And if he were wanting a banjo, maybe the one he had in mind hadn't been ready at the time the picture was taken. It's also possible he simply didn't know better when it came to banjos.

G Edward Porgie - Posted - 04/17/2020:  05:09:00

quote:

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Originally posted by Joel Hooks

quote:

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Originally posted by G Edward Porgie

quote:

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Originally posted by Joel Hooks

That Windsor is a regular (not reversed) 5 string with a tunneled 5th on the bottom (as he is playing it upside down or reverse).

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While I agree that the banjo in the picture is a 5-string with a tunneled fifth on the bottom, it still appears to me that the strings (the ones that can actually be seen) are strung for a left handed player. The way it is held, the largest strings show at the topside of the neck, the same way a left hander would want them. It may even be that the tunnel is empty and he's playing it like a left handed plectrum banjo.

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Yes, it looks to be strung in reverse.

I have been "left handed" for as long as I have been able to hold a writing tool.  I use both hand to play the banjo.  There are a couple of trick pieces that I play that are just slurs and snaps with my left hand, perhaps that is playing "left handed", but I still hold the banjo the normal way.

 While there are a select minority of people who need to hold instruments in reverse for various reasons, the rest of us do just fine the regular way.

I just don't buy into "left handed" playing. There is regular and reverse, handedness has noting to do with it.

Most of the world do not need reverse piano keyboards, upside down harmonicas, backwards brass instruments, or reverse violin family instruments (how often does one see that in an orchestra?).

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I have to agree that instruments do not need to be categorized as left or right handed, nor reversed for anyone without special needs. I'd certainly hate to sit non the wrong side of a left handed violinist; I'd be in constant fear of being poked in the eye with the end his/her bow. Playing an instrument involves learning all kinds of odd hand, finger, and arm actions, anyway, that it really shouldn't be any more difficult to learn them with either hand. 

In the past, vast numbers of lefties were taught (forced) very early in life to be right handed, and although I think that's a bad idea for many tasks, it works fine for musical instrumenets, as you yourself can show.

spoonfed - Posted - 04/17/2020:  05:11:07

Who says the banjo pictured belongs to Paul ?

guitarbanjoman - Posted - 04/17/2020:  06:06:54

Nick, it seems that the same banjo is featured in the two “banjo” photos we have of McCartney: both the one taken of him playing it when he was in his fifties and the one taken of a banjo on display on the piano circa 1961-62.

So because he has been photographed with it twice, we make the inference that it belongs to him...

No, it’s not definite proof, but it seems to be logical...

spoonfed - Posted - 04/17/2020:  06:27:05

I dont think that we can conclude that those pics show the same banjo, similar, but I am not convinced we are looking at the same instrument, certainly in the later picture there appears to be a bulge around the fifth fret for a fifth string, cannot see if the tuning peg is there as the colour of Pauls jacket makes it impossible to see details, likewise the early sixties pic, not enough detail to see what kind of banjo that is. The Hunter Davis book, the first authorised biography of the band contains a quote from Paul saying that when he met john for the first time John was playing his guitar with five strings only and the sixth was hanging loose. Sounds whacky to me too but that is what Paul said and, that book was written in 1967/68
only ten years after that event so, we may assume that Pauls memory was a bit more sharp at that time. I also disagree with Joel Hooks, this is a groovy thread.

stevo58 - Posted - 04/17/2020:  07:02:37

Windsor made banjos with tunneled fifths, including ones with this inlay pattern. They had a fifth peg in the middle of the peghead.



McCartney seems to still have every instrument he ever owned except for the Rosetti Seven, which was such a piece of rubbish they destroyed it on stage. Maybe he even has the bits from that. George, on the other hand, routinely gave away guitars, and later in life seemingly spent vast sums getting them back.  

Paul routinely played righty guitars turned over - his D-28 was one, his Texan another, his Casino too. His original Hofner bass was lefty and custom ordered while they were playing Hamburg, but he had it a few weeks later.

George Van Eps, also a lefty, said lefties should always play right-handed, as it puts the strong, intelligent hand where it belongs - on the fingerboard. 



So I have no doubt it’s the same banjo in both photos. But I doubt very much it’s Julia’s banjo - why would John give Paul this precious memento of his mother?



I’m wondering if Paul’s banjo came from his father, who played piano in dance bands in his youth. No evidence, just speculation. The banjo was a pretty ‘square’ instrument at the time, but Paul always did love the old stuff so it doesn’t surprise me he would pick it up. It would fit right in with “Honey Pie” on the white album (not “Wild Honey Pie”).

Edited by - stevo58 on 04/17/2020 07:05:08

banjowilly22 - Posted - 04/17/2020:  09:57:33

It is a Windsor Ambassador Model. these had 5 Tuners on the peghead, and a tunnelled
5th String. The Resonator is fitted to the individual flange plates.
Keith

guitarbanjoman - Posted - 04/17/2020:  10:30:24

I just went to YouTube where the play "The Lennon Banjo" won't be available until 2:30 EST.

From the little preview pieces about it which I saw on YouTube, I've gotta say...

...oh boy, this play looks like its going to be a real piece of Shinola... but we shall see... might be good to keep your expectations real low, just in case...

spoonfed - Posted - 04/17/2020:  10:43:10

Will, what is The Lennon Banjo you speak of ? Youtube ? am I missing something ? pray do tell.

stevo58 - Posted - 04/17/2020:  11:00:58

New play. It's gotten bad reviews.

Sometimes I shut off my critical facility and just try to enjoy. It's probably one of those.

spoonfed - Posted - 04/17/2020:  11:13:23

I really cannot be bothered anymore watching those "hey why dont we do the show right here!" movies/plays any more, I always come away disillusioned with the producers/directors idea of entertainment and, since there is nobody left alive to talk with authority about JLs banjo it will be fanciful at best .

guitarbanjoman - Posted - 04/17/2020:  11:44:35

I'm guessing that you have the proper attitude, Nick!

I believe that this play is airing on YouTube for the first time in North American today... it's either already been on in the UK, or it soon will be.

guitarbanjoman - Posted - 04/17/2020:  13:57:08

Just attempted to watch the “Lennon’s Banjo” play...

Hoo boy, that was ten minutes of my life that I’ll never get back....

G Edward Porgie - Posted - 04/18/2020:  16:26:37

quote:

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Originally posted by guitarbanjoman

Just attempted to watch the “Lennon’s Banjo” play...



Hoo boy, that was ten minutes of my life that I’ll never get back....

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If it's any consolation, at least there may have been some enjoyment with this "Bullsh**ing thread!

guitarbanjoman - Posted - 04/18/2020:  17:41:55

Hope it provided some fun in this weird pandemic time.

Well, anyway, lets let the Beatles have the final word on the subject of banjos...

youtube.com/watch?v=zUoW1VPLqBs

stevo58 - Posted - 04/19/2020:  00:44:02

Wow, that’s a new one for me. Thanks!