How do you describe wavy necks..

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Gourd Banjo Owners and Builders

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From Banjoblue58 on 1/9/2017 6:26:35 AM

and why are they shaped like that? By wavy I mean the necks that swell out sideways, almost like a leaf shape, or the ones that have curves and peaks to indicate fifth or seventh fret positions.

6 Comments
	Tom Berghan says: 1/13/2017 10:35:29 AM The design style for these Antelbellum-period necks are referred to as "Ogee" . . . a mathematical term referring to a double continuous S-shaped curve. I think we would have to go back in time and ask William Boucher himself why, but I believe the ogee necks to be a vestage of banjo necks made by slaves long before Boucher and his peers. But the typical assumption is that the ogee provides the player visual-aids as to location on the fingerboard. Myself, I think the ogee are purely decorative. By the post war years inlay-designs and flush-fret inlays would become the norm and the ogee fell away.
	Banjoblue58 says: 1/15/2017 2:54:42 PM Thanks Tom, yes, I know the term ogee (though I'd forgotten its application here). What about those leaf shaped necks? Like the one Dan Gellert is playing here?
	Banjoblue58 says: 1/15/2017 2:55:47 PM Aargh! Don't know how to post picture here!
	Banjoblue58 says: 1/15/2017 2:57:23 PM It's the one Dan is playing on the cover of his new Tikki Parlor CD.
	Tom Berghan says: 1/27/2017 8:51:30 AM Same answer Tony . . . I could be wrong but my personal opinion is that they are purely decorative. Look nice!
	Tom Berghan says: 1/27/2017 8:53:39 AM Same answer Tony . . . I could be wrong but my personal opinion is that they are purely decorative. Look nice!
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