Things change...

Years ago (2010?), I bought a used LOJO. My buddy Patrick had run across it and knew I was looking for a Cello Banjo...this was close. I had bought an old Orpheum for its 14" pot, I figured I could make a neck for it...but here was a whole 14" banjo, virtually new. I figured I could just restring it with nylon, tune it down an octave and *Bingo*.

So, I bought it cheap and started messing around with it. Frankly, I thought it sounded like a trash-can strung with bailing wire. I did some damping and fiddling around...still no bueno. I've never really been a fan of 6-strings (5-long, one short). I had an original Stewart for a while and couldn't do anything with it.

Eventually, I found an original 16" Stewart CB and my quest for a CB ended the day it arrived. Mine! 

A few months ago, somebody here posted a video of them playing their 6-string. Tuning was different (gGCGCD, double C) and it looked like fun...

I was getting my music room into order (finally, 5yrs after I started) and hung the LOJO up. At least it looks good in with all the others. So, I cleaned off the desk, got it down and put on a new set of strings. The old damping sponge bits in it were limp, so I put in a request with Miz Diane to find more sponge. Crazily, Wally World still had the exact same orange swirl sponge I used 15yrs ago to damp the crazy overtones.

I got her tuned up (gGCGCD) and gave it a whirl. Very different! No longer a trash can!

A big part is the playing style. Back when I bought it, I played it 1890s fingerstyle. I never attempted clawhammer on it (that was for my clawhammer banjos...). I never thought to tune it to a CH tuning either. I was focused on gCDGBD and simply using the bass C if the music required it. It just wasn't comfortable for me...and I didn't like the sound. Then again, I've gotten hearing aids since then...

I've discovered that I can now play many of my favorite CH tunes in two octaves. Julianne Johnson, Angelina Baker, Rock The Cradle Joe, etc., etc. Just a capo away from being in actual D. Tune the 4th from C to D and I'm in "modal" and there's a whole nuther octave of growl for Cluck Ol Hen and all the others. I think I'll try Pretty Little Dog tonight on the porch (if it ain't too hot).

Some of the tunes simply gain a bassline. Since the 4th and 5th are I and V in this tuning, anything with a measure of ASPO noise now gets a I-V bass accompaniment that just sounds great. Bonaparte Crossing The Rhine sort of breathes deeply with a bassline.

It's taken 15yrs for me to appreciate this banjo. I'm glad I don't sell stuff off!

LOJO#11 Serial number sticker

LOJO