Fretless banjos/Stewart MacDonald
Michael Edelman
the simple Appalachian (sp?) version of the banjo. Shorter scale, small
skin head, no chrome hardware. Very different. They're quiet, friendly
instruments well suited to the kind of old-time mountain music I like
to play from time to time.
--mike
Steve Goldfield;232HMB;3-6292;;MF62
#>A fretless banjo isn't just a standard flattop banjo without frets; it's
#>the simple Appalachian (sp?) version of the banjo. Shorter scale, small
#>skin head, no chrome hardware. Very different. They're quiet, friendly
#>instruments well suited to the kind of old-time mountain music I like
#>to play from time to time.
#> --mike
There's a kind of rigidity to the above posting which is
antithetical to the spirit of old-time music. For example,
Ed Lowe, an 83-year-old fretless banjo player now living in
LA, took a fretted banjo and took off the fingerboard.
Since his neighbor was getting aluminum siding put on his
house, Ed took a piece of the siding and used it as his fretless
fingerboard. (Ed says that "playing a banjo with frets is like
driving a car on railroad tracks.")
There's no standard fretless banjo just as there's no standard
bluegrass banjo. There are flattop banjoes, for instance, and
archtop banjoes. Each have their adherents. I've seen homemade
fretless banjoes and professionally made ones. I picked up a
home-made one, and the fingerboard was so much like my fretted
old-time banjo that I was surprised to find that it was very
easy to play (I thought I'd have to get used to putting my
fingers right on the position of the frets). Whereas a mandolin
and fiddle differ not only in the frets but in the right hand
technique, similar techniques can be used on fretted and fretless
banjoes.
Incidentally, my next banjo will be fretless (whenever I can
afford to get or build one).
Steve Goldfield