G. MATTHEW ONE STRING BANJO NECK.

[IAN SALTER]

Has anyone seen one of these before? Any thoughts on the angle of the perch pole?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156158050094?itmmeta=01HTZJSAVFT00GZVZ8F...

[Joel Hooks]

It is the neck of a "Jap Fiddle" or "Japanese Fiddle", and before you ask... no, they have nothing to do with Japan.

[IAN SALTER]

Initially, when I searched 'one string banjo' online, all I found were references to the can-jo and diddley-bo. Search results for 'Jap fiddle' were mainly about Stroh fiddles, Stroviols and phonofiddles but there were a couple of videos of homemade Jap fiddles. However, I also found out about the British music hall artist, G H Chirgwin, who played a Jap fiddle, as well as many varied instruments. 

https://www.jonroseweb.com/archive/e_vworld_phonofiddle.html

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vbciBbYaDIU

I recalled seeing this in the Turner's publications 

https://ia902506.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip...

[IAN SALTER]

Joel, I've just found your reply on BHO to the query about these instruments. Thanks for the C Bruno & Son catalogue.

[Joel Hooks]

This one has been listed on ebay for a LONG time.  At one point I wrote the seller to tell them what it was and they were like "okay, thanks" and did not change their listing.

For some reason people struggle with this and often argue with me.  One guy, I personally know, turned up a very nice looking examples with a "spun" or nickel banjo rim and ebony fingerboard.  He SWORE that it was a "mountain lap dulcimer" and despite me providing him with many catalog cuts he would have none of it.

I guess the folksy thing is more important than what they actually were-- novelty instruments that were quite popular around 1900.

It would be cool to have one but it would need to be in the +/- $100 range complete and playable for me to be interested.  Knowing myself, I would fool around with it for a few weeks and then never touch it again. 

[Jody Stecher]

Did this genius ever see an actual mountain dulcimer or at least a photo of one?  This reminds me of an incident from elementary school.  For our morning "show-and-tell" session I brought to class a picture that included a feller sitting on the ground playing an instrument resembling the plunk-a-phones Walt Kelly used to portray in his Pogo comic strip.  It had a round back, an oval wooden soundboard, a big sound hole, a neck of about double the length of the body and an unspecified number of pegs and strings. Something like a stylized round-back mandola if a mandola had a longer neck.  I
admitted that I didn't know what it was. One girl piped up "I do!  That's a ban-JO like they play in Mexico. I understood there were at least 3 mistakes in her assessment but I think all I said was something like "No it's not". 
Joel Hooks said:

This one has been listed on ebay for a LONG time.  At one point I wrote the seller to tell them what it was and they were like "okay, thanks" and did not change their listing.

For some reason people struggle with this and often argue with me.  One guy, I personally know, turned up a very nice looking examples with a "spun" or nickel banjo rim and ebony fingerboard.  He SWORE that it was a "mountain lap dulcimer" and despite me providing him with many catalog cuts he would have none of it.

I guess the folksy thing is more important than what they actually were-- novelty instruments that were quite popular around 1900.

It would be cool to have one but it would need to be in the +/- $100 range complete and playable for me to be interested.  Knowing myself, I would fool around with it for a few weeks and then never touch it again. 

[Joel Hooks]

There is an article in Keynotes that mentions a maker of these, "The Lost Character".  Not much info but an entertaining read. 

https://www.classic-banjo.com/files/JOURNALS_AND_ALBUMS/Keynotes_19...

[Joel Hooks]

Yes, he is quite familiar with them being of the generation that "folk music" was popular.  But the example Jap Fiddle he had was fretted diatonically so I suppose I understand the confusion.

Also, he sold it as a "banjo dulcimer" to someone so he had a vested interest in keeping it what he claimed it was.

Jody Stecher said:

Did this genius ever see an actual mountain dulcimer or at least a photo of one?  This reminds me of an incident from elementary school.  For our morning "show-and-tell" session I brought to class a picture that included a feller sitting on the ground playing an instrument resembling the plunk-a-phones Walt Kelly used to portray in his Pogo comic strip.  It had a round back, an oval wooden soundboard, a big sound hole, a neck of about double the length of the body and an unspecified number of pegs and strings. Something like a stylized round-back mandola if a mandola had a longer neck.  I
admitted that I didn't know what it was. One girl piped up "I do!  That's a ban-JO like they play in Mexico. I understood there were at least 3 mistakes in her assessment but I think all I said was something like "No it's not". 
Joel Hooks said:

This one has been listed on ebay for a LONG time.  At one point I wrote the seller to tell them what it was and they were like "okay, thanks" and did not change their listing.

For some reason people struggle with this and often argue with me.  One guy, I personally know, turned up a very nice looking examples with a "spun" or nickel banjo rim and ebony fingerboard.  He SWORE that it was a "mountain lap dulcimer" and despite me providing him with many catalog cuts he would have none of it.

I guess the folksy thing is more important than what they actually were-- novelty instruments that were quite popular around 1900.

It would be cool to have one but it would need to be in the +/- $100 range complete and playable for me to be interested.  Knowing myself, I would fool around with it for a few weeks and then never touch it again. 

[IAN SALTER]

That neck has just been bought. 

On cigarboxnation.com there are instructions on how to make one, originally published in 1907. I can't provide the link because my computer now won't open the page. I'm going to have a go at making one.

[IAN SALTER]

I had started looking for old furniture to make one, when I found this and bought it last night. It's a happy coincidence that for the past few weeks, I've been practicing playing scales, intervals and phrases on single strings on my zither banjo.

If anyone comes across a copy of 'Turner's Universal Tutor For The One Stringed Japanese Fiddle' or any similar publications, please let me know.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204729537602?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26...

[Jake Glanville]

Dear Ian,

As you probably know, the Sheet Music Warehouse have a Dallas tutor for a one-string Japanese fiddle for about £11.  Don't know if that's what you're looking for.  Such instruments were quite common in the 1920's.

Good luck,

Jake.

[IAN SALTER]

Hello Jake,

I wasn't aware of that, so thank you for telling me. Unfortunately, it is no longer available and neither is the Turner's tutor. However, I'm communicating with a chap who wrote his PhD paper on the history of the instrument and he is kindly going to send me a copy of the Turner's book. I'm currently using Ellis' Thorough School For The Five Stringed Banjo and also playing along to ballads on 78 rpm recordings from 1900 to 1912.

Mike Bostock told me he has discovered that a highly regarded English music hall banjo player, whose solo stage name was Julius Keeling and who also appeared in the duo The Brothers Keeling in the 1870s, had included a one-stringed fiddle in his act as early as 1881.

[Joel Hooks]

I kinda want to read that PHD paper.

IAN SALTER said:

Hello Jake,

I wasn't aware of that, so thank you for telling me. Unfortunately, it is no longer available and neither is the Turner's tutor. However, I'm communicating with a chap who wrote his PhD paper on the history of the instrument and he is kindly going to send me a copy of the Turner's book. I'm currently using Ellis' Thorough School For The Five Stringed Banjo and also playing along to ballads on 78 rpm recordings from 1900 to 1912.

Mike Bostock told me he has discovered that a highly regarded English music hall banjo player, whose solo stage name was Julius Keeling and who also appeared in the duo The Brothers Keeling in the 1870s, had included a one-stringed fiddle in his act as early as 1881.