Van Eps birthday 30th December

[Richard William Ineson]

[Jody Stecher]

There is a lot to ponder in this photo. The small instrument shaped like a guitar seems to be a mandolin. The instrument shaped like a mandolin appears to be a Gibson and it has 12 pegs and presumably as many strings. Does it have 6 double courses? 4 triple courses? Is it a combo mandolin/mandola with some single courses and some double?   The big  guitar has 9 tuning pegs on one side and presumably as many on the other side. 18 strings!  More than 6 courses? 6 triple courses?

Then there are the people. The shortest woman seems to be ready to pound the head of one of the seated fellers. Her fist is poised and ready to thump.  The tallest woman is apparently getting ready to attack the Head Of Fred with 2 feather dusters. And Fred appears to be sitting upon the foot of the 12-string mandolin player. Is this what is causing her hair to blow back?  And then there is the mystery of the guitarist's detached leg!

[Joel Hooks]

F. Chris Ware posted this photo, uncropped, originally from his collection. It was from a1938 party at guitarist Al Bluhm’s farm.  We have discussed it on the past on this forum.

[Richard William Ineson]

A Happy New Year to you Joel. I must have overlooked the photo's previous appearance, but. as Jody has pointed out there are many points to ponder upon in the picture, which are not apparent at first glance.I just posted it as everyone seemed to have forgotten that it was Fred's birthday on the 30th December.

Joel Hooks said:

F. Chris Ware posted this photo, uncropped, originally from his collection. It was from a1938 party at guitarist Al Bluhm’s farm.  We have discussed it on the past on this forum.

[Richard William Ineson]

Happy New Year Jody. There are always more questions than answers. Why so many strings and so few instruments? I bet that it took along time for this ensemble to get in tune with each other, especially if the weather was unusually hot/wet/ changeable. The detached leg had me worried too. 

Jody Stecher said:

There is a lot to ponder in this photo. The small instrument shaped like a guitar seems to be a mandolin. The instrument shaped like a mandolin appears to be a Gibson and it has 12 pegs and presumably as many strings. Does it have 6 double courses? 4 triple courses? Is it a combo mandolin/mandola with some single courses and some double?   The big  guitar has 9 tuning pegs on one side and presumably as many on the other side. 18 strings!  More than 6 courses? 6 triple courses?

Then there are the people. The shortest woman seems to be ready to pound the head of one of the seated fellers. Her fist is poised and ready to thump.  The tallest woman is apparently getting ready to attack the Head Of Fred with 2 feather dusters. And Fred appears to be sitting upon the foot of the 12-string mandolin player. Is this what is causing her hair to blow back?  And then there is the mystery of the guitarist's detached leg!

[Jody Stecher]

And a Happy New Year to you Richard. Tuning! You're right......getting double strings in tune with each other is hard enough; as soon as one string gets right, the other the other goes sharp or flat. Triple courses are even harder and then it must all be in tune with the other instruments.  

Here's another question to add to the pile:  has there ever been a double course banjo other than mandolin-banjo? A 5- course  banjo tuned gg CC  GG BB DD?    I have never seen one.  Someone must have tried to build one at some point. 
Richard William Ineson said:

Happy New Year Jody. There are always more questions than answers. Why so many strings and so few instruments? I bet that it took along time for this ensemble to get in tune with each other, especially if the weather was unusually hot/wet/ changeable. The detached leg had me worried too. 

Jody Stecher said:

There is a lot to ponder in this photo. The small instrument shaped like a guitar seems to be a mandolin. The instrument shaped like a mandolin appears to be a Gibson and it has 12 pegs and presumably as many strings. Does it have 6 double courses? 4 triple courses? Is it a combo mandolin/mandola with some single courses and some double?   The big  guitar has 9 tuning pegs on one side and presumably as many on the other side. 18 strings!  More than 6 courses? 6 triple courses?

Then there are the people. The shortest woman seems to be ready to pound the head of one of the seated fellers. Her fist is poised and ready to thump.  The tallest woman is apparently getting ready to attack the Head Of Fred with 2 feather dusters. And Fred appears to be sitting upon the foot of the 12-string mandolin player. Is this what is causing her hair to blow back?  And then there is the mystery of the guitarist's detached leg!