Jody Stecher

78, Male

San Francisco, CA

United States

Comment Wall:

  • Trapdoor2

    Jody, regarding the banjo I'm playing in my videos: that's one of Bob Flesher's "Cotillion" (12") models; my main axe for about 6 yrs. Thanks for the kind remarks, I've gone from archtop Stelling "shrill" to "tubby" over the years (in more ways than one!). I have a fiberskyn head on it, Aquila Nylgut strings and one of those Cole 5-footed bridges. I have a small collection of banjos but the Flesher gets all the playing time these days.
  • Joel Hooks

    Frosty Mug of Beer
  • Liz McElwain

    Thanks, Jody. Hope to be able to meet you over the Didmarton weekend.
  • Anthony Peabody

    I enjoyed meeting you at Backwell, and I am afraid that I assumed that you were a newcomer to Banjo, so please erase from your hard drive any superfluous and quite unnecessary advice. You don't need any encouragement either. I was the bass banjo at the end of the line, filling in the blanks, and wishing I could play better. So you see, you encorage me!
    Anthony Peabody
  • Eric STEFANELLI

    Thanks Jody, to add me as a friend, i am deeply  honored !

    I would be to give you some piece of information about my banjos making, give me please your e-mail, mine is : eric.pat-luths@orange.fr .

    About your music,  many people in France like bluegrass & old timey  music, and play it, there is many bands, many american banjo players come to France every  years to teach, and have many pupils, there is summer country festivals...i was myself a pupil of Tony Trishka in 1978 and and Ben Eldrige in 1982/83, but we can speak about it  by  mail. Classic banjo is  unknow or very few people know  this kind of banjo music.

    Eric

  • Pam Tointon

    Thank you Jody I enjoyed that. Nice to hear an original composition, but well beyond me yet as a beginner I'm afraid.

     

    regards Pam

  • Neil Angus Goodwin

    Thankyou for the info, that might explain why it is the only Cammeyer I have seen with the metal bands.
  • allan ideson

    thanks jody for your input.ime a guitarist .i have good instruments ...this banjo .has a lot of volume .also the neck and fingerboard are a work of art .after all these years the neck is straight .....no truss rod.when i master the beast ill put some tunes on ....thanks...allan

  • skip sail

    hi Jody,met you on your australian tour,we talked Fred Macdowell and Robert Petway and jammed a bit on some fingerpicked blues at Camperdown. Thanks for the welcome to the forum! Skip

  • thereallyniceman

    Jody, Bill and Scott get out the glasses and have a celebratory drink on me!

    Ian, thereallyniceman
  • Alan Sims

    what banjo did you play on champion waltze .nice mellow sound and a nice tune. regards Alan

  • Jody Stecher

    It's an English Walnut fretless banjo tuned two whole steps low. The maker is J Clamp. It usually sounds better.  Here's what I posted to this group some years ago when I uploaded the recording. (also you can find 2 photos of the peghead in the Photos section) :

    I've just uploaded an mp3 of a catchy little tune called Champion Waltz. It's from Winner's New School for the Banjo (1872). I learned it from the ABF quarterly 5 Stringer where it was transposed to C notation by Eli Kaufman. I'm playing it on a fretless banjo made in the 1890s by J Clamp in Newcaste-on-Tyne. It has a big pot and a short neck so it looks a bit like a skillet. Today it sounds like it has a cold. Calfskin head, heavy nylon strings, low tuning.
  • Alan Sims

    Cheers Jody, 521 ,I suppose it could be a f added 9 as well it sounds a bit jazzy.

  • Jody Stecher

    F9 is what I thought of first but the absence of eFlat made me think twice. It some kinda F chord anyway.

  • Alan Sims

    What I was getting at Jody and Mark was while I was learning the banjo .mandolin practice was going a drift. so now I have learned to give them both the same attention in my practice times , and not to favour  one over the other.

  • Frank Coyne

    Hi Jody, Greetings from Dublin, Ireland. Good to linkup. Regards. Frank

  • Peter szego

    Hi Jody,

    Thanks for the welcome. I decided it's time to grow up, suit up and go classic — if not classy. Do you realize that the Downstate Rebels were 57 years ago? Not exactly the most appropriate name for these times. I hope that you and Kate are well. 

    Peter

  • Jody Stecher

    When I first heard Dancers Dream I immediately thought it might suit your dancing.

    https://classic-banjo.ning.com/page/recordings

    and

    https://classic-banjo.ning.com/video/abbott-amboyna-zither-banjo-th...