Comment by thereallyniceman on August 3, 2014 at 11:55

Yes Terry, Classic Banjo at its best!

 The trouble with watching and and hearing an excellent player like this is that it sets me off wondering if a change of strings, vellum, and yes, bridge would improve the sound of my playing. I have been round this loop several times and always come back to a Morley style maple bridge, CE or Sands medium strings and a Renaissance vellum.

It looks like, this time round the loop, it will be with an ebony bridge :-)

You can certainly tell the Van Eps association by his tone and speed!

Comment by Jody Stecher on August 3, 2014 at 15:02

Who cares what bridge he used? I do.

By becoming familiar with the sonic effects of different bridges, tailpieces, strings, heads, and other variables one has a good shot at making any unbroken banjo into an instrument that produces the type of voice a given player prefers.   A good sound will be gotten from Chris Sands strings. Guaranteed. But if one aspires to the Van Eps sound,  fishing line is a better bet. 

BTW, that's Pete's sister Peggy. And Mississippi John Hurt. 

Comment by Joel Hooks on August 3, 2014 at 16:39

I also care.  That is why I made a couple of razor ebony bridges after Eli Kaufman described Van Eps' setup.  Seeing it in this video was cool.

I tried the fish line route but found them to be frequently false and elliptical in shape-- some spools even have ridges down the middle of the string.  They are extruded to catch fish so variations in diameter does not effect that use, but causes problems with intonation.

Nylon has also changed chemically since that time.  

Recently I have had the best results with the new Labella No. 17.  I say "new" because at some point in the last two years they changed to a very hard rectified nylon keeping the same diameters.  Makes for a very snappy tone.  Turns out that Clarke Buehling has been using them too.

Jody, that is Hedy West, here is the complete episode...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWe-qrqgi_0

I have to admit that I could not take it and hit the fast-foward past her.  Perfect speaking dictation to southern accent when singing is just too much for me.

Comment by Jody Stecher on August 3, 2014 at 17:07

Duh, of course it's Hedy West. That long necked banjo had me fooled. Now how's that for a telltale sign of a banjo nerd? (Identifying people by their banjos rather than their physical appearance.)  Silly me!

Hedy West was from the rural south, from North Georgia. She attended university in New York City and lived in England for many years so by the time of the Rainbow Quest television show  her speaking voice was a mix. She was definitely an odd vocalist, but not a fake. Her singing is very quirky and also not to my taste but I believe she was sincere.

Comment by Jody Stecher on August 3, 2014 at 18:50

Paul Cadwell also plays  Georgia Camp Meeting at just past 9 minutes in. Definitely worth a listen and a look. Like Superman, he jumps tall buildings in a single bound.

Well, OK, he makes big jumps from low to high frets and back again and does it well. It's preceded by a discussion of fishing line (10 pound fish for 1st and 5th string) and followed by a "round robin" discussion about Cake Walks.

Comment by Trapdoor2 on August 4, 2014 at 16:37

BTW, that piece he plays just before "Ragtime Episode" is "Tyro Mazurka". Beautifully played too...

Comment by Joel Hooks on August 16, 2014 at 22:32

"Airplane wing!" That exactly describes what I am doing to these-- perfect description.

Comment by Texican65 on January 6, 2015 at 2:13

Joel, have you got those ebony bridges dialed in yet? Sure look sharp...are they sounding sharp aswell?

Dow

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