The Banjo Factory

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  • History of the Banjo
  • Banjo String History
  • Minstrelsy in 1860
  • Guitars of 19th Century
  • Briggs Banj Method
  • 1888 Do-it-yourself Banjo
  • More
    • Home
    • Gourd Banjo
    • 12" Minstrel Banjo
    • Kits
    • Contact
    • Cases
    • Gallery
    • Options
    • History of the Banjo
    • Banjo String History
    • Minstrelsy in 1860
    • Guitars of 19th Century
    • Briggs Banj Method
    • 1888 Do-it-yourself Banjo

The Banjo Factory

The Banjo FactoryThe Banjo FactoryThe Banjo Factory
  • Home
  • Gourd Banjo
  • 12" Minstrel Banjo
  • Kits
  • Contact
  • Cases
  • Gallery
  • Options
  • History of the Banjo
  • Banjo String History
  • Minstrelsy in 1860
  • Guitars of 19th Century
  • Briggs Banj Method
  • 1888 Do-it-yourself Banjo

Gourd Banjo

Gourd Banjos

 Gourd  banjos are where it all begins. If you like an older style fretless  banjo, then this is your choice. The volume is comparable to the  minstrel banjo, but the gourd banjos have a deeper, more resonant or  mellow tone. From the 17th century on, reports from the slave routes  spanning theWest African coast to the Caribbean islands, we have  references to folk instruments resembling the gourd banjo. In 1689 Sir  Hans Sloane, a physician who thoroughly documented Jamaica's music,  noted that the island's Africans have "strum-strums... several sorts of  instruments in imitation of lutes, made of small boards fitted with  necks, strung with horse hairs or the peeled stocks of climbing Plants  or Withs." These he said, "are sometimes made of hollow'd Timber covered  with Parchment or other Skin wetted, having a bow for its neck, the  strings ty'd longer or shorter as they would alter their sounds." Such a  "strum-strum" was likely the same as what Adrian Dessalles describes in  his Histoire Genérales des Antilles (1678), called the "Banza," to  which the slaves on Martinique "danced in their own style". (Translated  and cited in Dena J. Epstein, "The Folk Banjo"). 


I am retiring to Arizona and giving up my shop. I will no longer be making banjos.




Sounds of the Gourd Banjo

Sound samples for our Gourd Banjos

 These samples are played on SOUNDCLOUD, a third party site, because this is the only way CoDaddy Web Builder would allow me to post them. 

I am retiring to Arizona and giving up my shop. I will no longer be making banjos.

The Banjo Factory

3607 Broadmoor Drive Northeast, Tacoma, Washington 98422, United States

(253) 568-2292

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