BANJOS

  • The banjo, ultimately derived from African sources, has been a mainstay of American music-making since the mid-17th century.

  • An African concept, carried over into the developing American banjo, was the shorter "thumb string," already visible in an early 19th-century gourd instrument depicted in an early watercolor, "The Old Plantation."

  • Early banjos and banjo prototypes in Africa and the Caribbean were generally created by their players, using an animal skin "head" stretched over a gourd.

  • In the 19th century banjo manufacturers began to create instruments using round wooden frames and fretted necks with (most commonly) four or five strings.

  • WIKIPEDIA: "BANJO"

KENTUCKY BANJO CRAFTSMEN

Watercolor, c. 1790, Detail from "The Old Plantation"