An antique banjo from the mid-late 1800's

This is my new old fretless banjo bought on eBay. It was found hanging on a wall in W. Virginia. Here I play Sweet Sunny South and Cluck Old Hen in Thumb-Lead Style.
The seller wrote about the banjo, "I found the banjo in an old barn that was falling down when I went to look at an old car. I ask the owner if he would sell it. He said no because it was hanging in that barn when his grandfather bought the place. But he would give it to me. WOW!! I kept the banjo in my closet for many years until I decided to restore it. I hope you enjoy as much as I did".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• thumb
• lead
• two
• finger
• picking
• style
• banjo
• old
• time
• old-time
• appalachian
• traditional
• american
• folk
• music

[kevinwholmes]

Very cool. Fun to see someone else play 2-finger, as do I. Most banjo players I meet are either clawhammer or 3-finger Scruggs players.

[r810s]

@kevinwholmes Funny. I know one Scruggs player who plays in a danish bluegrass band, but all the other banjo players I know from the old-time circles play clawhammer. I can't play clawhammer, it feels awkward to me, but I'd like to learn. On the other hand none of the players I know can play thumb-lead. So I was really happy when I found a blog on the web from where I could download some tabs for thumb-lead style. I really love doing that. It feels much more natural for me.

[sidewindermack]

Lots of brackets on that banjo. Great old timey sound!

[r810s]

@sidewindermack Lots of bracket, yes. Some of the old banjoes had that. It's not all the original brackets, as some had disappeared during time. Wish I could find some of the original brass brackets. That would look much better

[JayBirdsBanjo]

That sounds great, thanks for posting it...

[gadaya]

Very nice sound and playing on two great tunes