You really should learn more about Thomm! thommjutz.com/ Ways to support this channel. www.patreon.com/otisgibbs ua-cam.com/channels/YX2MTovE0vYjD8touqRH7Q.htmljoin Tip jar for anyone who wants to help support this channel. paypal.me/otisgibbs?locale.x=... www.venmo.com/OtisGibbs Paypal: @otisgibbs Venmo: @OtisGibbs
I know a person who has a modern Acoustic electric take on this instrument from modern National, and he found all steel acoustic/electric strings where winding on outside is steel work best, electric guitar strings work okay but need to be bigger like 10.5 gage on up for a more banjo sound. Is in Hidden timber Band from Okobojo South Dakota. His he did lower the bridge so it plays like a Banjo though not to this degree low as instrument below, more like a modern banjo height. My Dad's trombone is from late 1920's he got in 1965 before same brand was making same model for a while in 1970's and has a very brassy tone to it like Marching/Jazz had in era.
You can adjust those "Overtones" by rolling up a sock or piece of cloth snd wedging it below neck joint... i do it with my Fairbanks Senator from 1902. Great Vid Otis.
I've been to Washington Square Park with The Original Icon of Bluegrass, Roger Sprung.... he was a major influence in my career!! That's how I found the Senator.
Really fascinating. As someone who can just about play c, d and g over and over, I love listening to people talk about their instruments and their history. Also loving the new interview style with you in shot Otis. It's great to see your reactions to the questions and feels a lot more engaged. My favourite channel on the internet.
As someone who writes, keeping my mind in tune as my instrument, it is hard to be replaced, whether with one old or new. A different pen or keyboard is novel, but usually fruitless. Thank you both for a good morning ☮
Really enjoyed this vid! So great to see Papa Charlie getting some long-deserved love. About 10 years ago I produced "Papa Charlie Done Sung That Song: A Tribute to Papa Charlie Jackson" with a number of different performers--including Dom Flemmons (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Chris Frank (Red Clay Ramblers) among others. This was released on Document Records and is now available on Bandcamp for anyone who might be interested. I also own one of these Gibson GBs--along with some old Gibson guitars--and agree that guitar players should take the time when in cities with good instrument shops to experience great vintage instruments!
This was the first clip in my feed this morning, and I’m glad I clicked-it. I have a 1941 Gibson LG2 that sounds like nothing else & the banjo-guitar featured here was really unique sounding too. Very cool clip. ☮️
Thanks for another thoughtful interview, Otis. Sam McGee, great early country guitar player, played a Gibson Mastertone guitar banjo on the Grand Ole Opry and on records with his brother Kirk and Uncle Dave Macon. Check out that stuff. You can hear 5-string and guitar banjo playing together on some of them. It’s a violation of the natural law that says two banjos sound half as good as one but still very cool.
A friend of mine, Rick Good plays a guitar banjo on the Hotmud Family album "The Stone Mountain Wobble"...........I remember him telling me that it was the loudest instrument he ever played...best banjo player I personally know....
I'll be deep down the Papa Charlie Jackson rabbit hole for the better part of the rest of the day. Im amazed how often I learn about "new" music from your videos.
Banjos and resonator banjos and guitar banjos were used then because of the issue of volume and being heard either in public or over the top of horns. That was before electronic amplification. Guitars were lost in the mix. Guitars were a parlor instrument or mostly in a rhythm backup roll. There were a lot of unique designs like the Stroh violins or Django's Selmer Macaferri guitar where great ingenuity was applied to getting more volume out of stringed instruments. Oh and that is not a Snakehead. Snakeheads were mostly on mandolins during the 1920s. They are a different profile.
To me, the timbre of this instrument evokes feelings of an arduous way of life of a bygone era. The sound of hard living. No doubt given life through Thomm's sublime playing.
A lovely historical nugget of musical information. As always, love your content and care. Thank you Otis and Thomm for your gifts. Kyle, from Arizona. 🌵
It has modern Waverly guitar tuners- circa mid-60s which probably replaced original banjo tuners. Many guitars up into the early 1930s used banjo tuners if they had a solid headstock- like this instrument- as opposed to slot head guitars which always had guitar style tuners on plates.
Wow... that was fantastic! Definitely going to check out more about Thomm. Just ordered a copy of the book he was talking about. Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar by Jas Obrecht. Thanks for continuing my spelunking adventure Otis! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
Well, happy Sunday! The sound of the instrument and Thomm's skilled playing is beautiful. Now my magpie brain has added another instrument to the list of things I'd like to get and play. Thank you, Otis and Thomm! 🙏🏻🤍
Great video man. I own 2 of these GB's which was inspired by my love for Papa Charlie Jackson and the back was not actually open. It was supposed to have what was called a trap door, which was adjustable. After sometime I found that the GB was all I wanted to play. I am very excited to see another enjoying this great sound of the past. There is no other 6 string banjo with this sound. Truly beautiful.
dear Mr.OTTIS..,,,,,yes!,,..this morning i put my 1976 Hohner LesPaul back together,,fixed neck/frets...(1st try at this,),,,all of the sudden,,back to the outlaws,charlie daniels,slash stuff,...woow,,.i waited till im 63 to have a LP,,,...just sayin!,,,..tnx for this vid,,..my oldest guitar=1970 yamaha red label acoustic we all love,play..,,,peace-out,,,pat&family,,land o' lakes,wi.
I've always wanted something like this, but halfway decent banjos of any kind are still very expensive, let alone guitar banjos. I do have a fretted cumbus, a Turkish instrument that's usually fretless, and basically like a cross between banjo and oud. When I came across the fretted one, it was a no brainer, and I had to have it. While it is a fretted, six course, 12 string banjo-like instrument, it's really not like either a guitar or banjo at all. But it does make a pretty awesome Leadbelly-like sound, and it's well suited to playing his music.
This is REALLY COOL!! I really love the headstock......My great grandfather Joseph L. Ivers was a Mandolin & Guitar Company "Teacher Agent" in the teens and twenties, and he moved a lot of Gibson product, mostly mandolin family instruments as this was the height of the Mandolin Orchestra era. I'm sort of familiar with the Gibson product line from the 20's, including other hybrid instruments from that era made and sold by Gibson and other companies like the BanjoLin, and the crazy Harp Guitar, but I've never seen one of these! My dad who has played Mandolin all his life, when commenting about the BanjoLin, said that it was the "worst of both worlds, It's a crappy banjo, and even a worse mandolin." Great interview, cool rack of outboard gear in the background. I love the sound of the overtones. Spooking sounding.
What a cool instrument! I'm in the same boat; I'd consider the restored fretboard a plus if anything, since I've owned a guitar with a badly warped fretboard before. Instruments in too good of shape (collector-level mint condition) make playing them stressful.
Reminds me of the Daddy Banjo devised by Frank Davis. He was a Houston folk legend dating back to The Jester, before even my time. Yes he played some old times stuff but his career included producing Easter Everywhere, second album by the 13th Floor Elevators
I continue to have my mind boggled by the fact of artists such as Papa Charlie Jackson came up here from New Orleans or Mississippi to Grafton Wisconsin to cut records for Paramount. All the towns that they went past or through while taking a train to Grafton, such as Memphis, Cincinnati, Chicago, even Milwaukee. How is it that they weren't recording someplace less hell and gone than Grafton?
Those are referred to as “Moccasin” heads in many circles. There is a lot of history behind those GB designs from Gibson. There MAY have been a “trapdoor” back on that at one point, I have a 1919 mandolinbanjo with trapdoor and moccasin peghead.
That is an amazing instrument, and the overtones sound incredible! Don't alter it a bit. If you want to mellow it out (ugh, WHY?!) just stick a rag or old t-shirt or something in the back.
in case anyone also broke unknown nobody like me is considering ever getting 7.1 surround sound the affordable kind for listening and viewing which is worth every penny (i got a samsung refurb system for not much alll told) his demosntration sounds so rad thru the rear (they have their own power) surround speaklers.....picking up some strange cool sounds
I had a 1919 Gibson Harp Guitar I stumbled across by accident in a basement I was cleaning out before demolition in Antioch Tn...Danny Toler wanted to buy it after he seen it at my little studio but didnt want to pay what i was asking...I know he called Dickie Betts but Dickie passed....We recorded a couple of songs with it..I ended up selling it to a private buyer..Last time I checked it was worth upper 30s..In thousands..I should have kept it but I was happy with the sale at the time...🍑
Wow that is cool !...Ive never seen or heard of such an instrument , that head stock looks the most like a snake head than any other head stock Ive seen , it needs a Kahler trem system ( really !? )...very interesting ! Thanks!
You really should learn more about Thomm!
thommjutz.com/
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I know a person who has a modern Acoustic electric take on this instrument from modern National, and he found all steel acoustic/electric strings where winding on outside is steel work best, electric guitar strings work okay but need to be bigger like 10.5 gage on up for a more banjo sound. Is in Hidden timber Band from Okobojo South Dakota. His he did lower the bridge so it plays like a Banjo though not to this degree low as instrument below, more like a modern banjo height.
My Dad's trombone is from late 1920's he got in 1965 before same brand was making same model for a while in 1970's and has a very brassy tone to it like Marching/Jazz had in era.
You can adjust those "Overtones" by rolling up a sock or piece of cloth snd wedging it below neck joint... i do it with my Fairbanks Senator from 1902. Great Vid Otis.
Was going to say the same. All my open back banjos sound better with a cloth or cork in between the vellum and perch pole.
I've been to Washington Square Park with The Original Icon of Bluegrass, Roger Sprung.... he was a major influence in my career!! That's how I found the Senator.
Really fascinating. As someone who can just about play c, d and g over and over, I love listening to people talk about their instruments and their history. Also loving the new interview style with you in shot Otis. It's great to see your reactions to the questions and feels a lot more engaged. My favourite channel on the internet.
lol, you’re way ahead of me.😊
Change that C to a Cadd9 and you’re on your way to rock stardom.
Start looking up some tabs dude. Specifically for chords if that's your thing. Playing more songs will help you learn them quickly.
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Perfect Sunday morning watch…
Lovely take on Fair And Tender Ladies. Perfect for Sunday morn. Thank you, Thomm & Otis!
Would be interesting to hand that thing to Bela Fleck and watch what he could figure out on it. Great video Otis
I immediately thought of Rhiannon Giddens and that low banjo she plays
Oh yeah, that tone! Definitely got that blues and ragtime 'thang' goin' on. Love It!
As someone who writes, keeping my mind in tune as my instrument, it is hard to be replaced, whether with one old or new. A different pen or keyboard is novel, but usually fruitless. Thank you both for a good morning ☮
Django used one when he first starting to play clubs. They were used to cut through a brass band. Pre Eddy Lang Thank Otis
True, but his had an 11 inch head size I believe, which creates a very different sound
That's some sweet playing, I wish more banjo players would adopt this style. Great video!
Really enjoyed this vid! So great to see Papa Charlie getting some long-deserved love. About 10 years ago I produced
"Papa Charlie Done Sung That Song: A Tribute to Papa Charlie Jackson" with a number of different performers--including Dom Flemmons (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Chris Frank (Red Clay Ramblers) among others. This was released on Document Records and is now available on Bandcamp for anyone who might be interested. I also own one of these Gibson GBs--along with some old Gibson guitars--and agree that guitar players should take the time when in cities with good instrument shops to experience great vintage instruments!
Sounds like a banjo, with a haunting sound. Thank you both, and I agree with the comment about enjoying you, Otis, in the videos.
Your video quality has always been great… but your new editing technique is captivating. Thanks, Otis
This was the first clip in my feed this morning, and I’m glad I clicked-it.
I have a 1941 Gibson LG2 that sounds like nothing else & the banjo-guitar featured here was really unique sounding too.
Very cool clip. ☮️
Thanks for another thoughtful interview, Otis. Sam McGee, great early country guitar player, played a Gibson Mastertone guitar banjo on the Grand Ole Opry and on records with his brother Kirk and Uncle Dave Macon. Check out that stuff. You can hear 5-string and guitar banjo playing together on some of them. It’s a violation of the natural law that says two banjos sound half as good as one but still very cool.
Nice to see a Bob Heil mic in use, he deserves to be remembered
A friend of mine, Rick Good plays a guitar banjo on the Hotmud Family album "The Stone Mountain Wobble"...........I remember him telling me that it was the loudest instrument he ever played...best banjo player I personally know....
I'll be deep down the Papa Charlie Jackson rabbit hole for the better part of the rest of the day.
Im amazed how often I learn about "new" music from your videos.
Same lol...always love discovering new, lesser- known, esoteric musicians 😊
I love it. Thank you, brother for sharing this
At 11:26 onwards, it sounds like it's being processed through some kind of reverb-synthsizer or something. Amazing to know that's its natural sound!
Stick a 4" length of aquarium hose between the bridge and the tailpiece to control the overtones. The closer to the bridge, the dryer the sound.
this is such a beautiful piece of video content Otis - many thanks man : )
Very cool way to enjoy my coffee this morning. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Otis, I loved this episode. The GB sounds great and Thomm's playing is fantastic. I will check him out as I'd love to hear more.
Banjos and resonator banjos and guitar banjos were used then because of the issue of volume and being heard either in public or over the top of horns. That was before electronic amplification. Guitars were lost in the mix. Guitars were a parlor instrument or mostly in a rhythm backup roll. There were a lot of unique designs like the Stroh violins or Django's Selmer Macaferri guitar where great ingenuity was applied to getting more volume out of stringed instruments.
Oh and that is not a Snakehead. Snakeheads were mostly on mandolins during the 1920s. They are a different profile.
To me, the timbre of this instrument evokes feelings of an arduous way of life of a bygone era. The sound of hard living. No doubt given life through Thomm's sublime playing.
A lovely historical nugget of musical information. As always, love your content and care. Thank you Otis and Thomm for your gifts. Kyle, from Arizona. 🌵
It has modern Waverly guitar tuners- circa mid-60s which probably replaced original banjo tuners. Many guitars up into the early 1930s used banjo tuners if they had a solid headstock- like this instrument- as opposed to slot head guitars which always had guitar style tuners on plates.
Wow... that was fantastic! Definitely going to check out more about Thomm. Just ordered a copy of the book he was talking about. Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar by Jas Obrecht. Thanks for continuing my spelunking adventure Otis! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
Well, happy Sunday!
The sound of the instrument and Thomm's skilled playing is beautiful.
Now my magpie brain has added another instrument to the list of things I'd like to get and play.
Thank you, Otis and Thomm!
🙏🏻🤍
great work on the insert shots of the parhnephelia tom to hall bobble etc rad
Great video man. I own 2 of these GB's which was inspired by my love for Papa Charlie Jackson and the back was not actually open. It was supposed to have what was called a trap door, which was adjustable. After sometime I found that the GB was all I wanted to play. I am very excited to see another enjoying this great sound of the past. There is no other 6 string banjo with this sound. Truly beautiful.
I bet you were dying to play that Otis!!! I wish you would have filmed that too!
I'm going to show this to my wife, to justify buying a bass! Thanks Otis!
,,,yes,,,..after years not having one,,,,....got one,,,.....and what a treat,,,it's like ,try not to play any guitar stuff,,,just solid rythem, 😮.
Lots of really cool inexpensive Bass Guitars out now. So many to choose. It's a great time for guitars and retro synth. We should feel blessed.🙏
Tom, glad to see you got that! I got a GB from Retrofret maybe six years ago and used it on a film score. Very special instruments
dear Mr.OTTIS..,,,,,yes!,,..this morning i put my 1976 Hohner LesPaul back together,,fixed neck/frets...(1st try at this,),,,all of the sudden,,back to the outlaws,charlie daniels,slash stuff,...woow,,.i waited till im 63 to have a LP,,,...just sayin!,,,..tnx for this vid,,..my oldest guitar=1970 yamaha red label acoustic we all love,play..,,,peace-out,,,pat&family,,land o' lakes,wi.
I've always wanted something like this, but halfway decent banjos of any kind are still very expensive, let alone guitar banjos. I do have a fretted cumbus, a Turkish instrument that's usually fretless, and basically like a cross between banjo and oud. When I came across the fretted one, it was a no brainer, and I had to have it. While it is a fretted, six course, 12 string banjo-like instrument, it's really not like either a guitar or banjo at all. But it does make a pretty awesome Leadbelly-like sound, and it's well suited to playing his music.
Very cool episode.
Thanks very interesting instrument and sound
This is REALLY COOL!! I really love the headstock......My great grandfather Joseph L. Ivers was a Mandolin & Guitar Company "Teacher Agent" in the teens and twenties, and he moved a lot of Gibson product, mostly mandolin family instruments as this was the height of the Mandolin Orchestra era. I'm sort of familiar with the Gibson product line from the 20's, including other hybrid instruments from that era made and sold by Gibson and other companies like the BanjoLin, and the crazy Harp Guitar, but I've never seen one of these! My dad who has played Mandolin all his life, when commenting about the BanjoLin, said that it was the "worst of both worlds, It's a crappy banjo, and even a worse mandolin."
Great interview, cool rack of outboard gear in the background. I love the sound of the overtones. Spooking sounding.
“Down with this sort of thing”.
Classic
Ye Gods I thought I had heard it all sweet sound and beautiful playing thanks
What a cool instrument! I'm in the same boat; I'd consider the restored fretboard a plus if anything, since I've owned a guitar with a badly warped fretboard before. Instruments in too good of shape (collector-level mint condition) make playing them stressful.
Reminds me of the Daddy Banjo devised by Frank Davis. He was a Houston folk legend dating back to The Jester, before even my time.
Yes he played some old times stuff but his career included producing Easter Everywhere, second album by the 13th Floor Elevators
I love that banjo.
Wonderful!
Why on earth did Gibson not continue with the straight string pull headstock? Looks cool too.
I play my 1928 GB6 Snakebite, that one is nice. Sounds good with fingerpicks also
That headstock makes more sense than the open book B)
I love old instruments.
Love to here Nora play that thing.
Wonderful instrument and sweet & tender playing!
The headstock is such a tasteful and no angling from nut to tuners... if I ever build a guitar...🤔
I continue to have my mind boggled by the fact of artists such as Papa Charlie Jackson came up here from New Orleans or Mississippi to Grafton Wisconsin to cut records for Paramount. All the towns that they went past or through while taking a train to Grafton, such as Memphis, Cincinnati, Chicago, even Milwaukee. How is it that they weren't recording someplace less hell and gone than Grafton?
So cool!
Those are referred to as “Moccasin” heads in many circles. There is a lot of history behind those GB designs from Gibson. There MAY have been a “trapdoor” back on that at one point, I have a 1919 mandolinbanjo with trapdoor and moccasin peghead.
This is pretty cool! I did notice the radius of the neck seems pretty extreme. Is that true or was it just an artifact of the video?
lovely.
That is an amazing instrument, and the overtones sound incredible! Don't alter it a bit. If you want to mellow it out (ugh, WHY?!) just stick a rag or old t-shirt or something in the back.
Leon Redbone would have loved the GB!
Wow! Now there's a blast from the past. 'Diddy Wah Diddy' was a favorite of mine.
This Banjguitar has a great tone and interesting voice really enjoyed listening this.🤩👍
Love that headstock design! Too bad Gibson doesn’t use that for all its guitars today.
Ebony fretboard and a nice-looking headstock! Quality!
Dom Flemmons plays a similar one. He calls his Big Head Joe. It has an open headstock and gut strings.
I get it! Cool! Thanks! 🙂😎
Otis ... as always. Bring something Cool !!~
Wonderful ❤
Nice Banjitar.
oh wow. that instrument is amazing. I don't suppose there's anyone out there making these things, are there?
I'm into it.
Interesting…sounds real nice! 👍
Thom Jutz (another cat whos name aint spelled like id a guessed) looks like a serious fella who knows his bleep...thanks as ever brother otis - SJOCR
I always say my guitars write the songs. If I ain't feeling it on one guitar I put up another and a totally new riff will jump out of it.
If I close my eyes and listen, I visualize a civil war camp and some soldier playing these ghostlike tones.
That’s it!
William Henry "Papa Charlie" Jackson November 10, 1887 - May 7, 1938
slightly disappointed you didn't play a bit of "my lovely horse" to go with that mug, lol
in case anyone also broke unknown nobody like me is considering ever getting 7.1 surround sound the affordable kind for listening and viewing which is worth every penny (i got a samsung refurb system for not much alll told) his demosntration sounds so rad thru the rear (they have their own power) surround speaklers.....picking up some strange cool sounds
Gibson guitars would definitely benefit from that headstock shape
Banjatars are a thing. I own two of them, myself. One is a Dean, & the other is a Washburn....
Interesting instrument! Sounds somewhat orientalist to me. Like music from kabuki. It is otherworldly!
Sounds like a banjo- that is in tune.
❤❤❤
100 years ago Gibson had a headstock design that kept strings straight across the nut.
Today not so much.
I had a 1919 Gibson Harp Guitar I stumbled across by accident in a basement I was cleaning out before demolition in Antioch Tn...Danny Toler wanted to buy it after he seen it at my little studio but didnt want to pay what i was asking...I know he called Dickie Betts but Dickie passed....We recorded a couple of songs with it..I ended up selling it to a private buyer..Last time I checked it was worth upper 30s..In thousands..I should have kept it but I was happy with the sale at the time...🍑
Gretsch built a 6 string Bangor that sounds good
I really wish they would have stuck around K-Zoo.
During the last bit of playing I was thinking that there were similar sounds from a Japanese instrument.
Like a prototype banguitar?
Wow that is cool !...Ive never seen or heard of such an instrument , that head stock looks the most like a snake head than any other head stock Ive seen , it needs a Kahler trem system ( really !? )...very interesting ! Thanks!
Wasnt these things played during the civil war?
Sounds like a piano!
Careful, now!
always called one of those a 6 string banjo.
👌😎
Gibson started as a mandolin manufacturer, I hear.
Keep yer hands off my poodle - Pappa
You put it in and I’ll take it out… what!
Is R. Crumb still alive? He'd lose his mind over this.
🎙️✨💗
Guitars have songs "in them".