fietsbob

For those unfamiliar , this is a Piccolo banjo ..https://seedersinstruments.com/2011/0...piccolo-banjo/

seeker333

Actually, it often has the opposite effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drHCosJWH0Q

DW99

Ahhhh, the master! Most excellent, thanks for that seeker333!

seeker333

You are welcome.

"Earl's Breakdown" is one of my favorite Scruggs tunes.

Of course, most people know him for this tune (go to 4:55):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIOayhVyFoI

Here's Earl picking it at age 86:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgLSowrUQKU

rekmeyata

Wouldn't the constant change of weather and humidity play havoc on a banjo? Maybe a Jew's (Juice) Harp would be a better option, and they take up a lot less space.

fietsbob

Mylar heads cure a lot of the issues calf skin heads caused, like temperature/ humidity sensitivity.

BanjoBones

I too would like to find a way to attach a banjo to a bike, I saw Erin Inglish has an interesting way of doing this, adding an extra rear mounted rack and fixing the banjo to that.



https://www.facebook.com/erininglishmusic

Erin Inglish » Earth*Bike*Banjo 2013

fietsbob

^^^ that certainly is a serious investment , Fiberglass cases do seal well around their edges..
if you do paid gigs .. you want your better instrument along. Good loud 5 string banjos on their own are heavy.

Smaller ..


The Firefly Banjo Ukulele

you can retune it with somewhat different strings to be like the 4 long strings on a 5 string

or like either of the tunings common to tenor banjos and guitars ..

[5th CGDA/GDAE, or 'Chicago' (not much different than standard Soprano , just a lower, by an octave, 4th string.)
Relative intervals, like the DGBE of a guitar. vs 1st and 4th string being the same size ,4th only a step lower than the 1st. D>E

AusTexMurf

Deering Goodtime banjo is really nice for camping, backpacking, biking…
Lighter weight, open back, rock maple, nice tone, nice intonation up the neck.
Also fairly durable to temperature and humidity changes.

BanjoBones

She upgraded to a carbon fibre case I hear, bet that's not cheap. I am not planning to do 10000 miles just yet, just get to some sessions around London.

deadsouls.

The Hills have Thighs

I know this guy carries one. Think he straps it to his front rack though.

3speed

I like the Surly up there with the rack mounted on the far rear. I bet that wouldn't be too difficult to do by just attaching a second rear rack and using band clamps or something to attach and butt the second rack against the normal rear rack. So basically just connect the rear most tube of the normal rack to the front most tube of the second rack. Then maybe bolt a couple L brackets on the bottom of that rack to keep the banjo case from sliding down. Hmm...

I'm taking a harmonica, myself. Not many packing complications there.

Just be sure to be considerate of others and stop playing after dark when not in towns, cities, etc. Even if a couple people in the camp site come over to listen and jam doesn't mean your poor next-door-neighbor isn't having their evening ruined. You can hear things loud and clear from a ways away in most camp sites, whether you want to or not.

staehpj1

I hope this isn't too far off topic, but...
I have built some tiny mountain dulcimers that I designed specifically for backpacking and bike touring. They weigh less than 8 oz and sound surprisingly good. I am thinking of marketing them on a small scale. I'd consider building one for folks who are interested.

I have also built some stick dulcimers in a similar weight range. They are much like a strumstick only smaller and lighter. I like the lap version better myself though.

This little guy is about 18" long and is a prototype of the lap model I am thinking of selling:


The little one on the top is a prototype of the backpacking stick I am thinking of selling:

The stick is about 3" longer than the lap model.

I am also considering experimenting with a banjo/dulcimer hybrid. There are some larger ones already on the market (banjammer for one), but I am thinking of a smaller lighter instrument.

These instruments are really easy to play since they usually have diatonic fretting to only play the notes of the scale in the specific key they are tuned too. You can play chords, finger pick, or play the melody on the melody string and let the other two strings drone. It is designed so that in the latter case the drone will fill out the sound almost as if you were playing chords along with the melody. People who play another stringed instrument seem to be able to just pick it up and start playing. They invariably say that it is a lot of fun to play. Those who have never played an instrument can pick it up pretty quickly and play a simple song almost right away.

On request they could be made with full chromatic fretting.

Do you guys think there may be a market for these in the bike touring and backpacking community? I would be building them by hand in small quantities so the demand would not have to be large. I want to keep it small as more of a hobby than a real business.