bass banjo

• Name — Bass banjo • Names — Cello banjo, banjocello • Classification — String instrument (plucked) • Hornbostel Sachs — 321.322-5 • Developed — Late 19th century • Related — *banjo • mandocello • cello • bass guitar • double bass

• Illustration — Advertising copy for Stewart 5-string cello, c. 1898 The five-string cello banjo was originally a gut-stringed instrument with a deep diameter rim, marketed by S.S. Stewart in 1889. Advertising copy used the terms "bass banjo" and "cello banjo" to refer to the same instrument. Other banjo makers manufactured similar instruments, including A.C. Fairbanks, with a diameter head and a scale length and A.A. Farland, with head and a scale. Gold Tone is the only contemporary manufacturer.

In 1919, Gibson began manufacturing a 4-string cello banjo, known as the CB-4. Other vintage manufacturers of four-string bass banjos include Bacon & Day. Gold Tone is the only contemporary manufacturer.

Gibson produced a separate instrument called a "bass banjo" from 1930 to 1933. This was a 4-string instrument, played as an upright bass, with a stand substituting for a spike. It was tuned EADG, the same as Gibson's mando-bass.

The Bassjo, also referred to as the banjo bass in a 2006 article featuring Les Claypool on the cover of Bassplayer Magazine was made by luthier Dan Maloney. Maloney was a friend of Claypool's approximately ten years ago when Claypool asked him to construct a guitar with "a banjo body and a bass neck ("Les Does More" 43)." The Bassjo can be heard on Claypool's 2006 album Of Whales and Woe on the track "Iowan Gal", as well as Primus' "Captain Shiner" from the album Tales from the Punchbowl.

The bass banjolele, is often made by individual luthiers and is without much mainstream use and production. They are often tuned E 1 –A 1 –D 2 –G 2. It is often just another version of a U-bass. It is often slightly longer than a U-bass.

Gold Tone Music Group produces a commercial version of the bass banjo. It has a scale and a pot.

An unusual variation is the Heftone bass, which combines a large, banjo pot with an upright spindle to produce an upright bass banjo. • Bass and cello banjos * • Illustration — Gold Tone four-string cello banjo — • Illustration — A.C. Fairbanks "Whyte Laydie" No. 5-string cello banjo Circa 1903, S/N 22924 — • Illustration — 1902 A.A. Farland 5-string cello banjo — • Illustration — Gold Tone bass banjo * • Illustration — Five-string cello banjo and a banjeaurine from S.S. Stewart * • Illustration — 1929 Gibson Bass Banjo at the American Banjo Museum

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