by Bert Daniel | May 30, 2025 | Welcome Column
I doubt if very many people know what a lint head is. But everybody knows the term “red neck”. It’s usually used in a derogatory fashion to refer to unsophisticated southerners. Hillbilly. Cracker. White trash. Not something you’d want to be it seems, and yet some...
by Bert Daniel | Jul 11, 2025 | Welcome Column
Out in this cold world alone Walking around in the street. Asking a penny for bread Begging for something to eat (Carter family) it’s a sign of our times that the humble penny, a symbol of the value for every little thing, is fast becoming obsolete. In less than one...
by Bert Daniel | Jun 26, 2025 | Welcome Column
Gibson Mastertone Banjos, the Life, the Lore, the Reality Sean J. Barry June 23, 2025 Foreword: The uninitiated might find parts of the following essay confusing primarily because some of the material is arcane and unfamiliar, but even that group should and will soon...
by Bert Daniel | Jun 28, 2025 | Welcome Column
Most shoppers of authentic prewar Gibson Mastertone Banjos still face a dilemma: “this prewar Gibson is a nice archtop tenorbanjo, but to be useful for modern bluegrass it usually needs a flathead tone ring and always needs a five-string neck, preferably consistent in...
by Bert Daniel | Jul 10, 2025 | Welcome Column
Some players attempt to coax superior tone by modifying their instruments sometimes in bizarre ways. For example, one (now deceased) incredibly talented player is reputed to have taped a mirror inside his banjo resonator to better reflect the tone outward. Whether...
by Bert Daniel | Aug 14, 2025 | Welcome Column
Today was back to school day here in Sonoma county. Kids return to school pretty early here. Where I grew up in South Carolina we had at least a couple of weeks still before the summer was over. Often when we returned to school we had to write the obligatory essay...
