The evening world., 1890-03-15
OF THE BANJO.
Costly Modern improvements Of
a Primitive Instrument.

The swell negro minstrel was tuning
mp q banjo of the most gorgeous descrip-
ton, says n writer in the Washington
Star, eliciting q plaintive tinkle-tinkle
from the strings with h finger aud
thumb Of one hand. while with the other
he manipulated the fnger-board from
fret to fret and now and then screwed
one Of the little ivory keys atrife tighter.
It was in his handsomely furnished
apartment OF an uptown hotel that he sat,
humming snatches of q new popular song
in an undertone, while he toyed with the
instrument caressingly-as well he might,
for II was a beauty, presented to him.
doubtless. as q tribute to his skill rs a
professional %troubadour by some nd
mirerg.
The circular rim ipc!osing the head
itself n disk of sheepskin so fine as to be
almost transparent was of gold Overland
upon wood with brackets oil around Of
the same precious metal to hold the drum
taut the tinger-board was elaborntely in
laid and ornamented, and nothing seemed
to have been omitted that could possibly
triyance. For burns-cork art i'll those
days is exhibiting q persistent tendency
towards the decorative.
The banjo is adecidedly better instru-
ment than 1t was fifteen years ago. F"
said the troubadour. sweeping the strings
to tuneful chords while he talked. And
the reason of it has chiefly TO do with the
head and tho strings. The brackets are
better made and more of them are used,
so that the sheepskin is kept tighter
stretched. I
"In the primitive banjo as few rs four
brackets were employed. while this one
you see. has thirty. Tap tine drum with
your knuckle and observe how firm and
resonant it is. Now, too, the strings are
made thinner and more carefully twisted.
How are they manufactured Why, OF
sheeps' intestines cut into finest 8 rips md
twisted together. 1t is a very skilled
process.
Poor strings may not be composed of
more than four or five strands OF gut,
whereas first rate ones have from htteen
TO eighteen. After they have been
twisted they are polished OF with pum-
ice-stone and other things, so that they
are made quite round and h twisting
cannot be seen, though in the cheap ones
il remains visible.
Banjo strings are all imported they
are manufactured in Germany and Italy.
tached to fish hooks are OF the same
material, but | happen 10 know that they
are in reality made of the bodies OF silk
worms taken in an immature state aud
stretched out. Seems wonderful, doesn't
ftp"
"How about the heads?"
"They are made of ordinary sheepskin
carefully cured, stretched and scraped to
the proper thinness. Sometimes a hide
is split into two layers for the purpose,
the part next the hair being the more de-
sirable. Banjo heads are made in this
country. as indeed the banios themselves
are also. The best instruments coma
from Philadelphia. though they are made
and New York. One other important i'm
provement on the banjo in later years
has been the addition 10 the Finger board
Of raised frets, which do much better
than the marks that were meant 70 serve
the same use formerly. Altogether-tt
m-ti-t um tiddle-ti-tum-this is a won
derful case of evolution from the original
African thTummeT."