Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1890-05-06

decorative Counterfeit darkies, to graf
ify the stated public taste, must WELD the
tambourine and bones in Monte Cristo
dresses of black satin and jewels, while
little Lord Fauntleroy reclines gracefully
at the front of the stage, singeing his
curls Of best quality tow In the footlights,
with other things to correspond.
"The banjo is decidedly better in.
strument than it was fifteen years ago."
said the troubadour, sweeping the strings
totuneful chords while he talked with
the writer, who was making him visit.
And the reason of it has chiefly to do
with the head and the strings. The
brackets are better made and more Of
them are used, so that the sheepskin is
kept tighter stretched. In the primitive
banjo as few as four brackets were EN-
ployed, while this one, you see, has thirty.
Tap the drum with your knuckles 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 Sleeps
intestines cut into fine strips and twisted
together. 1t is very skilled process.
Poor strings may not be composed OF
more than four or five strands of gut,
whereas first rate ones have from fifteen
to eighteen. After they have been
twisted, they are polished off with pumice
stone and other things, SO that they are
made quite round and the twisting canno
be seen, though in the cheap ones it re
mains visible. Banjo strings are all i'm
ported; they are manufactured in Ger
many and Italy. Most people suppos
that the shells attached to fish hooks ar
of the same material, but l happen t
know that they are in reality made o
the bodies of silk worms taken in an i'm
mature state and stretched out. Seem
wonderful, doesn't it,"
GLOW about the heads:"
"They are made of ordinary sheepskir
carefully cured, stretched and scraped
the proper thinness. Sometimes a hid
is split into two layers for the purpose
the part next the hair being the MOI
|. desirable. Banjo heads are made in thi
country, as. indeed, the banjos then
/ selves are also The best instrument
come from Philadelphia, though they al
made in great numbers also in Chicag'
! Boston and New York. One other in
= portant improvement ON the banjo in la
ter years has been the addition to u
fingerboard of raised frets, which
: much better than the marks that wei
u meant to serve the same use formerl
y Altogether = um-tiddle-ti-tu
/ this is a wonderful case of evoluti'
from the original African drummer
6 "You refer the banjo to an Afric'
a origin, them
Il without doubt The original ban
was a calabash with strings of some SC
u across it. If you travelled in Africa y
Is would find this same primitive instI
L ment still in use at savage festivities,
81 it has doubtless been for ages. The
D. eroes brought to this country as sla'
fetched the idea with them, and c.
tury ago, or even much less, gourds
r. in half were employed for the purp'
n by the blacks in the south. Nobo
10 knows exactly how the first steps in
r. development of the banjo were taken,
y Il recognized that it owes its pres
rd form to the application-tum-ti-tum-
rs the guitar principles to it. In all lik
,ss hood the negroes themselves made
,r. first improvements upon it. taking s.
Il, gestions from the guitar, and white 70
les took it up afterward. Anyway, It is
40 perfect an instrument now as 1t will Q
Or be. Musicians say that it isn't reall
70 musical instrument at all, but only a
"a barrie thing. to be classed with the to
If tom. However, don't agree with th'
l,a Washington Star.