Creed Five-String Fretless Banjo, used by Fred Cockerham
date: label: date made
content: 1960-1962
name: label: user
content: Cockerham, Fred
label: maker
content: Creed, Kyle
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This banjo was made by Kyle Creed in Galax, Virginia around 1960-1962. It has 16 brackets and a fingerboard covered with formica veneer. An innovative use of modern synthetic materials (Formica (TM) and Mylar (TM)) is seen in this otherwise traditional fretless banjo made for outstanding old time musician Fred Cockerham, by his friend Kyle Creed.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>The Formica surface of the fingerboard provides a wear resistant, smooth surface that helps the finger slides of the old time clawhammer style. The Mylar head gives a bright clear tone even during damp weather, which slackens and dulls the tone of the humidity sensitive skin heads used on earlier banjos.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Fred Cockerham was extensively recorded by Smithsonian Curator Scott Odell in the 1960s. Those field tapes are now included along with photographs and oral histories in the National Museum of American History's Archives Center.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Virginia, Galax
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Banjos
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of The Fred Cockerham Family
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0427.01
label: accession number
content: 1988.0427
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0427.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: banjo
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: formica (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: mylar (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 3/4 in x 12 in x 2 1/2 in; 93.345 cm x 30.48 cm x 6.35 cm