The Blues Banjo: The instruments: The mandolin-banjo: The banjolin

The banjolin



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This particular page was created 17/05/2005 and last updated 21/05/2005
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    Data:
  • Body shape: Round
  • Top: Skin
  • Back: Open or resonator
  • Bridge: Floating
  • Frets: Fixed
  • Strings: 4
  • Courses: 4 ( 1 - 1 - 1 - 1)
  • Scale: 330 - 380 mm
What we tend to call mandolin-banjo today was actually two different instruments. The banjolin is the Tenor banjo's little brother, while the mandolin-banjo was and is a mandolin with a small banjo pot instead of a soundbox. In the end the only difference between them was that the banjolin had four single strings while the mandolin came with paired strings.
  Well, the two instruments probably didn't evolve completely independently, but it's still a good example of the principle of parallel evolution applied to musical instruments.

Anyway, none of the small banjos were ever used very much in blues, but it did occasionally occur in the jug bands of the 1920's Memphis.

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