Woody's FAIRBANKS AND COLE
OPEN-BACK FRAILING BANJO PAGE
SN: 5299 1885
Based on the serial number stamped both inside the drum and
on the dowel stick,
our Fairbanks and
Cole (F&C) banjo SN: 5299 was built in mid-to-late1885 at Boston, MA (USA).
Long before Orville Gibson was
carving mandolins (late 1890s), long before the Gibson musical instrument company was
incorporated (October 1902), long before Les Paul released his first recordings
(1936), American
music had the open-back banjo.
First seen in the United States perhaps in the late 1600s, they were
popular as an economical instrument for people on a budget.
During
the mid-1800s, however, they become popular across all economic classes.
In 1875, Albert Conant Fairbanks was making basic 5-string banjos but, starting around 1880, Fairbanks teamed with a prominent musician, William Cole, to create and sell banjos that rivaled the best available at the time. Their relationship lasted until 1890 during which time they apparently created and sold about 9000 banjos.
The Corporate Trail according
to http://www.mugwumps.com/acf_date.htm:
Apparently, the corporate trail was loosely: AC Fairbanks 1875-1880, Fairbanks
and Cole 1880-1890, 1890-1914 Fairbanks eventually became known as Vega
(apparently also built some banjos for SS Stewart from 1903 to 1914). Vega made
banjos until 1970 when it was eventually bought by the CF Martin Guitar
Company.
Martin sold the company in 1980 to an Asian import company that eventually sold
Vega to Deering Banjo Company where they are currently made in California.
Since these banjos were predominately hand made, I have found that the dowel rod/neck assembly pretty well maps to the drum. A dowel from one banjo will not necessarily fit correctly onto a different drum, they should be considered a matched set - as is confirmed by the fact that both the dowel (neck) and drum units should have matching serial numbers.
Earlier F&C models did not
have names but may have had model numbers
(I
am looking for additional information on that possibility... any one have any
info on that?).
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This Fairbanks and Cole banjo had belonged to my grandfather, Dr. Arthur E. Woodhead (born 1888 in Rochdale, MA.), Zoology professor at the University of Michigan, (Ann Arbor, MI) in the early to mid 1900's. It is likely that the banjo had first belonged to his mother, Annie (Annie Harrison, wife of Walker) Woodhead buried at Rochdale, Massachusetts. Banjos had apparently found a niche market among New England's women in the mid-to-late 1800s. Annie died when Arthur was young, further fueling the opinion the banjo started out as his mother's and was handed down to him after her death. We believe he had been tutored by her. He likely played the banjo in his youth at his church, Christ Episcopal in Rochdale - where he was actively involved having also carved a wooden bench that remained there for many decades (current status unknown).
Below Left: Dr. Arthur E. Woodhead in his younger years
Above right: Arthur E. Woodhead (see arrow) played the banjo (not pictured) and sang in the University of Michigan Glee Club
The pictures
below show the way we received the banjo from my cousin, Ron.
When it had been given to him
by his mother, Virginia (Woodhead) Massey (Arthur's oldest daughter) it was in very poor shape.
Below left: Woody (grandson of the banjo's original owner) inspecting the banjo the day it was received
Below: Faded signature of Arthur E. Woodhead on the back of the original head (upper right of head) that was thoughtlessly thrown away by Elderly Music Company during the restoration work.
BANJO RESTORATION - Lackluster and careless work by Elderly Instruments of Lansing, MI.
After shopping around we settled on Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan to perform the restoration work.
Our decision to allow Elderly to perform the restoration work on this fine old instrument was highly unfortunate.
For the money that we spent their work was so-so and there was a massive insult to our family resultant from their efforts...
The drumhead had been signed on the back by my grandfather (below).
We had emphasized verbally and in writing that we wanted to keep the original head as we expected to display it with the banjo.
Although they had been advised several times both in writing and verbally, they
thoughtlessly threw it away anyway.
The fact that they made such a careless mistake proved consistent with the average work
(with superior prices) that we were charged for their effort.
In summary: Based on the lackluster performance in this interaction, it would be
my personal observation and opinion that we could never recommend letting the luthiers at Elderly Music touch
any instrument that you value.
Picking up the banjo from Elderly Music (Lansing, MI) after restoration (below
left)
The missing original drum head was immediately noticed and caused tears with at least one family member who was in attendance.
Above right: Athur E. Woodhead's son RALPH
(seated, right) and grandson WOODY (standing, left) with the restored banjo.
Ralph remembers the banjo laying in a corner of the family home in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
also Richard Woodhead Dick
Woodhead Jackson Spring Arbor
FROM THE WEB PAGE AT:
http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-8/8-2/full-banjo-on-her-knee.html
Historical evidence and photographs clearly document the fact that middle-class women in the Northeast were swept up in the banjo craze of the late 19th century. With the advent of mass-produced instruments by S. S. Stewart, Fairbanks, and Cole, banjo manufacturers in the 19th century consciously and successfully shifted the cultural appeal of the instrument away from its association with the oftentimes bawdy minstrel or medicine show and into the hands of those middle-class women and men who could afford a store-bought banjo constructed with elaborately engraved metal rims, inlayed ivory and mother-of-pearl fretboards and heads, and intricately carved heel stocks. Banjo clubs for men and women sprang up in Ivy League colleges. In 1893, the famed artist Mary Cassat even used the image of the banjo in her painting "The Banjo Lesson," which depicted "the modern woman" of the late 19th century as a genteel young mother strumming her instrument while her attentive daughter gazes over her shoulder. Ironically, what had originally been an instrument invented by slaves along the Eastern seaboard now was a signifier for white, liberated women of middle-class America. Even the most popular model of the early 20th century, the "Whyte Laydie" by A. C. Fairbanks, was given its name in obvious reference to its intended users—white, sophisticated women and men of means.
FRAILING BANJO STYLE as defined
at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clawhammer
While the terms "clawhammer" and "frailing" can be used interchangeably, other old-time players draw a distinction between the two. On the banjo, frailing most commonly means always picking the drone string, while clawhammer allows the picking of other strings with the thumb, which is also called "drop thumbing". Some players further distinguish between "drop thumb" and "clawhammer", in which the thumb plays rhythm in drop thumb, but melody in clawhammer. There are yet more variations of the distinction between "clawhammer" and "frailing", but they all refer to the same general style of playing. The term "double thumbing" is sometimes used interchangeably with "drop thumbing", though double thumbing refers specifically to striking the fifth string after every beat rather than every other beat, while drop thumbing refers to dropping the thumb from the 5th drone string down to strike a melody note.
Confusing the nomenclature further are the terms that are used for perceived variations on the method. These include "flailing," "knockdown", "banging," "rapping," "frapping", "beating," and "clubbing." This is reflective of the informality of old-time music in general, as each player develops an idiomatic style.
Some have noted a general tendency towards more
traditional and rhythmically-oriented frailing styles in the South, particularly
in North Carolina, and a general tendency towards more melodically intricate
styles in New England. The clawhammer banjo style of Boston banjo virtuoso Ken
Perlman, for example, is highly melodic and uses the thumb extensively to play
long single-note lines that use the drone string more for melody notes than for
rhythmic accent. Some clawhammer banjo aficionados (including Perlman) have
argued that melodic clawhammer banjo techniques are more traditional and ancient
than many advocates of the frailing style suppose.
Below: Some pictures of 19th
century banjo players.
From a web page at:
http://banjo-site.com/E-zine_pdfs/December_2007_ezine.pdf
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Some great banjo information at Mugwumps.com
General Fairbanks and Cole information
DO YOU
HAVE A PHOTOGRAPH OF YOU WITH YOUR FAIRBANKS AND COLE BANJO YOU COULD email
ME?
I WOULD LIKE TO
POST IT ON THE WEB PAGE HERE AS WELL AS WHATEVER INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BANJO
YOU MAY HAVE.
CLICK HERE FOR THE MAIN 4L RANCH WEB PAGE
Contact WOODY for questions or
comments about this page via email.
All personal comments and pictures copyright 1996-2010 - R. Linwood (4L RANCH)
LAST MODIFIED:
Since 16 Nov 2009:
