I’ll have to check it out.

Robin’s take is lovely. One of the first I listened to while learning this tune. Thanks!

@@DavidONeill-u3d It has flush frets, or basically inlayed fret lines, so a best of both.

@NoahCline oh that is neat! It sounds really great and it is a beautiful looking instrument. Looks very unique, the nice carving on the side also

@ thanks!

@@NoahClinethose slides sound smooth!

@@curtisshaw5965 I don’t have a tab for it but I’m sure there are ones out there for it. I was going off a bit from memory here coming up with this arrangement.

@NoahCline song sounded really good on that gourd man

@@bearshield7138 thanks!

@@RKX_Errant so you could say I’m a Beach Boy’s song? 😆 thanks!

@@NoahCline 😂 I should be so young as to not remember them!! Regardless, the Boys ain't got nothing on you. You are one of a kind; a true gem. Color me grateful. ♥

Great! Thanks!

@@billfriendo2 going on 17 years. Thanks!

@@jaredhodges2331 thanks!

24” scale builds with the minstrel strings tend to be mellow, especially when tuned in D or double G, but I’ve noticed my right hand tends to be closer to the bridge on gourd builds so that brightens it up some.

ditto

@@gepe21 It’s an 1887 August Pollmann “Mandoline-Banjo,” a hybrid instrument having a flat mandola-size body with a 5-string banjo neck attached. These once in a while will come up for sale, though modern, but not exact replicas, can be found, including Gold Tone and Victor banjolas.

@@geoffreydonaldson2984 No, it’s an 1887 August Pollmann “Mandoline-Banjo,” have a flat mandola body with a 5-string banjo neck grafted on.

@@NoahCline Thanks! I assume someone named August Pollmann invented that cool instrument. The flat back reminded me of a citern, or “English guitar,” which also has a fully roundish body(not perfectly circular like a banjo). The Pollmann sounds very cool. What recorded citern I’ve even heard seems to have a very thin sound-probably why the doubled strings. Thnx again!

Thanks, Paul! I think of it, being strung with nylon/Nylguts and tuned down a step or so, as my “lute” banjo.

@@klondike108 Thanks, Ken! I actually played with Jim Morris and the Cabin Jammers (my first time being available to do it) at the Capon Bridge Founder’s Day Festival the other week. Not sure of anything coming up until the annual Christmas open house at the Stone House/Traveller’s Rest in Burlington. I haven’t had much time to go to the Cabin, but did make it on Saturday for the annual Fall Fling/Columbus Day jam.

@@idiosyncraticmushroom3030 these are normal tension Aquila Alabastros. I decided to go with the normal vs light as I’ve used for some builds since the scale length of this guitar is a little shorter at 24 3/4”.

They do occasionally come up for sale, tending to be in the $600-800 range, though I’ve seen asking prices higher than that. Some are pretty solid, others need repair work. Most examples you’ll come across either have mahogany back and sides or rosewood like my example, which to be honest I prefer the looks of the latter. Victor Banjolas is essentially a modern version of the Pollmann, both with steel and nylon configurations and at a much higher price (though, those are built much better than the Pollmann’s, but there is a charm with playing vintage instruments).

@@idiosyncraticmushroom3030 the instrument I’m playing here is an 1887 August Pollmann “Mandoline-Banjo,” a hybrid instrument for its time, essentially a flat mandola body with a 5-string banjo neck grafted on. These were believed to have originally been strung with steel strings, akin to mandolins, but due to a twist and upbow in the neck, I decided on nylon strings, giving it a bit of a lute or classical guitar sound. It’s nice for slower, fingerpicked pieces, though clawhammer works just as well on it.

@@dcm727 I have a lot of orders to get to as it is, though I appreciate you asking me. I’d be happy to talk you through it if there’s something you’re stuck on.

@@NoahCline Thanks, but I’ve come to realize that this is just not in my wheelhouse. If you ever get time, let me know. Also, love the way you play.

@@geoffreydonaldson2984 Nice story! As for the little violin, part of me would keep it as-is for sentimental reasons. Otherwise, I don’t think cutting an extra string slot in the middle of the nut and bridge would hurt anything, either.

@@NoahCline -thank you very much for getting back to me, I really appreciate it! My grandfather’s story is substantially longer, much of it-excepting his serial philandering and heavy drinking of which he died at only 61 years old-can be found online (his name was Geoffrey Fidgen Waddington, b. 1903 in Leister, UK, d. 1964 in Toronto, Ontario). He was a quiet man, revered by many (he wasn’t very kid-friendly, the biggest thing I remember was him helping be untangle a marionette I’d gotten for Christmas-that and me and my cousins carrying his luggage into huis daughter’s farmhouse, always one suitcase very, very heavy-all liquor bottles; but he never drank or appeared drunk to any of his family). I’m very proud to have known him and, naturally, to have inherited his childhood violin. It is full of voodoo vibes-which of course is part of my dilemma. Is it too sacrosanct to fiddle with it (forgive the pun-it was unintentional-honest!) ? I’ve given it a lot of thought, and consulted with some violin players on the small island where I live in the Salish Sea (British Columbia). I considered replacing the neck to make the fingerboard wider-but that seemed too much for a number of reasons -sanctity not the least. I asked around online and on KZbin, but never got any response (I began to think my idea of going three-string was too blasphemous for violin aficionados to safely reply). Thus I’m very happy you have. You confirm what I settled on-it wouldn’t hurt or change it much to carve new notches on the bridge (which is new, anyway) and nut. It can be reversed and perhaps, if it reverts to four-string, some sleuthing heir (I have six grandchildren, three university grads) might solve the question of the extra nut-notch. I’ll leave it a mystery. Right, then! Lots of work to do and time to do it with a Wet Coast winter coming on: swap-out the ashtray-bridge on the new Squire Tele which I bought special to mount a Certano G/B-bender (the stock six-saddle bridge slightly rubs the B-string which kept breaking after 10 minutes play); set-up the Squire baritone Tele I just bought new; dedicate my 50 year-old Fender F-35 acoustic to Nashville stringing (in 1974, me and a buddy got hired at the largest sawmill in the world-on Vancouver Island-so we were entitled to $140 welfare cheques to buy work clothes and food, but after a stop at the bar, he decided to buy the F-35 new from a music shop we happened to stagger past-a manufactured left-handed guitar; so now he had no money and, sure enough, no food, either, blew a couple of shifts and got fired, and sold the F-35 to me for $40. I turned it into a right-handed guitar, removed the stock-pick guard and cut out some clear mactac clear for a new one-and always wondered why it sounded so dead. Forty years later a buddy taught me that the bracing under the table is biased so, by turning it around, the less-braced side was now damped by my right elbow). Figure the only way to brighten it up is Nashville stringing; then build another mountain banjo -the prototype being fun but, short of winning the lottery so’s to by a 1898 SS Stewart piccolo five-string, a new one is in order (your channel is a real inspiration!) And, of course, my grandfather’s violin-probably the easiest job of all! Thank you again. Looking forward to your next upload!