A friend of mine is curator of a museum near Winston-Salem, NC. She found this banjo in their collection a few days ago and sent me this pic and the description that follows:"Hand-made banjo. Wooden body constructed from a "Cheroot" cigar box with a carved hole in the center. Five steel strings are attached from the cedar wood neck, which has black tuning pegs on the end and side. Also has a copper wire brace, walnut bridge, walnut pegs, and one mother peg with mother of pearl inlay. It was made by Levi Johnson (1875-1964) of Thomasville, North Carolina, around 1900."
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I'm going to do a CBG building workshop at the museum in a few weeks - and they're arranging for me to be on the local TV station's morning program to promote it!
Amazing that Cedar would hold up so well over the years. Looks strait and tight. Would sure like to hear such a thing played. Thanks Levi, wouldn't he like the Nation?
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I'm going to do a CBG building workshop at the museum in a few weeks - and they're arranging for me to be on the local TV station's morning program to promote it!
They did their press release today: http://highpointmuseum.org/high-point-museum-to-host-cigar-box-banj...
Waoh!!! ....I can feel the blues history still oozing from it
Amazing that Cedar would hold up so well over the years. Looks strait and tight. Would sure like to hear such a thing played. Thanks Levi, wouldn't he like the Nation?
really nice find. It looks like it has been played quite a bit too.
Freakin Sweet!, folks could learn alot from from this build!
Pure natural beauty.
Great find and a treasure.
Very interesting...
thats an amazing find... beautiful pic
Nice piece of history.