The mandolin-banjo should not be mistaken for the banjolin

Banjolin

The three instruments described below are named "banjolin". It should not be mistaken for the mandolin-banjo, nor is it to be confused with the Banjoline.The Banjolin is a name applied to several different types of stringed instruments:...

 (which has only four strings), though their names are sometime interchanged. The mandolin-banjo is also known by its French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 name, "banjoline", but should not be confused with the Banjoline

Banjoline

The Banjoline is a type of electric guitar developed by Eddie Peabody in conjunction with Rickenbacker. Although its name suggests a combination of banjo and mandolin, it is technically considered to be a type of plectrum guitar, a variant of the electric guitar, resembling the banjo and mandolin...

 designed by Peabody

Eddie Peabody

Captain Edwin Ellsworth Peabody was an American musical entertainer. His career spanned five decades and he was perhaps the most famous plectrum banjo player ever...

. The manjo is also a popular nickname for the mandoline-banjo in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. The instrument was popularized in the 1920s when musicians commonly amplified instruments to play more loudly.

In the heyday of mandolin orchestra

Mandolin orchestra

A mandolin orchestra is an orchestra consisting primarily of instruments from the mandolin family of instruments, such as the mandolin, mandola, mandocello and mando-bass or mandolon...

s and banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 bands (late 19th–early 20th century), all sorts of instruments were produced. The mandolin-banjo is one of the hybrids that resulted. It enabled mandolinists to produce a banjo sound without having to learn that instrument's fingerings. The instrument adds the banjo's volume to the mandolin; unlike the banjolin, the mandolin-banjo retains the mandolin-style stringing in courses

Course (music)

A course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string. It may also refer to a single string normally played on its own on an instrument with other multi-string courses, for example the bass string on a nine string baroque...

 (with double strings).

Mandolin-banjos have the same scale length as a mandolin (about 14 inches); the 4 courses are tuned

Musical tuning

In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...

 identically to the violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 and mandolin (low to high: GDAE). The movable bridge stands on a resonant banjo-like head typically 10 inches in diameter and currently usually made of plastic. Originally heads were made of skin and varied in diameter to as small as five inches. Larger heads were favored, however, as they were louder, and thus more audible in band settings.

Mandolin-banjos have been made by several companies, most notably Gibson

Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...

, but also by the English company Windsor, building and selling 4 and 8 string Banjos in the early 20th Century. Modern mandolin-banjos are currently sold by Vintage, GoldTone and Rogue.

It is no longer commonly played and has become very rare. Prices currently range from around US $200 to US $700.

External links

• The Banjolin Page (Mandolin Banjo)