Guitar banjos have actually never ever been commonly popular, however there have actually constantly been simply enough gamers seeking them out that many banjo makers have actually used them in their brochures. Due to the fact that the instrument does not have the percussive breeze of a tenor or a five-string banjo, or the mellowness and sustain of a guitar, it’s neither fish nor fowl and subsequently has actually had a difficult time discovering a musical home. Every now and then, an artist figures out what to do with a guitar banjo, and the outcomes can be wonderful.
Owing to their volume, guitar banjos sound fantastic in raucous settings like blues, early jazz, ragtime, and container band music. In the 1920s, Papa Charlie Jackson taped a few of the very first self-accompanied blues on a Gibson guitar banjo, and his recordings of tunes like “Salty Dog” and “Shake That Thing” still motivate gamers to this day. Throughout the very same duration, Johnny St. Cyr utilized the instrument as a crucial balanced element of the early jazz bands of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis ArmstrongThe guitar banjo was likewise utilized by some vaudeville artists, who liked the volume the instrument produced before the development of amplification.
Which brings us to this ostentatious guitar banjo. This Gibson GB Bella Voce design was made in 1927, the very first year the design was used. We do not understand who bought the instrument, however in the Gibson journal, it appears it was made at the very same time as a Bella Voce banjo mandolin and ukulele. Were these all purchased by the very same individual– or maybe a trio? We’ll most likely never ever understand, however it is appealing to hypothesize.
Bella Voce instruments were used in a range of surfaces; this one is a color Gibson called American White Holly, however it’s actually maple with a cream-colored paint task. With its thoroughly inscribed gold-plated hardware, it (together with the similarly elegant Florentine design) was the most costly banjo in the Gibson brochure. Evaluating from the wear on the back of the neck, whoever owned this unusual instrument played it rather a lot.
The Bella Voce (Italian for gorgeous voice) design was short-term, dropped from Gibson’s line in 1930. It appears from the maker’s records that this example is the only Bella Voce guitar banjo ever made.
This post initially appeared in the March/April 2024 problem of Acoustic Guitar publication.