Mastodawn

Leon Ballard on Instagram: "Last week's banjo! #clawhammerbanjo #temperancereel #openbackbanjo #banjobuilding #luthier"

59 likes, 2 comments - ballardbanjers on May 10, 2026: "Last week's banjo! #clawhammerbanjo #temperancereel #openbackbanjo #banjobuilding #luthier".

Instagram

But the Ashborn style attachement is still in use, most notably in the AC series banjos by maker Gold Tone. The ACs are very nice sounding budget banjos with rims made of ABS composite (like Lego bricks or Playmobil toys). ABS has a similar density as wood, but it is less rigid. The Ashborn rim style probably adds some rigidity to the rims which enhances the sound of the AC.
Note that the inside of the pot is smooth with undrilled walls. Maybe a sonic advantage?

#Banjofriday

Most banjos today have rims where the walls are drilled and have bracket shoes to hold the L-brackets that tension the skin, as you can see in this image of my cheap mini #banjo.

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https://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Museum/Banjo/Antique/Ashborn/1852ashborn.html
#Banjofriday

Recently I became fascinated by a construction method for #Banjo rims that goes back to mid 19th century and is now known as the Ashborn rim.

It was named after instruments constructed by James Ashborn. His banjos were very modern and have an elegant design that somehow reminds me of furniture from the following "mid century", the 20th century.

The FRETS.COM Museum shows many details of an Ashborn banjo from 1852 - including the distinctive rim flange.

Es kommt nun allerdings zu Verspätungen beim #BanjoFriday. Grund sind die erwähnten Störungen im Betriebsablauf.

Frank May 8

Mark Twain is sometimes wrongly credited with a quote about gentlemen and banjos. He never said it. He said:

> "When you want genuine music—music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whisky, [...] ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pin-feather pimples on a picked goose,—when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming #banjo!"

https://www.marktwainproject.org/writings/ets1/texts/ets-enthusiastic-eloquence/

Frank May 1

This is quite long but also quite entertaining: Old time #banjo concert with Reed Martin, 2000-09-17.

Happy #Banjofriday to all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDZ0I2my_Ps

Old time banjo concert with Reed Martin, 2000-09-17

YouTube

https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/catalog?f%5Baccess%5D%5B%5D=online&group=true&f%5Bcollection%5D%5B%5D=Alice+Gerrard+Collection%2C+circa+1870s-2015+%28bulk+1934-2005%29&search_field=all_fields&q=bertie+dickens

Frank Apr 24

The recording sessions of Alice Gerrard are available as part of the Southern Folklife Collection and the University of North Carolina. Here's a deep search link to the Bertie Mae Dickens recordings: