Reid Manjo

Okay so I've got this weird little practising banjo made by Glen Reid, called a 'Manjo', which seems to be a bit of a bogus name, because although it may resemble a mandolin at first glance, it's actually more bodied like a tenor guitar with two bites taken out of the top (oh and mine doesn't have the hole in the side like the one in the photo, but it's otherwise exactly the same.)

You might be saying, "That's not any kind of banjo!" but it is, my friend, it is. Do you see the tell-tale 5th-string peg poking out to the right in the full-body rear view shot? That short string means it's a banjo. Nothing else. Not the drum, not the skin, but the 5th string, aka the "drone". That's what makes a banjo a banjo, I tell ya's. So now you may ask, what would a ringing skin-stretched banjar lover be doing with a little monster like this, and I'll tell you, I'm not too sure myself, nope I'm not too sure myself...

It's a bit of a flakey instrument, but I do find it easier to practise with than my Deering long neck which, compared to the Manjo is like a concert grand to a piccolo. Not that the piccolo doesn't have its pleasures, but the main pleasure I get from my manjo is I can play it while sitting in a chair and it doesn't knock me off my feet. These days I'm learning how to play Devil's Dream on it, note for note. Devil's Dream sounds weird on the tinkly woody thing, but when I'm ready to rehearse with fiddle player Caitriona Murphy, with whom I'm thinkin of starting a wee band-o, I'll switch to the long-neck. The tension's tougher on the manjo too, the strings are thicker and the fretboard not quite as smooth, so I highly recommend it as a practise instrument for those who have banjo-hating neighbours. I might figure out how to get a concert sound out of it one day too, and play it in public. Don't think that'll be too soon though.

(To be fair, I give it a bit of a hard time because I made the purchase on an impulse instead of waiting to find the fretless I really wanted. But that's not the manjo's fault now is it.)

Oh, and the concert last week went okay except nobody could hear us on that noisy corner. Thanks for asking. Learned a new song for it though, that sounds good with banjo, fiddle, accordian and guitar: Foolish You, by Wade Hemsworth.

Second breezy post in a row. The hard-nosed research end of Banjo Banjar will be coming back around eventually. Also, I realize I've yet to finish the story of my banjo sagas, lost and found. I dealt with the Neufeld and the Epiphone but have yet to get to the Deering. Promises promises.