Arch Top - An Archtop or Raised Head banjo is one with a tone ring which, in profile, is higher on the inside edge than the outside. The visual effect is that of a concentric circle slightly smaller than the area of the entire head that is raised slightly higher than the outside edge of the head. The sound of an archtop banjo is usually considered brighter than a comparable flat head banjo with the same size rim. This is due to the smaller vibrating area of the head of an archtop. Notable banjos that used archtop tone rings include Orpheum, Van Epps and Gibson. The arch top tone ring may be a single piece of metal with a raised lip on the inside edge. It may be a metal rod raised on metal posts or any number of other configurations. Armrest: The Armrest of a banjo is usually a metal piece that keeps the arm from contacting the head and stretcher band of the instrument. This improves comfort and protects the head and stretcher band from wear and degradation. On bluegrass banjos, it is usually has a flat surface that covers the tension hoop and the edge of the head for about six or seven inches. On old time instruments it is often a hollow metal tube or wire that extends slightly higher than the head and hoop and just to the outside of it. Back Strap: A backstrap is a decorative feature used on fancier banjos where a contrasting piece of wood such as ebony or dyed pearwood covers the back of the peghead and runs down the back of the neck, often about a far as the fifth fret. Sometimes several contrasting laminations are used between the neck and the backstrap. This also has the effect of strengthening the weakest part of the neck. Ball Bearing: Ball Bearing tone ring supports were introduced by Gibson around 1919. Their construction consisted of a perforated tubular tone ring sitting on ball bearings that rested in cavities in the top of the wooden rim (“The New Gibson Banjos”, Gibson Banjo Catalog, 1920 [reprint]). By around 1924 the cavities had been deepened and the ball bearings rested on springs inserted into holes drilled down into the rim from the top. The theory usually advanced for this is that changes in humidity that cause the calf skin head to loosen or tighten would be counteracted by the constant spring pressure maintaining constant head tension. For this to work, however, the height of the head and thus the action would be variable. Also, the springs would absorb some of the sound that should be transmitted to the rim. This tone ring is sometimes rated as a decent compromise for those who play a wide variety of styles. Buell Kazee (clawhammer) played one. Most people who play a variety of styles use a variety of banjos. Banjeaurine: A banjeaurine (Banjorine) is a short-necked five string banjo with a scale in the 20” to 22” range that was used at the turn of the century as the tenor voice in banjo orchestras. These sometimes have over sized heads and often have fingerboard extensions. Bear Claw: Bear Claw tail pieces have individual finger-like extensions that curl at the ends to hold the strings. This is not to be confused with the Oettinger tailpiece which uses individually adjustable “fingers” for each string. Binding: Fingerboards, pegheads and resonators are often bound at the edges by a contrasting material. Binding is usually made of plastic that can be, among other things, grained ivoroid that imitates ivory, “tortoise shell”, white, checkerboard or gold sparkle. Early instruments are sometimes bound with ivory, wood or cellulose. Block Construction: Banjo rims are usually built by one of two methods. Laminated rims use wooden plys up to 1/8 th ” in thickness. Block constructed rims use blocks that are cut to fit together to make a circle of wood that is slightly larger than the final rim will be. Several such hoops are stacked and glued together and the final rim is cut from this oversize rim on a lathe. The joints are aligned so that they overlap for strength. there are many variations of this, lapjointing the blocks, keying the blocks. These are attempts to increase the strength of the final product. This method is also sometimes called Pie Wedge Construction. See also Pie Wedge Construction Blue Grass Banjo: Banjos used in playing bluegrass music tend to have some distinct features in common. They have a resonator on the back and a heavy brass or bronze tone ring across which the head is stretched. both of these features add much sound and much weight to the instrument. Bluegrass banjos often weigh over ten pounds. Sometimes considerably over. Boomalacka: An onomatopoeic term describing one of the common clawhammer rhythms. Unlike the Bump-ditty rhythm that consists of a quarter note followed by two eighth notes, the boomalaka rhythm uses four eighth notes with an accent on the first and a slight accent on the third. Bow: Bow is a banjo neck condition caused by long term string pressure curving the neck so that the neck curves upward as you approach the nut. Most old banjos have some bow in the neck. Slight bow can be corrected by placing a thin wooden shim between the neck and the pot at the top of the pot. More severe bowing can sometimes be corrected by a professional using heat to soften the glue under the fingerboard and pressure to force the neck back to shape. Instruments with truss rods can often correct this problem by adjusting the truss rod. Though this is simple, unless you know what you are doing it should be left to a competent luthier. Proper use of a truss rod involves seasonal adjustment to account for dry air in the winter that allows bowing of the neck and moist air in the summer that causes a warping action. Typically the rod is tightened in the winter and loosened in the summer. Bracket Shoe Band: Open back banjos use bracket shoes to hold the tension hooks that pull down the tension hoop. These bracket shoes are usually attached by a machine screw that passes through the rim and is secured by a nut on the inside. Some of the higher quality instruments, particularly the Whyte Laydies and Tubaphones use a bracet shoe band that is a metal band that slides up the outside of the rim from the bottom. The rim is turned (cut) to a smaller outside diameter from the bottom up to the point where the top of the band meets the wood. This is easier to see than to explain. The shoes are attached to the band by screws that pass only through the BAND, from the inside of the band, so that no screws pass through the rim itself. This allows for a solid rim that has more freedom to vibrate and a more massive pot. Bracket Shoes: Bracket shoes are metal pieces that are secured to the side of the banjo rim. The tension hooks pass vertically through a hole in the shoe head, hooking over the top of tension hoop. The tension hooks are tightened by a nut that is threaded onto the hook below the bottom of the shoe head. Some inexpensive banjos use a ball head or hex shaped bracket shoe head that is essentially the head of a bolt that passes through the banjo rim from the outside. In this case, the bolt head itself has a hole drilled through it to accept the hook and no separate shoe is used. Early shoes tend to be L shaped, Later shoes such as those used on the Whyte Laydie are essentially a pointed oval with the bottom half of the oval extending below what would be the normal L shaped shoe. Bridge: The bridge is the part of the banjo that transfers the vibration of the strings to the head, which vibrates in turn, amplifying the sound produced. It usually consists of a maple body with thin piece ebony across the top. The body usually is shaped like a bridge with two or three feet with arches cut through between them. Bridges can take many other forms as well with early instruments having a wider variety of shapes. Included among these is the Grover “Non-tip” bridge, which has a slotted ebony transverse support. On a banjo, like a violin, string tension and the friction between the head and the bridge feet hold the bridge in place. See also Compensating Bridge. Bump-Ditty: The basic rhythm of clawhammer banjo is often described as Bump-Ditty, Bum-diddy or other similar sounding words. Notationally speaking, in common 4/4 time the rhythm consists of a strong first beat, a slightly less accented third beat and a non accented fourth. IN 2/4 time you could describe it as ONE TWO and ONE TWO and ONE TWO and... where “ONE” comes on the first beat, “TWO” comes on the second beat and “and” comes on the second half of the second beat. Buttons: The part of the tuning peg that you grasp when you tune the string is referred to as the button. On early instruments the button is part of the entire tuner and is made of wood, Ivory, Celluloid or Ivoroid. On later instruments it is a separate piece that is affixed to the shaft of the tuner with a screw and is usually plastic, ivoroid or pearl. Chromatic: The word “Chromatic” , as a musical term, refers to the chromatic scale which uses all twelve notes (half steps) in the octave as opposed to eight used by the diatonic scale.