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Clifton Hicks
Clifton Hicks

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The Luscomb Banjo, Patented 1888.

"... the Luscomb banjo, named after John F. Luscomb, a highly regarded banjo soloist and composer who over the next decade designed several models. His first, patented in the late summer of 1888 but advertised by Thompson and Odell half a year earlier, offered a rim composed of two metal bands (inside and outside) with a third, of wood, sandwiched between them with its lip extending upward so that the skin head was stretched over it."   

- Philip F. Gura & James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (University of North Carolina Press, 1999)  








 

The Luscomb Banjo, Patented 1888.

Comments

I don't know that I've ever seen a Joseph Rickett banjo. It'd be great if you posted some photos of it in our Community Forum here: https://www.patreon.com/cliftonhicks/community

Clifton Hicks

I have a Joseph Rickett banjo from the late 1880s that is very similar in construction to your Luscomb. I enjoyed your lesson and always enjoy your playing and singing.

Tersh McCracken

Baur, Albert "Reminiscences of a Banjo Player" S. S. Stewart's Banjo and Guitar Journal Berlin, Ira Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (1998) Combs, Josiah Folk-Songs of the Southern United States (1967) Conway, Cecilia African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions (1995) Dubois, Laurent The Banjo: America's African Instrument (2016) Epstein, Dena Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War (1977) "The Folk Banjo: A Documentary History," Ethnomusicology 19, no. 3 (1975) Fischer, David Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1989) Gibson, George "Black Banjo, Fiddle and Dance in Kentucky and the Amalgamation of African American and Anglo-American Folk Music" Banjo Roots and Banches edited by Robert Winans (2018) "Learning to Play Banjo: Emulation vs. Imitation" http://banjohistory.com (2002) "Gourd Banjos: From Africa to the Appalachians" http://banjohistory.com (2001) Gura, Phillip & James Bollman America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (1999) Irwin, John Musical Instruments of the Southern Appalachian Mountains (1979) Linn, Karen That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture, Music in American Life (1991) Merritt, Keri Leigh Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South (2017) Morgan, Philip Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake & Lowcountry (1998) Robert, Leonard Sang Branch Settlers: Folksongs and Tales of a Kentucky Mountain Family (1974) Rosenbaum, Arthur Old-Time Mountain Banjo (1968) Sommerville, Diane Miller Aberration of Mind: Suicide and Suffering in the Civil War Era South (2018) Tallmadge, William "The Folk Banjo and Clawhammer Performance Practice in the Upper South: A Study of Origins," The Appalachian Experience edited by Barry M. Buxton Boone, NC: Appalachian Consortium (1983) Wigginton, Eliot et al. Foxfire 6 (1980) Foxfire 3 (1975) Winans, Robert et al. Banjo Roots and Branches (2018)

Clifton Hicks

I always appreciate the history lessons and excerpts from books. Have you ever made a reading list for banjo/early American music?

ad

Thanks for sharing. Great video!

Flint sampson

Very cool, I love the history lessons.

Kevin W Smith - KW4KWS

Phoenix here

Ben Gantt

You mentioned Arizona, where I live. I keep TWO humidifiers running to keep my banjo from exploding as a result of the long-term single digit humidity and triple digit temperatures. That banjo is a Luscomb 1888 "1" "1382"!

Scott Edelen

Awesome lesson Clif. Thank you.

norman dion

sent you a message

Dave

Awesome! I need the banjo education. I don’t currently have one clue about old banjos and wouldn’t know what I was looking at buying one. It seems a lot of banjo players are very into collecting them, but I don’t plan on ever becoming a banjo hoarder.

bambuza

Ben, I don't bother listing them all anywhere, so the best way to get one from me is to email me at clifhicks@gmail.com with your price range and preferences. Right now I have fretless and fretted banjos ranging in age from 1880s to 1990s, and ranging in price from $350 to $1250.

Clifton Hicks

Thank you very much! I actually just emailed you a photo so I can get in touch about that aswell thank you very much -westphalslim

Ben Gantt

Nice visual set up and super fun history. Love all the history bits and videos you post. Where can we see all the banjos you currently have for sale ? Currently in AZ ha

Ben Gantt


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