Unidentified
Description
This gourd banjo illustrates an earlier style of banjo played by African Americans who used local sources to create their instruments. When in use it would have had a piece of skin stretched across its opening and four strings running from the tuning pegs to the metal tailpiece still attached.Banjo constructed with a gourd head. There are four (4) tuning pegs, some chipped, in the headstock. One (1) wire is strung along the banjo. Two (2) other strings are connected to the tailpiece but are loose over the gourd. There are frets on the neck. The round gourd has linear decoration around the edge. There is a tin tailpiece at the bottom anchoring the strings. There are scratches on the back of the gourd.
Gourd With Wood And Metal
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
