Tom, that's a great idea. I just joined Hangout and it's a valuable source.
They ought to have a special section for us longneckers.

Micheal, thanks for Fretted Friends. That looks great too.

I learned to play banjo years ago from a guy named Eddie Mann who lived in the L.A. area. He showed me the "bump ditty" basic strum. Then I heard a few other players who were around L.A.. I perfected the "bump ditty" in a boxcar traveling through the San Joaquim Valley en route to San Francisco with Herb Cohen, former manager of Ronstadt and Frank Zappa's first band. I had this old clunker Bacon-like and practiced until I could get a "Cripple Creek" out of it.

One night in Santa Monica, I went to a party at Will Geer's home where Pete Seeger was playing. The Weavers just got blacklisted (1952 or 3?) and they were finishing up a stint at a posh nightclub on the Sunset Strip called Ciros. They were there except for Lee who rarely went to parties. Pete sat down and played with these picks which shone in the light and matched the exciting bright ringing sounds he got out of the banjo. I was blown away. Then I became one of the legions of Seeger followers and still am. I think Pete, Peggy Seeger and Erik Darling defined the playing of that instrument for me even before Dave Guard came on the scene. Alex Hassilev has done very well with it although I think he's more a guitar type. (A great guitarist). He plays both well, actually.

Later I met Tony Saletan and Dave Sear who also played long neck extremely well. Of course, there was Bob Gibson. He was very smooth. Influenced the KT a lot. Bob got a lot of his stuff from Erik. I hear George Grove is very good though I've not heard him.

Then the Bluegrass and Old-Time put the long neck into mothballs. But I always preferred the longneck and considered Pete and Erik the most innovative of the players.

Now, there's a new generation. Mark Dvorak of Weavermania and the folks with Work O' The Weavers play great.

Who are some of the other longneckers around these days?

Frank