Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED

Subject: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mike Regenstreif
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 05:01 PM

I've just had an e-mail relaying the message that Pete Seeger's banjo was returned to him today.

Mike Regenstreif

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: bflat
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 05:05 PM

That's great news Mike. Are there any details? Is it's condition as good? Thanks for the info.

bflat

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 05:05 PM

What's the W5? MoohTooh (Mooh from elsewhere than home).

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mike Regenstreif
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 05:09 PM

The only info I received was that Pete and Toshi met with someone who returned the banjo to Pete. I don't know if this person was the thief, someone who found it, or some other person. I also don't know the condition.

MR

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Bert
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 06:06 PM

Great news Mike. Thanks for letting us know.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 06:08 PM

Thanks for the news Mike. Now somebody call off Kendall before he blows a headpipe or has an M.I.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mike Regenstreif
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 06:16 PM

In a message that just came in from Mark Moss at Sing Out!: "According to Toshi, someone found it on the side of the road about 2 weeks ago, took it home and went on vacation for two weeks. Upon their return, they heard the news and called the police to return the instrument."

Mike Regenstreif

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 06:32 PM

Hooray

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 06:53 PM

I bet the guy in the car who found it had some CCR on the radio. "Hey, there's a banjo on the right..."

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Jon W.
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:03 PM

mbo, that's just pathetic. Everyone knows the correct words are "hey, there's a bathroom on the right."

Now can anyone tell me why Pete S. lengthened the neck of his banjo instead of merely thickening the strings?

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:05 PM

I don't know, but I've been told a long-necked banjo ain't got no soul...

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:16 PM

this one does

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:19 PM

It's a Led Zeppelin pun, Ken. I didn't expect you'd get it.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Jon W.
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:23 PM

Well I got a long necked banjo recently (not Seeger's) and it's tough to play - the frets are too far apart (this is a former bass player talking, too) and the neck's so long it cramps my left shoulder. I'm gonna build me a banjo with a normal length neck and string it with guitar strings so I can sing to it. (no, not a banjitar neither)

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Amergin
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:27 PM

Good bloody deal!!! Thanks for letting us know!! In other words the piece of shit who took it didn't know what he had. Am so glad such an important piece of history was found....

Amergin

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Cobble
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:27 PM

I love good news.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:29 PM

Re: Using heavy-weight strings instead of using a long neck:

When I had my Ramsey Special built, I talked with Mike Ramsey about making me a long-neck banjo. He discouraged it, although he said he could do it and had enough of the fingerboard material in the right length. He recommended using heavier strings and tuning a whole tonelower, then capoing at the second fret for normal tuning.

I decided to take his advice, and had him make a normal-necked banjo. I strung it with heavy-weight strings, etc. etc. For about four or five days. Never again!

Number one, heavyweight stirngs are hard to find. But also, it's like trying to play steel bridge cables. I couldn't change to mediums fast enough! YMMV.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Áine
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:30 PM

This is great news; but, has anyone heard it confirmed from a news source yet?

And as to why Pete built a long neck banjo -- I heard an interview with a fella from Elderly Instruments on the radio yesterday, and he said that it was because Pete has a baritone voice, and he needed a banjo that would fit his low voice range.

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Jed at Work
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:31 PM

great news. happy for Pete.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 07:55 PM

The point about heavyweight strings is that they can be tuned lower, just like the long-neck. Then, just like the long-neck banjo, you normally operate capo'd to standard tuning except when you need to sing lower. My guess is that P.S. didn't like heavyweight strings any better than I did.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 08:25 PM

Having played a long neck a long time ago the answer I believe lies in its versatility of keys for a vocalist. If you're tuned in D and want to sing using the same pattern in C you simply slip the capo up the neck two frets and retune the fifth string to F or C. I was playing in a band at the time and we changed keys a lot. Because we specialised in 3 or 4 part vocal harmonies we oftimes had to choose weird keys to fit our vocal ranges. The long neck worked just fine, but I'd agree that it was never ergonomically ideal to play up near the nut for extended periods.

Slight change of subject but I installed a vioiln fine tuner for the fifth string on the bridge plate. For speed on re-tuning on stage it was one of the best tricks I ever had, and complemented the extended neck nicely.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 08:29 PM

Possible explanations:
The one from the person with a nasty sense of humor is, guy stole it, then realized it was a banjo, and dumped it.
Guy realised it was easily identifiable and dumped it.
Guy thought it was abandoned when it wasn't and picked it up.
Guy stole it, but had a concience that kept bugging him, so he returned it.
Guy bought it knowing full well what it was. Didn't want to explain that, and just returned it, saying it had "fallen off a truck."
There are loads of others. It's interesting to speculate, but I'm just really glad Pete got it back. Sometimes things really do turn out OK...

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Barbara
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 10:17 PM

Hooray! So glad he got it back.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 11:17 PM

hmmm....wonder if it was in tune..

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 11:18 PM

Well its still a banjo fergawdsakes Bill.........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: CamiSu
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 11:52 PM

Sigh.... Phew! And maybe the guy did buy it so he could return it!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 03:49 AM

Hope this is true, good news
RtS

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: jeffp
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 08:29 AM

Glad to hear it. Pete must be overjoyed to have his friend back.

jeffp

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 09:05 AM

It wasn't stolen, was it? Like the baby in another thread, it was left on the roof of the car and fell to the side of the road. Well, I am still glad it is back where it belongs.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 09:26 AM

You are right (for a change) Mbo, I didnt get it. Now, would you like to engage in a little contest to see who gets what? You will have to come out of your narrow focus Raucous and Roll circle to play..put 'em up put 'em up!!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 09:51 AM

Narrow focus? Geez, every one from here to East Jebip knows "Black Dog" by Zeppelin! And the line also pops up in countless blues songs...but you wouldn't know much about that..you'd have to come out of your narrow focus of old geezers folkies.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Brendy
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 09:54 AM

Delighted.

B.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 10:12 AM

Seeger Reunited With Missing Banjo

ROSENDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Pete Seeger can strum again: His 55-year-old banjo, which disappeared earlier this month, has been found.

Gary Schneeweiss Jr. was driving home from visiting his father when he noticed the green banjo case beside the road on Aug. 8, the same day it was reported missing, according to Rosendale police.

On the case was Seeger's name and a phone number.

''I got a call yesterday from this young man who found it,'' said Toshi Seeger, Seeger's wife, said Monday. She said he had tried to call them earlier but ''the lines had been out of service for the last two weeks.''

Schneeweiss, 31, returned the banjo to the Seegers on Monday afternoon when he met the couple at a bookstore in Poughkeepsie. The Seegers gave the self-employed painter a $500 reward.

Schneeweiss, who did not know the folk-legend status of the banjo owner, said he didn't expect a reward and just wanted to return the instrument to ''whoever Pete was.''

''I saw Pete Seeger's name on the case, but it was just another name to me,'' he said. ''It's all a shock to me. I still don't really know who he is.''

The long-neck banjo was made by Seeger in 1945 and can be heard on such recordings as ''Where Have All the Flowers Gone.''

Seeger, a longtime activist, had said the instrument was believed stolen from his car during a trip to a political rally in Rosendale. But his wife said it was possible her husband left the banjo on top of his car and drove off, sending the instrument tumbling to the roadside.

The missing banjo had generated international intrigue and even a hoax appearance on an Internet auction site.

''Everyone has been calling us saying that they've seen the banjo all over the place,'' Rosendale Police Chief Jim Rowe said. ''The only thing that irritates us is that it was found the day it was lost.''

Seeger, 81, started his career 62 years ago. In 1940, he formed the Almanac singers, which another folk icon, Woody Guthrie, joined a year later. He reached commercial success in the 1950s with the group the Weavers.

Besides ''Where Have All the Flowers Gone,'' Seeger wrote or co-wrote ''If I Had a Hammer,'' ''Turn, Turn, Turn,'' and ''Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.''

He was credited with popularizing ''We Shall Overcome,'' which he printed in his publication ''People's Song,'' in 1948. He later said his only contribution to the anthem of the civil rights movement was changing the second word from ''will'' to ''shall,'' which he said ''opens up the mouth better.''

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: jeffp
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 10:43 AM

Thanks for posting the AP article, kat. It's good to have confirmation.

jeffp

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: GUEST,Ron Olesko
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:03 AM

I have to say one thing - all of us, myself included, jumped to the conclusion that this instrument was stolen. There is a very real possibility that Pete inadvertently left the banjo on the top of his car and drove off.

I guess it is a lesson to us all to not make assumptions until the facts are out - and rely on the media for facts (again myself included!)

The great news is that the banjo is back where it belongs! I like happy endings.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: GUEST,Ron Olesko
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:17 AM

oops.... I meant to say we shouldn't count on the media for getting us all the facts!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:42 AM

In the first place, I question that "Everybody knows etc.." Obviously, everybody does not know. I didnt. The last I knew, this was a folk and blues site, and, IMO Led Zepplin is neither, and has no place here.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:46 AM

Zeppelin is blues rock, ergo...

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:56 AM

Zepplin is noise to me

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:57 AM

So is some native west African music, but it's still folk.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 11:59 AM

I live in the USA, not Africa

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:02 PM

Oh, so now Mudcat is a site for America/British Isles/English language folk and blues?

BTW Zeppelin were British.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:05 PM

what the hell is your point?

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:09 PM

you started off with an asshole statement that you borrowed from some rock punk that the long neck banjo aint got no soul, now you want to split hairs. Get a hobby man

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:14 PM

Point is gramps, I hope I cack before I become a bitter music bigot like you.

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:15 PM

Led Zeppelin, punk? HA HA HA! That's the best one I've heard all day!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:21 PM

Geeziz!!! The two of you both need laid. This is like watching a boxing match where the opponents are in two different rings firing away jabs and uppercuts into the air!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:39 PM

Thank you kid, I really am a music bigot! I love music, thats why I cant stand rock & roll. You'll have to excuse me, I have an appointment for a tolerence transfusion!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:40 PM

fyo 'spaw I AM getting laid!

Subject: RE: Pete Seeger's banjo -- RETURNED
From: GUEST,Ron Olesko
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 12:40 PM

You guys should take this out into the schoolyard after the last bell rings.