In the LA Times...Bela Fleck with a Rick Electric Banjo????

[Scottg97]

Never seen one before......when did Rickenbacker make "Electric Banjo's"????



Link to the story....

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2010-12/58309439.jpg

[bassduke49]

Ah, the "Banjoline." Yeah, RIC made those, and another oddity called the "Bantar." Others will fill you in with more detail; I'm just a bass player.

[242_foxtrot]

Bela is holding a Rickenbacker 6000 "Bantar".

[cjj]

Here's a piece of the catalog page showing them:

[bassduke49]

Right. Bantar. See? I told you I was just a bass player!

[analogpackrat]

Right. Bantar. See? I told you I was just a bass player!

Correction: you are a basstarist.

Cool pic. I still kick myself for missing seeing the Flecktones live at a little club in Chico when I lived there. I didn't "discover" them until the year after I moved away. Doh!

[Scottg97]

That's just wild looking! I have the urge to get my hands on one and play it........

[cjj]

You'll probably need to get your hands on a fairly sizable pile of money first...

[Grey]

Is there some kind of optical illusion going on in that catalogue picture? 'Cause I know Ric's have narrow necks but the two on the right in that picture look about as wide as a pencil.

[cjj]

Nope. Those do have really narrow necks. Have you ever held a banjo? They have really narrow necks too, and since the Banjoline was meant to be banjo-like, they were made with narrow necks...

[jps]

There is a photo in a book I have of, depending on your point of view, a Banjoline with a second generation 360F body, or a 360F with a Banjoline neck. Very cool.

[8mileshigh]

Yeah.....the Fanjoline! Amazing instrument.

[jfine]

The Banjoline was designed with input from Eddie Peabody, who was a very well-known plectrum banjoist from the Dixieland/vaudeville era. He had in mind an instrument that would let him use his plectrum banjo technique to get electric guitar and mandolin sounds as well as banjo stuff. The Banjoline has six strings, but they're arranged as four courses of two single strings and two doubled pairs, which is why the neck is so narrow. I can't imagine there was much of a market for those things--I've never seen one except in pictures--but I'd love to hear a good banjo player with one. I wonder if Peabody ever recorded with his?
The Bantar, on the other hand, was basically an electric solidbody 5-string banjo. Roger McGuinn had one, maybe still does, and I understand they gave one to Bob Dylan too. (I didn't know Dylan played banjo!) Once again, Rickenbacker was ahead of their time, as, in the '60's, most 5-string banjo players played bluegrass and country on acoustic banjos, and most electric players didn't play banjo at all. It's cool to see that Bela Fleck's got one of those things.

[cjj]

I remember seeing a video (on line, in the last year or two) of Eddie Peabody introducing and talking about the Banjoline, then playing it a bit. Can't seem to find it now, though...

[8mileshigh]

I'm sure there was an old 45 demo disc of Peabody playing the Banjoline on the RIC outlet a while back?

RIC also made a 4 string Bantar............super cool instruments!

http://web.mac.com/john_minutaglio/iWeb/Site/6000.html