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

[blueflamerick]

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

Yep. I have mp3s of it. Found them on the Banjo Hangout site.

[cjj]

Here's a site with some info and a bunch of sound clips, apparently from a Rickenbacker Promo record. The site is a bit annoying in that the sound clips all seem to auto-play all at once. But you can go to the bottom and pause them and play them one at a time.

http://www.jazzbanjo.com/subsite2/vol7n ... linep1.htm

Also, from that site, it appears that Fender and Vega also made Banjolines. Apparently, Rickenbacker picked it up after the deal Eddie had with Fender fell through...

[johnhall]

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!)

I think you mean Doug Dillard, rather than Bob Dylan. And I believe Dillard's is the one that McGuinn had.

I have to admit I was quite surprised to see that Bela Fleck photo in the paper; we certainly had no idea he was using one of these. Nice to see them come out of the closet.

[sloop_john_b]

From Smith's book, p. 187:

Doug Dillard from the modern bluegrass group the Dillards and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds used the Model 6000. (A curious note in the Rickenbacker Byrds file says that McGuinn used a Bantar originally given to Bob Dylan).

[chronictown]

IIRC, Ron Wood used a Bantar for a song or two when the Stones played the SARS concert in Toronto. It had been a very long and beer-soaked day though, so I'm only about 80-85% sure about this little factoid.