A couple of weeks ago a local guy, Peter Darnett, contacted me to arrange banjo lessons. Did he have a banjo? Yes, it belonged to his dad, Jack Darnett, who’d recently died. Was it a five-string? Yes, although the 5th string peg was missing and (he said) it needed a bit of a clean up. Peter brought round the banjo that afternoon. It was in a handmade coffin-shaped plywood box and I have to say, it was in a sorry old state.
Fortunately, the banjo was basically sound; the fingerboard was filthy but frets and inlays were all present and the neck was straight so I set to work. |
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Peter told me that although his dad had been a maths teacher for some time, he'd been a jazz man all his life. He'd played right up to the time he'd passed away, leaving strict word that his son, Peter, should have his banjo. |
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The banjo, a blonde’1976 Ibanez Artist, had been bought for Jack by his wife during a long trip to England to visit Mrs Darnett’s relatives. Jack had moaned a bucketful about leaving his jazz mates behind but, Peter said, once there he revelled in the music scene and had a ball! |
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Jazz players only use 4 strings so Jack had removed the 5th string peg and changed the bridge. The first 4 frets were almost unworn and there were some interesting little markers stuck on the fingerboard that spoke volumes about the keys that his band usually played in. |
This banjo had been a hard-working instrument and must have been through a lot of weather! Peter asked me to put it back into a playable condition, not to completely restore it. The ears had split a long time ago—the only thing holding them on (and therefore the tuning pegs in!) was the headstock veneer.
I removed the tuning pegs and glued and clamped the ears while I worked on the pot. |
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The hardware was corroded and very dirty. The bracket hooks were rusted. I threw them—with their partner nuts—into a bath of hot soapy water then got at them later with a small wire brush. On re-assembly their threads got an oiling. |
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The skin was busted and the tension hoop crusted with years of build-up. “If only this banjo could talk.” I thought as I scrubbed away what looked like crystalised beer. |
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The fingerboard and inlays were in good condition and luckily the first 4 fret metals were almost unworn—good news for Peter as a beginner bluegrass player.
Steel wool, grade 0000, was used to gently scour the ebony and fret metals. |
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A couple of hours later the parts are all shiny and ready for re-assembly.
A real testament to the parts quality that Ibanez were putting out in the ‘70’s. |
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As the After Shot shows, the banjo came up really well. Nothing we could do about the corrosion but Pete was delighted and took it home in a plush-lined hard case, eager to get started on his rolls!
Two days later, Pete brought me a CD of his dad playing in The Southern Cross Jazz Band.
I got to wondering about that 33 year partnership of banjo player and instrument.
So, I googled the band name—and they’re still going strong!
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Isn’t the internet terrific! I found The Southern Cross Jazz Band were still going strong in Victoria. A quick email to the drummer, Graham Michel, got an enthusiastic reply together with a couple of pics and some stories about Jack ’Darney’ Darnett.
Hi Wendy, everyone was so intrigued by your email, and relieved to hear that you had the banjo for restoration work !
One of the things that always came to mind was we never knew a player who could break so many strings like Darney, as at nearly every gig he broke at least one many times two and sometimes if he didn't have a spare he would suffice in the most outrageous ways.
1. I remember on several occasions at the Dromana Hotel (our regular weekly gig) where he joined strings with a knot in the middle !
2. We were doing a street gig, he broke a string and had no spare but noticed in an antique shop across the road a "sitar " so asked the proprietor if he could borrow a string which he did !
3. Was tuning up on a boat just after we left the dock, broke a string and had to turn the whole boat around to go back for a spare, after which was tuning up again and lost his plectrum overboard !
Darney had a big heart and was so encouraging with kids and music. At nearly every gig we would hear this weird out of tune sound coming from the direction of the banjo—if any children in the audience showed extra attention to our music John would have them strum the banjo whilst he played the notes, and of course the kids would be in awe.
The banjo was stolen from the back of his car once and weeks later a fellow muso recognised the case (a bizzare coffin shape John had made himself) in a cash converter store. After police investigations it was returned to him..
In his messing around during a gig he would sometimes have me play the banjo with my drumsticks whilst he was playing the notes (pic attached).
A great character with a heart of gold and sadly missed ...
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