On Wooden Banjos

I make for a very poor focus group of one. I recognize that many things that I am drawn to carry absolutely no interest to the market as a whole. I prefer a wild horse over a tame horse, a small horse over a big horse, a stallion over a gelding, and every obscure breed over every common breed of horse.

I prefer clutter over order, education over entertainment, and the satisfaction of working hard over the fun of playing hard. I prefer the runt of the litter over the pick of the litter, acoustic over electric, the simple over the complex, the plain over the ornate, Grand Pa Jones over Earl Scruggs, and old wood over new wood.  I prefer giving away a horse over selling it, respect over riches, and raw oysters over just about everything else.

I always keep these things in mind when I am looking to make a major change to my program. I am profoundly aware that the fact that I would enjoy, or be impressed by, a thing does not even suggest, much less prove that others would enjoy, or be impressed by, such a thing.

 I have been interested in the making of mountain banjos since I first saw a Fox Fire book as a teenager. In the 80's I saw my first all wooden banjo. It fascinated me. I could not understand why they were not marketed. The sound was amazing and they were so beautiful to my eye.

In the 90's I made several wooden banjos. They attracted attention for the audiences where we played and I made several for sale. I set the price quite low. To my surprise the interest that people showed in hearing these banjos did not translate into an interest in buying one. I did not sell a single one. The one that I am playing in this picture is the prettiest one that I made and I still play it today.

We are about to take some huge steps with the development of the Gwaltney Frontier Farm. We will be developing new programs and building new structures. I am looking to the advice of those whose experience makes them worth more than the best focus group money could buy. I will be taking that advice.

But I expect that I will also be making some wooden banjo decisions. There will be parts of what we do that may only bring pleasure to an audience of one, (me). However, the focus will be on defining what we want to teach and finding the best way to get that message out. And, if we can do this the right way we will build a program that will be imitated in many other places. When I began teaching I was repeatedly told that it could never work, that there was no way that kids could be safely taught to train and ride wild horses and colts. At least in the mustang world what we have done is well known and other programs are building on what we are doing. Part of what lies before us is to get that message out beyond the mustang world.

The model for riding lessons today is a little girl riding in circles in a sandy ring while an instructor tells her to sit up straight. This goes on for 45 minutes and then the girl's mother writes a large check to cover the 45 minutes of "horsemanship."  Our model is better than that in every way. Sophisticated fundraising and publicity will be necessary to get our model more exposure. Such things go against my grain but I will do what we need to do to get the job done. I am sure that I will make a few stubborn mistakes and insist on doing some things just the way I like, regardless of the market.

That's alright. I deserve a little pleasure too. Take a look at that picture up there. That is what a man looks like when he is enjoying playing his wooden banjo.