Put a sock in it.

March 27, 2024

I was feeling like shit this afternoon so I picked up my banjo.  A beautifully inlaid Fender I got three years ago from my sister-in-law when her husband died.  Today, I tuned it by ear, the way I used to tune a guitar. A banjo is often tuned to an open G chord, but the strings can still be tuned relative to each other.

Clearly professional quality instrument.  Nice heft, great tone.  Loud, though.  So, like I’ve done with everything else I’ve ever gotten, I took it apart.  Well, I removed the circular wooden resonator from the back.  Four knurled screws I removed with my fingers. It simply dropped off, once the screws were out.

I watched a youtube video of Tracy Newman introduce her banjo. She explained that she put a towel in to muffle the sound a bit.

I wanted to try the towel idea.

To my surprise, I found a pair of used cotton socks inside my banjo.  White and gray cotton socks, balled up the way you do when you put socks together after drying.  One sock had a hole in the toe.  I pushed the pair up against the inside of the drum head, to get a mellow sound.  Easy to tune, easy to play. With its own socks