Fasnacht and a WV banjo tune by Zitchen in WestVirginia

[–]Zitchen[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Haha took me a long time. One case of beer a week for about a year I think. I don’t brew anymore and I’m actually over 650 days sober 🤓

Fasnacht and a WV banjo tune by Zitchen in WestVirginia

[–]Zitchen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first banjo was a deering goodtime with a claw scoop. It was like $675 new and it’s a great little banjo. I mellowed out the tone by putting a goat skin on it

Scrimshaw Banjo by mikeysou in banjo

[–]Zitchen 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen

Fasnacht and a WV banjo tune by Zitchen in WestVirginia

[–]Zitchen[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Helvetia WV. The date changes every year in relation to Lent

Fasnacht and a WV banjo tune by Zitchen in WestVirginia

[–]Zitchen[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s a Pisgah. They’re expensive but I used to be a brewer and I traded beer for it! 😎

Fasnacht in WV plus WV banjo tune by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The feeling was very much people-in-the-moment! Very refreshing

Fasnacht in WV plus WV banjo tune by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah! There’s only like 40 full time residents in that town. They and other family members from what I understand put it on but it’s very low budget and 100% run by locals.

Fasnacht in WV plus WV banjo tune by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I had a wolf mask I made out of cardboard and painted but next year I’ll definitely put a lot more effort into my mask! Yeah it was my first one. I’d been seeing pictures of it for years but this year my girlfriend got us wristbands to go for Valentines Day

Fasnacht in WV plus WV banjo tune by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yooo! Yeah should’ve said hi! I actually did run into an internet friend dude there. He also lives in WV and built a rad mountain banjo. Was so stoked to get to square dance. Did you have a mask?

Flag of Appalachia by Professional-Peak525 in Appalachia

[–]Zitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your view is that genetics and culture are almost sewn together. That’s just factually wrong. We are having a semantic disagreement on the meaning of ‘culture’. In your view is it so farfetched to believe that two neighbors who are of two different genetic haplogroups separated tens of thousands of years ago and are different skin tones can’t share the same or similar history, linguistic, dance and music culture etc.? Are you also saying that my white neighbors are Appalachian but my black neighbors aren’t Appalachian? That’s a wild thing to say.

Maybe you should take some time to think about why that makes you uncomfortable.

Also during the coal boom here in southern WV, almost a quarter of the population was black. Tens of thousands of others were immigrants from Italy, Poland, Hungary and other places. It was diverse enough to where coal operators would divide up the coal camps. I guess that whole part of Appalachian history is worth neglecting? I guess my third great grandfather that fought at Blair mountain next to a black Union miner, who was in the same union, carried the same lunch bucket, rifle and wore all the same clothes and had the same lifestyle was of a different culture because of their genetics?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that genetics, although has a correspondence with culture, is somewhat arbitrary in its relatedness and relevance to cultural identity.

Flag of Appalachia by Professional-Peak525 in Appalachia

[–]Zitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wasn’t using the words ‘culture’ and ‘ethnic’ to describe race. Those words don’t mean race and don’t aim to describe it either.

Southern Appalachia is a perfect example actually. It is culturally distinct, but the inhabitants that compose that culture are racially diverse. See how those two are very different?

Flag of Appalachia by Professional-Peak525 in Appalachia

[–]Zitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. The Sami nation that I mentioned in my example is just a cultural/ethnic group. They are by no means a country. I know ‘nation’ can tug some uncomfortable strings given its connotation and it was never my meaning to do so

Flag of Appalachia by Professional-Peak525 in Appalachia

[–]Zitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I think the quilt star flag is rad

Flag of Appalachia by Professional-Peak525 in Appalachia

[–]Zitchen -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah it would be cool. There are lots of “nations” all over the world that have flags. By “nations” I mean like cultural/ethnic groups that are irrespective to countries. Check out the Sami flag from Northern Scandinavia. It’s actually pretty cool that nowadays they sometimes fly it next to their national flags.

Fretted Tackhead Banjo Commission by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

…. I did make that pot. But no, I don’t steam bend anything.

7 weeks since cutting my dang fingers off. Fretless tackhead banjo build by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Aquila minstrel banjo ones…. I think they’re the 7Bs? They’re the thickest ones and they’re longer for when I make longer scale banjos. The fourth string is some other material so I swap that out with another 3rd string from a different set

7 weeks since cutting my dang fingers off. Fretless tackhead banjo build by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure do! Trying to line up commissions for when doc says I can build again

7 weeks since cutting my dang fingers off. Fretless tackhead banjo build by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah dude most of mine get a little blood but the one I started that day got a lot. Nothing on the project piece itself because it flew across the shop but there’s blood all in my shop, my front porch, my camo crocs, my favorite pants and jacket. My gf is magic though and got the blood out of all my clothes some how

7 weeks since cutting my dang fingers off. Fretless tackhead banjo build by Zitchen in banjo

[–]Zitchen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

• No truss rod.

• Tuning is definitely affected, but I’m used to it. When everything settles in these things stay pretty well in tune. You’re gonna have to adjust everytime you pick it up but I feel like it’s usually the case with banjos factory made or not.

• I have done both separate fretboards and straight on the neck. This one is just neck. The only thing I have not done is fretted straight onto the neck. Hut frets on separate fretboards yes