Looking into a backpacking guitar…

Canjos look like fun. One can be made pretty much for free with a little scrounging. They can also be purchased pretty cheaply. I have built a couple strumsticks and may build a canjo next just for fun. I found the three string strumsticks to be really easy to learn to play and I imagine a canjo would be even easier.

The canjo and home made strumstick both are small light and cheap enough to not need to worry too much about. The canjo definitely has the edge wrt expendability though.

+1 Pete That's what I was hoping for, something cheap and light, but still be playable, this guy in the video ( about 50 seconds in ) starts playing pretty fast, faster than I'll ever be.

For me it's just for fun around the camp fire.
Jack

Open back banjos can get pretty light and the sound will be far superior to a canjo, though that is a cool idea. You might find one for pretty cheap on ebay or craigslist depending on where you're located (not sure what "armpit of CA" is; border with NV at the bend of the state lines?).

What do they weigh? My impression was that even open back models were pretty heavy. The ones I have seen were definitely over 5 pounds and probably by quite a bit. I see 10 pound banjos listed as "lightweight". Compared to a uke, strumstick, canjo, guitarlele, or even a guitar that is really heavy. Is there a class of banjo that I am missing here or is your idea of lightweight just way different than mine?

My friend learned claw hammer on a open back banjo and it struck me as particularly lightweight. I would guess it was in the 2-3 lbs. range but I'm really not sure. I think his was a 4 string. They are definitely more heavy than a strumstick, uke, or canjo and probably close to a guitarlele.

Instrument weight is highly variable though and you'd have to take it on a case by case basis. I am a hobbyist Flamenco guitar luthier and flamenco guitars, although nearly identical to the dimensions of a classical guitar, are historically much lighter because of the type of wood used as well as the thickness of the various parts of the guitar. Peg style tuners are lighter than machine heads. The great Spanish luthier Antonio de Torres (died 1892) famously made a papier-mache guitar (back and sides) with a high quality soundboard to prove the relative unimportance of the side/back woods, but also how essential the soundboard was to the overall sound quality of a guitar. Here are some weights of historical flamenco/classical guitars (Urlik):

1912 Saturnino Rojas, blanca/pegs, 905 g.
1913 Manuel Ramirez, blanca/pegs, 1230 g.
1922 Domingo Esteso, blanca/machines, 1110 g.
1930 Santos Hernandez, blanca/pegs, 1200 g.
1923 Modesto Borreguero, blanca/pegs, 1090 g.
1929 Miguel Rodriguez, blanca/machines, 1165 g.
1948 Marcelo Barbero, blanca/pegs, 1185 g.
1958 Marcelino Lopez, blanca/machines, 1190 g.
1957 Arcangel Fernandez, blanca/pegs, 1190 g.
1962 Jose Ramirez, blanca/pegs, 1145 g
1961 Hernandez y Aguado, blanca/machines, 1300 g.
1967 Marcelo Barbero (hijo), blanca/pegs, 1310 g.
1971 Paulino Bernabe, blanca/pegs, 1235 g.
1975 Gerundino Fernandez, negra/machines, 1620 g.
1988 Manuel Reyes, blanca/pegs, 1360 g.

Probably a lot more info than you were looking for but it's a big interest of mine and thought that it might be interesting to some considering the weight factor. I still think bringing a canjo or something like that is a great idea.

For me a strumstick is about the sweet spot for play-ability and ease of carrying, that is IF I carry any instrument. That said on any given trip in the future I may go a different route. Given that folks have different preferences a full sized guitar or a canjo might be the right answer for them.

I have yet to actually handle a canjo. My experience with strumsticks makes me think that a two string canjo may just be double the fun of a one string for me.

The great thing about a canjo is that the only thing you are likely to damage in a pack is the can and it can pretty easily be replaced.

I see another choice as what I might carry in the car when driving across the country for multiple days on the way to and from backpacking trips as I tend to drive long distances rather than fly since I retired. For that a guitarlele or uke might be likely to go along but stay in the car when I am on the trail.

Here' a link to Henry Hoover,

http://www.henryhoovercanjos.com/aboutcanjos1.html

He makes one of the best canjo's out there, I talked to him yesterday, super nice guy, so much so I ordered one of his canjo's, should be here next week.

I'll keep everyone posted and I will post a picture of it when I get it in my hands.

Jack

Thanks for the link, I didn't know about Henry Hoover. Since this is BPL I'd suggest going with a lighter wood such as Spanish cedar, or even doug fir. These woods will dent pretty easy but who cares, they don't warp and will be significantly lighter than the hardwoods mentioned on Hoover's site. Looking for YouTube videos of Hoover's canjos I came across this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCfydcVkWNE, with his gas can banjo, 5 strings it looks like. It sounds infinitely better and more interesting than the canjo IMO. All personal opinion of course but that one string canjo would leave me wanting more pretty quick I'd imagine. Regardless, very cool to hear people bringing instruments other than harmonicas and tin whistles into the wilderness. This guy's gas can banjo/dulcimer puts me right in the Appalachian hills.

I played around with a quickly built canjo over the weekend. Just me, but I found it way less fun than a stick dulcimer I built that is similar to the strumstick. I once broke the 3rd string on my stick dulcimer and it was still pretty fun to play with two strings. It was even easier than the three string version and still sounded pretty good. Most chords were only a one finger deal and none can be more than two. You just play the same chords ignoring the missing string.

So my take is that two strings are way more fun that one and not that much less than three. I am thinking that I can build a really light two string stick dulcimer. I think that I can probably build a stick made with lighter wood and a carbon fiber tube reinforcement in the neck and have it come in at 6 or 8 ounces. The weight is just a guess though. I figure it would be shorter than the standard G stick, and maybe tuned like a C-G-C, but without the low C.

If it comes out well I might even try selling some.

That's cool Pete. You should post some pics in the MYOG section if you are into that. You could try using a tent pole slide or something like that. What about a bear canjo (bear canister as the soundbox)? A set of strings across the opening would probably make some interesting sounds. Trying to think multiple use gear…

That made me chuckle. Something might be possible though.

I hadn't thought of posting about the sticks in the MYOG forum. Maybe I will write something up.