Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 102; Doug Unger interview, part 3 of 6

Q: Most of us would have walked away and said, I don’t... you know, I don’t even know where to begin on making an instrument, but you persevered. Restating: Most of us would have walked away, but you persevered and deciding you were going to build a banjo. What is that about you?

DOUG: Oh boy... I love the process as an artist and the fact that I didn’t know how to make them, that was a... wasn’t a big deal because I think artists like to problem solve and figure out how to do things, so I think it’s a test of... of your commitment to learn something if there isn’t information, so you have to buy a hook or crook, trial and error um, figure out how to do it. And after you do the first you... you know you can do better on the second and the third. The whole while I was developing an understanding of tools and materials and looking at old instruments and photographing them and measuring them and seeing differences in old banjos. So um, I started to develop a perspective on the instrument that really helped me and develop my interest towards making them.

Q: How did people react to that when you said, I’m... I’m gonna started a building a banjo? Did they kind of look at you and go, yea, right... see ya later?

DOUG: Well, I think there was some of that. My family uh, was really put... kind of put off by it. You know, why wasn’t I making paintings and I... I sort of understood that, but I was... I had... I was really infatuated with the whole idea. Uh, and I... I loved the... the history of it, I loved the sound of it. When I saw good players, it just lit my fire. I was driven by the beauty of the music and the instruments that made the music. They were sort of intertwined. I really never separated them. And then um, it became important to try to become a really good player. So I was... I was like tackling it from all ends, while I was trying to also be a painter and a teacher, so I was pretty busy. I was a busy guy.

Q: I’m gonna ask you again unfortunately cause the truck went through. Um, again what did friends and family think about all of a sudden I’m gonna build musical instruments?

DOUG: You know I think they thought I should be painting... painting and drawing and um, I was uh, on fire to learn about this so I was throwing a great deal of uh, work into figuring it out. So I was gonna do it one way or the other and they... they had to put up with it. That’s the way it was.

Q: From what I understand, and you can correct me, you have developed some techniques that are kind of unorthodox but tradition—but my traditional standards but have... you’ve also improved on banjo making, is that correct?

DOUG: No, I think I... what I’ve tried to do is to um, work towards the high level of skill that was evident around the turn of the century with the really great maker’s. And I just wanted to try to get it to that level, while being creative within in. I wanted my own signature but, I was very influenced by the great maker’s in... uh, of the past. I’m talking about 1890’s to 1910 is when the heyday of the American banjo and the skills the... both the carving and the pearl work was uh, so... so successful.

Q: Your designs are based on what they... I guess they call the Golden Age?

DOUG: The Golden Age of the banjo. Um, 1890 to about 1910, and they incorporated both classical ornamentation and contemporary design which was art Nuevo and they were kind of an interesting mixture of folk images and classic images and very decorative, very beautiful. The banjo had a great tradition for decoration and almost anything went. And in the Victorian Era when the... when the wealthy people discovered the banjo, they could afford the fancy banjo’s which was carving and pearl work. Nothing to do with sound, it had everything to do with... with beauty. So I was enamored with those and... and I’ve restored many, many great American banjos. Almost all of the really great banjo’s in this country I think have been in this room.

Q: What fascinates you about that time period in a banjo?

DOUG: Well, the workmanship and the fact that we’ve never seen two that had the same inlay patterns that were done the same. So the... the sort of a sense of an artist doing them was always there. The um, very high level of skill and the creative uh license that was common just fascinated me. And um, it seemed that around 1900 to 1910, amazing work was done with old world craftsmanship and some modern designs for tone characters of the... characteristics of the banjo.