AFTER the routine stuff – cleaning out fire, chipping wood, putting out the rubbish, feeding the birds… – I have breakfast then hit the studio.

As well as listening through the mix of another recently recorded song, I investigate the banjo.

Thanks to the feedback via Facebook I’ve identified it as a pre-war Windsor zither banjo. My confusion caused by six machine heads, four slots in the nut and five string anchors on the tailpiece is suddenly cleared. It’s a five string banjo – the fifth string goes down a tiny wee hole in the fretboard at the fifth fret and emerges from a similarly tiny hole by one of the tuning machines. Genius. Oh…and the ‘extra’ machine is a dummy for balance/aesthetic value!

Back in the house I make a sandwich then head to the village shop where I’m helping out ’til closing time.

It’s after 9pm when we have dinner then I watch a documentary – The Blues According to Lightning Hopkins – on YouTube. Then bed.

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