hair or linen chord, were capable of only the most rudimentary tunings. Though simple melodies might be plucked out, the instrument served more as a quiet percussive
accompaniment, than a melodic one. In the early 19th
century, gut (carefully cut twisted strips of animal
intestine) became the preferred strings and banjos could
actually hold more complex tunings. With greater tensile
strength and uniformity of diameter, gut strings gave
the banjo an improvement in tone and in volume. As a
performance instrument together with the tambourine and
fiddle, the banjo became a common sight on the
plantations and at rural celebrations.There were a few white performers who played upon the banjo as early as the 1790s, but it wasn't until the 1830s that the "black face" minstrels began to proliferate. These white performers, blackening their faces with burnt cork and performing exaggerated comic antics became a mainstay of American entertainment clear through the Civil War. These minstrel shows didn't completely disappear until the early 20th century. By the 1840s the banjo had added a fifth string and spread to the general public, but the first banjo instructional publications do not appear until the mid-1850s. Brigg's Banjo Instructor from 1855 survives as one of the best known of these early instruction books. These ante bellum publications helped to standardize both the tunings and the minstrel "stroke style" of playing well through the 1870s.
As the audience for these minstrel shows grew in
size, the banjo made another transition. If raw 
hide
becomes damp, it will stretch. Before the days of
central heating, a banjo player had to keep his banjo
warm and dry to keep its head-skin tight. This is not a
problem in the warm light of day, but a severe challenge
in the evening damp.
Making use of drum technology, tone
rings and j-hooks could pull a banjo skin tight as a
drum - dry or damp. This not only significantly
increased volume and tone, but kept the banjo playable in the
higher humidity of outdoor evening performances. Frets
began to appear on banjos in the 1850s, but were
initially shunned by the musicians. Frets remained rare on
banjos until well after the civil war.
During reconstruction, the banjo had become a white instrument generally shunned by the blacks, largely because of its association with slavery and the demeaning themes of minstrel shows. Cultural memory runs deep and to this day, what began as a black instrument is almost exclusively an instrument of the white culture. In the 20th Century the banjo became a tribute to engineering. With higher tension synthetic heads, steel strings and sound boards, the banjo became a signature instrument of Bluegrass. Although custom makers remain, the Bluegrass banjo is now primarily an instrument produced by an assembly line of specialists on the factory floor.
The folk revival of the 60's and the current interest in American Roots music has engendered new interest in the old instruments and playing styles. Though on the fringes of popular music (which translates to low profit potential for mass marketers), the fretless banjo is making a bit of a come-back among living history enthusiasts and folk musicians. In a day of electric everything, these simple acoustic instruments may have faded to the background, but the musical influence of the plantation banjo never went away. One need only examine the open tunings and strumming styles of the blues guitar, to see the influence of the nineteenth century banjo.
By the 1920’s, an increasingly urban America was turning to jazz. Many
black musicians who couldn’t afford pianos and expensive
brass or reed instruments, picked up cheap used guitars and
adapted them to a new type of music. The high action of the
steel strings on the warped necks was rough on the fingers, but ironically by
using the open nineteenth century banjo tunings and a bottle
neck as a slide, frets didn’t matter. Sliding notes
on the treble strings could mimic the wail of a human voice,
while the extra bass strings could provide a strong syncopated
beat. The rural voice of the banjo, transplanted to a guitar
had a completely different sound. It became the urban sound of
the blues.