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February banjos
During February I made 6 banjos, of which 3 were custom made to order, 2 were in-stock instruments and 1 was for the BanjoHangout free drawing which is happening now. Banjo #64 was an A scale internal resonator custom banjo #65 was a custom D scale mini banjo, my first with an 8″ pot. The
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Banjo #66 completed
I put 5 coats of Tru Oil finish on the banjo on Sunday and put it together today. It has a curly walnut peghead overlay and the fretboard is streaky ebony. It’s a bit hard to see the streaks in the pictures. I like scoops better now that I have the power fretting saw set
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Building banjo #66, part 5
On Tuesday I sanded the back of the resonator flat on the 12″ disc sander and then used the table router to put a 1/4″ radius on the corners. On Thursday I drilled a 3/4 hole for the dowel stick using the Shopsmith. I carved the hole out to a square shape using a 1/2″
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Recent custom banjos
I haven’t been posting any new banjos on the Banjos page lately, but it’s not that I haven’t been making banjos, they’ve just all been custom ones built to order lately. #60 was a full fretted version of #59 with a Kershner tailpiece. #61 was my first plectrum banjo, also from walnut and a 12″
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Building banjo #66, part 4
Tonight I cut the fret slots using an adapted Worx mini saw with a .023″ blade, and a homemade fixture. I’ve been using this setup for about a year. It’s faster than slotting by hand and also enables me to make partial slots in the area of the scoop, so that there is no unfilled
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Building banjo #66, part 3
Tonight I didn’t work long on the pot and then I had to let the glue dry. First I set the outer rim on top of the inner rim and used a mini tape measure to get it as perfectly centered as I could, and then drew around the blocks and laid out the cut
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Building banjo #66, part 2
Yesterday I sanded the 7 rings flat and glued them into stacks, and last night I rolled the tone ring parts and the tension hoop. The ring roller is new to me last fall, prior to that I bent tension hoops by hand. It’s fun to use, as it takes a job that required a
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Building an internal resonator banjo, part 1
I am doing another banjo giveaway on BanjoHangout which I have been told is scheduled to start on February 13th. This time the banjo will be a 12″ walnut internal resonator banjo with one of my shop-made Whyte Laydie type tone rings and brass hardware. Last January I did a series here and also posted
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My first chicken-head fiddle
I’ve been thinking of trying this for a couple of years but didn’t get myself together to do it till now. I am not fond of carving scrolls on fiddles, and the chicken is easier and more fun to carve. This fiddle and a banjo (#62) are going to be on display at TAUNY (Traditional
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Whyte Laydie/Electric style tone ring prototype
I bought a ring roller earlier in the fall with the idea that it would make the production of tension hoops faster and more precise, and would also enable me to mess about a bit with tone rings and such. This is my first experiment. It’s an Electric/Whyte Laydie type tone ring made from brass