Official Luthiers Forum!

[QUOTE=Dave Rickard] Ron's the man when it comes to Banjo's..Around here anyway [/QUOTE]


   Thanks, Dave. I haven't built one yet, but I've studied them for 30+ years. I was planning on making my first build a banjo, then I stumbled onto this place and got side tracked. But it's coming. I have a local friend who just finished his shop and is about to start a banjo and it hurts to think he might finish one before me.    I may move mine up a little in line.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

WOW I learned somthing ;)

Thanks again for all the help. I think I can put together a price for him now. I'll let you know if he bites

By the way, I sorta play banjo.... used to play a lot, but havent played since I sold my banjo a few years ago. It was a cheap one... Aria...I have played Stellings and Master Tones, so I know what a banjo is supposed to sound like and how to set them up. I have just never built one.

Thanks again for all the good info! You guys are GREAT !

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Reguards,

Ken H

[QUOTE=old man] [QUOTE=Mike Mahar]

From your description, it sounds like you want to make a resonator bluegrass style banjo. This makes a bunch of little decisions for you. You won't have to decide on the tone ring, number of rim clamps or tail piece. Those will be pretty much standard.
[/QUOTE]


Some hardware is standard, though there are several levels of quality available. You must decide on a tone ring. The tone ring is about 80%+ of the sound quality and there are 12 or 15 different rings available for a high end banjo. The choice is only narrowed down if you have selected one particular sound you are shooting for. Pre-war Gibson, for example, usually taken as the standard, still has 4 or 5 tone rings that are similar bur not the same sound. Different tone rings need to be used to get a Stelling sound, etc. Of course, you can use any parts you want and get your own sound.

Ron[/QUOTE]

I suppose I should have known that. I thought the goal of the bluegrass crowd was to have a banjo that sounded exactly like a Gibson. Open back, old-timey banjo players don't talk to bluegrass players much. (Some of my best friends play bluegrass banjo but I wouldn't let my daughter marry one ) The sound is so different from the open back type that, to my ear, they all sound alike. That's a bit short sighted on my part considering that I recently spent several hours comparing two whyte ladies before deciding that neither of them sounded like what I was looking for.

come on Hesh..... come on

 

The suspense is killing me !

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Reguards,

Ken H

[QUOTE=Hesh1956]Oh.....the horor......



But I'm not saying anything....... [/QUOTE]

And when was the last time that happened?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=Hesh1956]  
What's really happening is that I am just being a jerk - sorry. [/QUOTE]

That's just as impossible as your not saying anything!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I have only built 2 banjo's in the past so I am not an expert by any means but built a laminated rim as the banjo's I was copying were laminated.

I collect instruments so when there is an instrument that I want to play regularly and dont want to risk damage to the original I copy it. I have an A.C. Fairbanks Whyte Laydie 5 string (open back) and an Orpheum #1 Tenor (open back) and a Paramount Plectrum. I copied the Orpheum and the Fairbanks and copied the laminated birdseye maple rims of each.

The Tenor and Plectrum I play ragtime on as they are definitely not a bluegrass sound.

right now I'm making good money from the bluegrass crowd, so you wont hear me say anything bad about them.... even if they do play a banjo :)

The next 3 guitar builds are all for the bluegrass crowd and I'm ready to get started on them.

Thanks again for all the good info folks!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Oh I used to play banjo in the 60s, open back of course none of that bluegrass stuff, no sir! Oh my misspent youth! (But Peggy Seeger did teach me).





Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

nice shirt :D

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Reguards,

Ken H

[QUOTE=Pwoolson] I'm not sure why I even opened this thread as I'm clueless about banjos. But a thought came to my head (I know, scary!) Why wouldn't one bend and laminate the rim vs turn it? I would think a turned rim would have inhearent week spots due to the way the grain runs. If you bent a rim, you could control the grain direction. And if you stagger the joints, it would be bombproof. Which is a good thing because many folks simply want to blow up every banjo on the planet. [/QUOTE]


Hey, Paul, I was looking through the First Quality catalog tonight, and can you believe they actually now have a banjo head made of kevlar.    And that's no joke!


Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

[QUOTE=old man]

Hey, Paul, I was looking through the First Quality catalog tonight, and can you believe they actually now have a banjo head made of kevlar.    And that's no joke!


Ron[/QUOTE]

The custom at blue grass festivals is to shoot your guns into the air but sometime people get careless and shoot at the banjo player instead.