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devoall - Posted - 01/12/2011: 12:23:07
Hey Everyone, My dad just sent me this in the mail!!! I'm so excited. It's super fun to play and beautiful to boot!
It's a cherry neck with a curly maple front and back and a cherry center ring.
My dad used Rudy's (bluestem strings) method of internal tensioning for the head .(which works GREAT by the way) so he could put a renaissance head on it.
It has an oak tonering.
I love it! Check it out!
Crowman - Posted - 01/12/2011: 14:07:18
Very nice banjos guys, im glad to see this thread at the top again, as I enjoyed my first build with much help from this thread. I have the neck built for the second one, which is going be steel strings this time. Have the wood for the pot, just haven't had time to start on it. Rudys tension system looks great on that banjo, and your Dad did an awesome job building it. Rudys tension system is what I'm planning to use it on my third one. Lets keep those mountain banjos coming, and lets keep building mountain style.
MountainBanjo - Posted - 01/12/2011: 16:13:36
Another beauty!
So I keep harping on y'all to invent a skin tensioning system because I really believe a mountain banjo should have a dead animal in it somewhere, but so far you havent come up with anything! How about this- If I sewed a skin to a hoop the same diameter as the pot-hole, would Rudy's tensioning system work?
devoall - Posted - 01/13/2011: 13:30:30
hey mountain banjo..I think even if you stapled the skin to the inside of the rim you could use rudys system. It's the tonering that pushes against the bottom of the skin. the screws on the bottom are screwed into the bottom of the tonering and control the amount of pressure that is being applied by lifting the tonering up and down.
It seems that it would work just as well as a metal ring that the skin sits on if you just have the proffit style banjo.
Crowman - Posted - 01/13/2011: 16:30:46
MountainBanjo,
As you may or may not remember this post is what started me on my banjo building journey, I just had a few problems along the road that has prevented me from building as much as I would like to, but thats another story. You starting the post and getting everyone involved and keeping it as true to the original is what kept me interested. As devoall said, I think you can use Rudys system on the 6" skin head no matter what its on, whether its stove pipe, metal can or wood rim. As long as it is secure to that piece the tone ring will put pressure on the skin head and will eliminate the weather issues that we have with skin heads, that is as long as you tighten and loosen with the humidity changes. I think its a perfect design to have the skin head on there, and the tension system will help us get the sound we need plus get rid of the humidity problems. I hope this makes sense, cause I sure am a beginner at this to be talking about it. I just agree with you that the mountain banjo should have a skin head and Rudys system will help. I just think the plastic head will make it even better, but I am going to do both. I already have a skin head waiting on the pot for the neck that I have built, and I also have another hand drum so I know I will build at least two more mountain banjos. I appreciate you starting this post and keeping it going as it has sparked a building desire in me, that has really given me something to do that I enjoy, that is besides playing the banjo. Us working together, we can get the mountain banjo as perfect as it can be.
Edited by - Crowman on 01/13/2011 16:35:24
MountainBanjo - Posted - 01/13/2011: 19:28:32
Thanks for the feedback you two. My mountain banjo was fairly unplayable in the humidity this summer, which is why I want a tension devise. I havent looked that closely at Rudy's, but I'll look again-I've got the diagram. Now that its winter and dry inside the banjo sounds great again. I could have reinstalled the skin for summer but was too lazy.
Glad you are enjoying the thread and learning to build, Crowman!
Crowman - Posted - 01/18/2011: 13:27:52
Rudy that was a great video and shows the banjo in great detail. Thank you for sharing that with all of us, and as always we appreciate you sharing your knowledge and plans with us. That is one nice looking banjo, and I have Black Walnut on the way to start it soon. I got your pdf printed local and its a great drawing with everything that is needed to build the banjo.
badfoof - Posted - 01/18/2011: 15:41:09
Hey Randy,
I watched the video again on YouTube...that Mountain Banjo looks mighty familiar! I still enjoy playing that banjo just about every day. Sounds as good as it looks, too!
Steve
rudy - Posted - 01/18/2011: 18:40:37
Thanks guys, glad you found it entertaining and informative.
Steve, I'll most like ly put up some of the demo clips on Youtube also. Do you think they would help anyone with technique?
(Not that my playing is anything special...
rudy - Posted - 01/26/2011: 12:26:16
More mountain banjo related stuff... It's not just for breakfast anymore.
It's good for Country blues, too. Here's a little demo of She Caught The Katy:
youtube.com/watch?v=LdhFG45lJDo
KnarfEK - Posted - 01/28/2011: 22:53:50
quote:
Originally posted by mojo_monk
While not necessarily "mountain" banjos (although the Kiskeya word Ayiti means "land of mountains"), I built two gourd banjos for about $5.50 US while living in Haiti. I am now a budding banjo-building junkie with big plans for the coming summer...
Below is the link to a website chronicling (kind of) the construction of the first one.
seanbarth79.webs.com/
-Sean
Jeepers! Does he play fiddle?
Guess I been living in Manhattan too long and ain't used to them mountain spiders!
Crowman - Posted - 01/29/2011: 05:02:45
quote:
Originally posted by rudy
More mountain banjo related stuff... It's not just for breakfast anymore.
It's good for Country blues, too. Here's a little demo of She Caught The Katy:
youtube.com/watch?v=LdhFG45lJDo
Rudy very good job, nice blues sound. Some of my favorite music is blues guitar, and I started learning guitar a few years ago after finding some old Robert Johnson tapes. I just recently started on the banjo adventure, and I am learning more everyday that there is alot more banjo tunes that I like that are not bg. Not that I have any thing against bg, it's just more poplar in my neck of the woods, as I live so close to where Earl was raised. I have picked up a clawhammer dvd and book, and im going to try and learn clawhammer on my own. My current situation will not allow me to take lessons, and most folks around here only play bg anyway. I would like to see more of your videos when you get them ready. As always I appreciate your input.
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/03/2011: 06:21:10
this is how I made my tentioning system. Used a 6" remo ren drum head and wood tone rings, works great and looks good.
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/03/2011: 07:02:25
Here are some pics of how it goes together. Bob
Nice banjo Devoall.
Jim Yates - Posted - 02/03/2011: 08:02:37
I built this about thirty years ago. I found an old foundry mold and thought it would make a good banjo pot. I carved the neck of oak from an old table leaf that I found in my father-in-law's shed. I played it at the Strange Strings workshop at the Mariposa Folk Festival in the late nineties.
rudy - Posted - 02/08/2011: 05:51:37
Our Hangout friend Mark Ralston has a really nice Youtube video that covers fitting and use of violin peg tuners for banjo. Very useful for us mountain banjo builders and players:
youtube.com/watch?v=7W_N7cJUDd..._embedded
Bisbonian - Posted - 02/08/2011: 06:41:24
Nice, Bob...that's a really beautiful banjo. Really like that maple, and your tensioning system looks interesting. I'm going to have to study that.
Hey guys, how about a new left-handed mountain banjo? Finished this one a couple weeks ago...hadn't gotten around to posting pictures.
Crowman - Posted - 02/08/2011: 09:02:09
Just a note to let everyone know that there is a new "Home Brewers" group where we share ideas on building banjos, to help each other out with what works and what doesn't. Might want to check it out if you your interested in building your own banjo.
devoall - Posted - 02/08/2011: 13:30:09
quote:
Originally posted by rjr1948
Here are some pics of how it goes together. Bob
Nice banjo Devoall.
Hey thanks pappy!
It's about time you joined up here!
I think we may be one of the only father/son posters on the BHO.
Randy Adams - Posted - 02/08/2011: 15:01:38
That's a beautiful banjo right there...f'sure....
quote:
Originally posted by Bisbonian
Nice, Bob...that's a really beautiful banjo. Really like that maple, and your tensioning system looks interesting. I'm going to have to study that.
Hey guys, how about a new left-handed mountain banjo? Finished this one a couple weeks ago...hadn't gotten around to posting pictures.
Mr Walden - Posted - 02/11/2011: 09:10:17
Thought I'd share these too, from the Library of Congress collection. These shots are by Robert Gordon, ca. 1924-25, in western North Carolina. The maker is unknown, but possibly the unidentified man in the second shot. The first gives front, back, and side view, showing three ring body construction. I know one of the outlines in Foxfire showed an older generation version with an additional ring, and at least one of those in my above post looked like it may have been only two rings.
Edited by - Mr Walden on 02/11/2011 09:14:10
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/11/2011: 10:54:27
quote:
Originally posted by Bisbonian
Nice, Bob...that's a really beautiful banjo. Really like that maple, and your tensioning system looks interesting. I'm going to have to study that.
Hey guys, how about a new left-handed mountain banjo? Finished this one a couple weeks ago...hadn't gotten around to posting pictures.
I thank you sir...I do like your new one...similar to the one I just finished last week. I will post a pic soon.
Edited by - rjr1948 on 02/11/2011 11:00:07
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/11/2011: 11:03:16
quote:
Originally posted by devoall
quote:
Originally posted by rjr1948
Here are some pics of how it goes together. Bob
Nice banjo Devoall.
Hey thanks pappy!
It's about time you joined up here!
I think we may be one of the only father/son posters on the BHO.
Your welcome sonny. Just finished the cherry last week and am starting on the openback errr should I say am going to finish it up. Later Tater!!
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/11/2011: 12:36:41
Here is my latest one ..all cherry w/black walnut center ring. Tone ring is cherry and curly maple and has clear head and rosewood pegs.
Worm holes and saw marks are no extra charge...
The first pic is one I started about a month ago and now will finish up...it is a cherry block with maple tone ring and onepiece curly maple cap...maple neck and cherry over lay on peg head.
Edited by - rjr1948 on 02/11/2011 12:47:28
Bisbonian - Posted - 02/11/2011: 19:22:49
Stunning! I really like the different woods, the great soundhole design, and the clear head is a very nice touch.
troglodave - Posted - 02/12/2011: 08:46:23
Wow, you folks make some beautiful banjos!
I have a friend with a sawmill and I have some slabs of black walnut drying in his barn. I guess I will be giving this banjo building a try before too long.
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/12/2011: 09:21:07
Thanks. I appreciate your comments. You build some beautiful banjos yourself and I kinda got the Idea of the sound hole from your work. I believe in giving credit where its due.
quote:
Originally posted by Bisbonian
Stunning! I really like the different woods, the great soundhole design, and the clear head is a very nice touch.
timmreck - Posted - 02/13/2011: 08:37:13
Well i finished my banjo last summer, and while the result is by no means perfect, it still sounds and looks nice. I don't really have any pictures or recordings of it, but here is a little blib that was recorded of me and my friend Colin for a minnesota public radio story last fall:
minnesota.publicradio.org/disp...king-day/
It features the banjo i made using help from you guys. thanks for the help!
rjr1948 - Posted - 02/14/2011: 13:16:15
quote:
Originally posted by rjr1948
Thanks. I appreciate your comments. You build some beautiful banjos yourself and I kinda got the Idea of the sound hole from your work. I believe in giving credit where its due. quote:
Originally posted by Bisbonian
Stunning! I really like the different woods, the great soundhole design, and the clear head is a very nice touch.
I just finished this one today. I forgot I had it in the works! One more to go and then its Ridin season and I wont be doin much buildin.
Mike Buchman - Posted - 02/15/2011: 14:39:22
Wow, just read through this whole thread and learned a ton. I've made some cigar box guitars and a mountain banjo kit (from Backyard Music: backyardmusic.com/catalog/item...20943.htm) but never thought about a banjo from scratch. Lot of inspiration here!
What do you guys use for cases/gig bags for these little wonders? My Backyard is 33" long with scale of about 24". I'd love to find a snug little bag for it...
Mike
rudy - Posted - 02/15/2011: 18:46:37
Hi Mike,
My best small gig bag is a Gold Tone that I purchased through Elderly on sale for around $45 I believe. Unfortunately I don't remember what model it was supposed to be for. I believe it was possibly sold as an open back tenor bag. I've carried my mountain banjos around in it, but I mostly use it to pack around my 11" pot A Scale which is 33" long. You could fit something up to 34" long in it, but it would be tight. The pot area looks to be about 13" in diameter, but it's well padded so the extra room is no problem. It's a nice bag for the money, and you should call Wayne at Gold Tone directly if you are looking for specifics on their products.
Mr Walden - Posted - 03/21/2011: 11:39:58
This is my newly completed mountain banjo by Brian Carver, who's been building and selling banjos since he was a teenager. This is a redesign in which the entire body and neck are carved from a single piece of wood. You can see that the screwed-on back sits inside the rim, rather than behind it. This one's in pine, like some gourd banjos, but he also builds with hardwoods. He handmade the entire thing himself, including the pegs, the bridge, and the tailpiece.
Edited by - Mr Walden on 03/21/2011 11:44:30
crmdgn - Posted - 04/29/2011: 15:27:48
I've decided to build a mountain banjo and have been looking at both the Frank Profitt model (thank you, rudy, for posting the PDF) and the Hicks model. There's one thing I don't quite understand from the plans, though, and I'm hoping someone on this list can help me. The pot of the banjo is made of a top plate, a bottom plate, and a central hoop, inside which is the ring and the head. Is the hoop cut from a flat piece of wood, like the top and bottom plates, or is it a band of wood softened and shaped around a mold?
Thanks very much.
Bisbonian - Posted - 05/02/2011: 14:09:21
crmdgn, from what I remember about the Foxfire book (can't find mine right now), both bent and cut-from-flat-piece center hoops were represented. The bent ones fit into a slot in the bottom and top plates. I have done all of mine without bending, either making up a hoop like a one layer block rim (usually six, but sometimes eight segments), or just cutting hoop from a board.
Craig - Posted - 05/02/2011: 16:09:40
I made a fretless mountain style banjo using 1/2 inch pieces for the top and bottom and a 1" piece sandwiched in between. They were all planed to the proper thickness and cut out with a router using a circle jig. Don't forget to leave the neck joint piece on the top and bottom, and also create a fit between the middle ring and the neck tongue. The center holes in both the top and middle piece were also cut out using the circle jig. They are the same size (fits the head). I used a hole saw for the bottom piece since it is a smaller opening. I also used the router to create a lip on the inside bottom of the middle piece to hold a 6" plastic bongo drum head. Then following instructions from this thread, I made an aluminum ring that fits inside the head. Actually I had a different one I replaced with the aluminum. When the sandwich is assembled bottom to top, the head is tight and it sounds just like it should!
(The circle jig can be found in a book by Patrick Spielman called the Router Handbook.)
crmdgn - Posted - 05/02/2011: 16:13:54
Very helpful. Thanks, guys. We'll see how this goes.
bcob - Posted - 05/02/2011: 16:48:58
Be sure to let everyone here know how it turns out! Mountain banjos are beautiful.
johnv - Posted - 05/03/2011: 15:45:46
Ok-Ok I'm hooked !! Got a wood shop that needs cleaning up and after followingt his thread and looking and re-looking I guess I have to build one of those fine looking mtn banjos. not quite sure of Rudys tension system so I will have to check it out again but here it goes, wish me luck J
Sultans of Claw - Posted - 05/04/2011: 04:15:54
My apologies if this has been covered already, but how long are you guys leaving the tongues (neck mating tangs?) on the top and bottom plates?
Edited by - Sultans of Claw on 05/04/2011 04:17:34
Craig - Posted - 05/04/2011: 05:41:43
Based on the Foxfire plans, mine are 1 inch.
rudy - Posted - 05/04/2011: 14:06:20
Lee, The Proffitt plan on my website specs the top tongue as protruding 1" beyond the top diameter and the rear tongue protruding about 2-1/2" beyond the rear diameter. The rear tongue is shaped sloping downward as it becomes part of the rear neck on the plan. They could certainly be shorter and straingt cut if that's what you wanted.
Sultans of Claw - Posted - 05/04/2011: 14:55:46
Thanks, yeah I was thinking it made a great deal of sense that the back tongue should be longer for strength as well as aesthetic incorporation as part of a neck heel, and I could tell your plan specified a longer rear, but I just couldn't figure out how much.
johnv - Posted - 05/05/2011: 08:22:39
Question of wood, I have not seen pine used through this thread and was wondering if yellow pine or one of the hard pine woods would work? In my area walnut is quite dear price wise, that is if you can find it and popular has the green color which i don't care for but pine is plentyful and some has good figure which can be stained or burned to color.
crmdgn - Posted - 05/05/2011: 14:49:26
For a mountain banjo, does it make more sense to cut out a nut and bridge (say, from the leftover scrap), or to buy commercial ones? This banjo seems to call for a very low bridge, which is why I ask.
rudy - Posted - 05/05/2011: 18:28:02
quote:
Originally posted by johnv
Question of wood, I have not seen pine used through this thread and was wondering if yellow pine or one of the hard pine woods would work? In my area walnut is quite dear price wise, that is if you can find it and popular has the green color which i don't care for but pine is plentyful and some has good figure which can be stained or burned to color.
You could use any wood you desire, but the lion's share of the "cost" of making any banjo is the labor. You're only talking a small amount of money for really lovely wood that will produce a beautiful instrument that you can be proud of for a long time and perhaps even pass on to your heirs. Even if you have to mail-order from an on-line source my thought is it's penny-wise and dollar foolish to save money on a few board feet of wood vs. the amount of time you'll put into making an instrument. Poplar is also generally considered too soft for musical instruments.
rudy - Posted - 05/05/2011: 18:32:46
quote:
Originally posted by crmdgn
For a mountain banjo, does it make more sense to cut out a nut and bridge (say, from the leftover scrap), or to buy commercial ones? This banjo seems to call for a very low bridge, which is why I ask.
Leftover scrap would be fine, IMHO. The best candidate for a bridge would be a small piece of maple (some prefer a softwood for Nylgut-strung jos) cut in a two footed design. The Joel Hooks website has an excellent treatise on Nylgut or gut-strung fretless jo bridges. I like to use a small scap of ebony for a nut, but I've got a large box of scrap, so use whatever appeals to you.
fuzzyacg - Posted - 05/06/2011: 03:55:29
quote:
Originally posted by johnv
Question of wood, I have not seen pine used through this thread and was wondering if yellow pine or one of the hard pine woods would work? In my area walnut is quite dear price wise, that is if you can find it and popular has the green color which i don't care for but pine is plentyful and some has good figure which can be stained or burned to color.
Go to a used furniture store/yard sale/thrift shop and find an old table for cheap. I'm making my mountain out of solid maple drop leaves from a kitchen table. Didnt even have to sacrifice the whole table since I'm using just the leaves.
johnv - Posted - 05/06/2011: 07:33:32
Thanks for the suggestions on wood,I have some access on red oak and maple but never thought about it at the time as I saw so much walnut on this thread jv
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