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mike gregory - Posted - 05/06/2011: 14:12:25
Got this old nameless spunover openback at a very good price.
Happened to have a set of 4 Grover Permatension pegs, been in the box for about 20 or more years, and a metal buttoned 5th friction tuner, not Grover, but "Close Enuff For Banjo".
Got a nice skin from Bob Smakula, and here we go:
Front, back....
Original worn dyed maple fingerboard....and re-dyed with leather dye from my shoeshine kit.
laBella #17 nylon strings, EXCEPT the 4th is a hunk of tennis racquet repair string I had picked up (a few yards for 50 cents) at a yard sale.
Pegs are a metal-buttoned 5th and a set of GROVER Permatension pegs that have been sitting in the basement for at least 20 years.
Sounds decent.
I'll wait a few days for the strings and head to settle, before I post a sound file.
Edited by - mike gregory on 05/06/2011 14:28:30
Jonnycake White - Posted - 05/06/2011: 14:30:59
Interesting wear patterns on the fretboard in that one picture where it's leaning on the file cabinet. Is that the "before" picture? If so, what did you do to get the spots to disappear?
mike gregory - Posted - 05/06/2011: 14:34:19
Yes, that's the original worn pattern.
"Leather dye, from my shoeshine kit".
And just before I restrung it, WEEKS after the dye had dried, I chucked a #2 pencil into my cordless drill, and ERASED the dye off the position dots.
Wonder what tuning makes for wear at those chording points.
Edited by - mike gregory on 05/06/2011 14:37:47
Jonnycake White - Posted - 05/06/2011: 14:46:50
Maybe Open G, if he or she played "Old Joe Clark" a lot.
Slingerland - Posted - 05/06/2011: 15:01:27
"And just before I restrung it, WEEKS after the dye had dried, I chucked a #2 pencil into my cordless drill, and ERASED the dye off the position dots."
Brilliant!!!
mike gregory - Posted - 05/06/2011: 15:05:17
Now, THERE's a fascinating question for those who love math:
How old is Old Joe Clark?
Multiply that value by the speed of Ground Speed, subtract the depth of a Submerged Rim (in fathoms), and the square root of your answer SHOULD equal the number of banjos an individual may own, without the risk of being diagnosed with Banjo Acquisition Syndrome.
Society Hill - Posted - 05/06/2011: 20:30:13
Wow, must have been a great fellow who decided to sell you this banjo, especially since it came over with Chris Columbus many, many years ago. It looks great! I'm just glad that you have turned it back into a banjo instead of a paperweight for the top of my file cabinet...
Thanks for alerting me to the discussion. Can't wait to hear how it sounds. War Eagle from Auburn AL.
mike gregory - Posted - 05/07/2011: 07:03:52
I have recently been informed that it looks like a left -handed Buckbee.
It's right-handed, and I inadvertently flipped the image at some point.
The bridge is just something I cut from a scrap of leftover maple, nothing very fancy. I imagine that way affect the ultimate sound quality, but, we shall see what we shall hear.
mike gregory - Posted - 05/08/2011: 16:01:50
The tailpiece, which says BELL and looks like Bell was trying to copy No Knot, CUT through the bottom end of the first string.
Got to see if I can find my automotive abrasive goo, put some on a piece of heavy thread, pull it back & forth like dental floss, and smooth off whatever the sharp spot is.
dlc - Posted - 05/12/2011: 14:56:20
That looks like a Buckbee to me. From the 1880s/1890s.
I could be wrong, but that headstock sure looks like Buckbee.
OH YEAH, the tailpiece that came with my Buckbee was a thin piece of copper someone cut from something else, and it had a copper finishing nail for trying the strings to. I guess a lot of that went on back then.
Edited by - dlc on 05/12/2011 14:58:37
mike gregory - Posted - 05/12/2011: 15:15:22
PARTIAL QUOTE
"I guess a lot of that went on back then."
In his book about traveling the back roads of America (BLUE HIGHWAYS), William Least Heat Moon recounts a conversation with an old man who lived in a poor rural area.
The old guy points out that the parts of this old tobacco shed are made of items previously used as something else.
A Ford auto hood, reshaped into a part for a stove; a door hinge made from.. etc.
Well, basically, they were simply too poor to throw away anything useable.
He says, "We didn't have junk. Junk is a modern invention."
