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mike gregory - Posted - 05/19/2011: 12:27:17
Here's the peghead, with custom-made tuner buttons.
Body is a salad bowl, tension hoop is a bamboo embroidery ring, shoes are screw eyes, and the J hooks are motorcycle spokes.
Enhanced in red, to show how 5th string runs alongside of the neck, through a notch in the side of the nut, around a little brass barrel from the end of a guitar string.
OOPS! I drew it as if it goes around the barrel MORE than once!
The barrel is just an idler pulley. The string wraps around the PEG more than once.
Doesn't wrap AROUND the barrel, just rides against one SIDE of it.
Edited by - mike gregory on 05/19/2011 12:37:07
vernob - Posted - 05/19/2011: 12:46:22
As usual, Mike, you have outdone yourself. This is awesome. Nice work and even better imagination. Is this yours? Or is somebody going to get a cool banjo?
bordertownbrown - Posted - 05/19/2011: 13:33:27
Mike, Great innovative banjo design; I love the tuners and your choice of hardware. I knew those embroidery hoops must be good for something.
mike gregory - Posted - 05/19/2011: 14:00:26
I'm putting it up for sale.
Art & CraPft Fair Fri nite & Sat
paulac7 - Posted - 05/19/2011: 15:23:11
That's really cool looking, Mike!
The dice are a nice touch.
mike gregory - Posted - 05/19/2011: 15:39:45
Some other Hangout member had commented, months ago, about using dice as buttons.
So, with implied permission, I did it.
Slingerland - Posted - 05/19/2011: 15:51:15
A dicey proposition, but executed wonderfully.
michael6 - Posted - 05/19/2011: 18:19:56
Great work Mike !
sport - Posted - 05/20/2011: 00:27:44
Very interesting design Mike!
what is the diameter of the salad bowl rim and tension hoop? I was thinking embroidery rings would make be good for either tension hoops or the ring itself but seem to only come in 10 or 11 inch diameters ...
Thanks for the post and the new idea for tension hoops- this is much more economical!
F Kevin
mike gregory - Posted - 05/20/2011: 07:07:46
TEN inch bowl.
I took the bowl with me, to the music store, and asked if they had a used drum head that size.
It was a bit too snug, so I sanded down the rim a bit.
Here's an MP3, of "I Am A Roving Gambler". Seemed appropriate. Hadn't sung it in years. Hope I did it right.
Spockears - Posted - 05/20/2011: 10:28:35
I love those tuners! They remind me of the volume control on the Gretsch Brian Setzer guitars.
Fantastic!
vernob - Posted - 05/21/2011: 03:09:28
Tell us how you made the J hooks. Do you use the threads on the spokes or do you cut new threads? I don't see a nut to tighten against the screw eyes. How does that work?
Edited by - vernob on 05/21/2011 03:11:08
RB100 - Posted - 05/21/2011: 03:43:11
Mike,
Every time I think you can't outdo yourself, you do...
Congrats on another wonderful creation!
Bill
mike gregory - Posted - 05/21/2011: 04:36:49
quote:
Originally posted by vernob
Tell us how you made the J hooks. Do you use the threads on the spokes or do you cut new threads? I don't see a nut to tighten against the screw eyes. How does that work?
I used the existing threads on the spokes.
Using a dressmaker's tape measure, I measured the distance from the heel side o the tailpiece, divided it evenly, and marked masking tape accordingly.
Stuck the masking tape on the banjo, drilled little pilot holes for the screw eyes and put them in.
They're screws, not bolts, so they have no nuts. If I had cut a hole in the bottom of the bowl, access to the inside to adjust bolts would be easy. But, for my knee-fairy-us purposes, screws are suitable.
Then I measured for the size of the J hooks, marked them, clamped a piece of pipe in the vise, put the thread end inside, up to the mark, and bent each spoke.
I have a rotary tool which, with a cutoff wheel attached, zips through the spokes in a very short time (though a hacksaw or bolt cutter would also work).
IF in the future, the screw eyes pull loose, I would have to take off the head, drill all the way through the body, and replace them with eye BOLTS, with nuts.
vintagewells - Posted - 05/21/2011: 10:15:53
Petty neat. I made a small 6 " rim banjo using bicycle spokes.
It had a hide head, so finding one to fit wasn't a problem.
I gather that it is fretless. The small banjos seem to do better fretless.
Lorna
mike gregory - Posted - 05/21/2011: 17:59:07
This one has frets.
Had it at the Art & Craft show.
Many were impressed, nobody said $200 was too high and counter-offered another price.
Paul R - Posted - 05/21/2011: 19:47:50
How convenient that they make salad bowls that fit embroidery hoops (or is it the other way 'round?).
Remarkable work, Mike. Ingenious!
Grumpy1 - Posted - 05/21/2011: 21:50:06
Looking good ! I take it you used nylguts on it? Or fishing line? 
mike gregory - Posted - 05/22/2011: 07:11:14
To Paul R: The embroidery hoop has an adjustment on the outer band, to accept different thicknesses of fabric.
To Grumpy 1: Light gauge loop end banjo strings.
To Goldtopia: Ya got me! 
vernob - Posted - 05/23/2011: 10:41:53
Ain't that the way of the world? $200 for a hand made banjo and people want to bid it lower. Sumthin the matter here. People pay $4 a gallon to go 8/12/15/20/30 miles. Mikes'a banjo is worth at least 100 miles, don't ya think? I think it's worth several hundred miles. The world has gone nutz.
Edited by - vernob on 05/23/2011 10:42:58
bigbluegrasser - Posted - 05/26/2011: 13:52:30
After filling up a gas tank at $4.00 a gallon who can afford a $200 home made banjo. Mike, you shouda put a sign on it "MAKE ME AN OFFER".
Ray
mike gregory - Posted - 05/26/2011: 15:01:28
"Make me an offer which I would not wish to refuse,
and which does not appear to be an insult to my Family."
-Don Reno Corleone-
Vapor - Posted - 06/01/2011: 10:30:03
Mike, nice work. I feel privileged to have seen it in the works and now the completed banjo. Nice MP3, and the voice was impressive as well, no excuses needed.
You are one creative genius.
Charlie
blindsniper - Posted - 06/10/2011: 22:40:45
Nice banjo Mr Gregory. You know what they say about gambling - it is a tax on people who do not understand the theory of probability.....
