mike gregory - Posted - 01/23/2015:  10:52:50

Picked up a salad bowl for about $2, and a used drum head for $2.

The object is to borrow freely from ideas posted by other crafters on the BHO, and make a decent-sounding banjo for hardly any money at all.

Edited by - mike gregory on 01/31/2015 18:51:27

56 tacks inside the salad bowl	Inner tension salad bowl banjo pot, epoxy drying	Towel ring as internal tensioner 1	Towel ring as internal tensioner 2
Salad Bowl internal tension banjo TENSIONERS- under construction	Salad Bowl internal tension banjo TENSIONERS-Installed

beegee - Posted - 01/23/2015:  10:58:44

Banjo-monkey Award!

maneckep - Posted - 01/23/2015:  11:15:08

Mike,

Nice work and ideas!! I must have the same disease you have - I can't go to a thrift store without finding future banjo parts!!

The best part is when you are done the banjo is always "one of a kind"!!!

Paul

BoJack - Posted - 01/23/2015:  11:16:56

Great ideas...I'd love to hear it played

Crusty - Posted - 01/23/2015:  12:03:33

Looks like it could have a "Ranchy" sort of "Bleu" tone that makes some want to "French" kiss the dog and others sail away to the "Thousand Islands". 

(cut me some slack - coming up with salad similes wasn't easy)

We're all anxiously waiting on a sound file Mike.

Edited by - Crusty on 01/23/2015 12:04:47

maneckep - Posted - 01/23/2015:  13:32:17

Not sure what Mike's will sound like but here are a coupe of videos of a fretless banjo I made out of a $1.00 teak salad bowl from a thrift store.  The tailpiece was made from an old ski boot buckle.  Sold this one about a year ago.  Please post some video's when you are done Mike - I would love to hear it too.

youtube.com/watch?v=zCdrt_xVMM4

 

youtube.com/watch?v=dGuLAZt_P2o

mike gregory - Posted - 01/23/2015:  13:52:10

quote:

---

Originally posted by beegee

Banjo-monkey Award!

---

I humbly accept.

Might not have a video ready until next week sometime.

But, like the rupture said to the doctor:

"Truss me on this!"

mike gregory - Posted - 01/23/2015:  13:53:25

quote:

---

Originally posted by Crusty

Looks like it could have a "Ranchy" sort of "Bleu" tone that makes some want to "French" kiss the dog and others sail away to the "Thousand Islands". 

(cut me some slack - coming up with salad similes wasn't easy)

We're all anxiously waiting on a sound file Mike.

---

Lettuce see what develops!

mike gregory - Posted - 01/23/2015:  14:16:51

Today's project was to do another step toward making the neck.

Salad Bowl Banjo NECK

Ken LeVan - Posted - 01/23/2015:  14:43:59

Mike, I always love what you are doing. You are a very creative guy and are always thinking outside of the box (albeit a cigar box sometimes).

Have you read Victor Papanek "Design for the Real World"?   amazon.com/Design-Real-World-E...897331532

After 25 years, it's still a best seller and a 5-star on Amazon.  I think of you as the Victor Papanek of banjo design, and if I had a school of banjo design you would be on the faculty.

When I start writing posts in the evening and sometimes get upset, I always like to remind myself of a handful of people who never get their feathers ruffled or lose their sense of humor. You are one of those.

leadbelly - Posted - 01/23/2015:  14:53:59

Back in high school, around '62, I "built" a banjo/guitar out of a disused pressure cooker for the pot, and the neck and tailpiece from an old busted Stella.  I got the idea from an article in Singout magazine.  I sawed off the bottom of the pot, leaving about a 3" deep rim with the pot flange on the back, and a tension hoop carved out of the flange of the lid.  I carved a bridge out of scrap wood.  The only thing I got from a music store was a dirty used mounted skin drum head that more or less fit my "pot".  I don't recall what took the place of brackets, hooks, and nuts.  Probably long skinny nuts and bolts through holes drilled in the flanges.  I just used wood screws (lots of 'em) to attach the heel to the rim.  It had an interesting sound, as long as it stayed together - which was about a minute and a half.  I was fourteen at the time, and it would be another two years before I even saw a real banjo in the flesh.

mike gregory - Posted - 01/23/2015:  14:58:31

I read it, 25 years ago.

Another great read is

"Craftsmen of Necessity"

Among other things, he mentions that in Tunisia, where there are DANG few trees, people build houses by digging into the earth, constructing by subtracting.

And that's one of the places they filmed as Luke Skywalker's boyhood home with his aunt & uncle, since they didn't want it to look like anything too familiar to the rest of us Earthlings.

Seems it's a sort of hotel now.

tiband - Posted - 01/23/2015:  15:06:15

How about a fork for a tailpiece.... Would go with the salad bowl !!

Blackjaxe47 - Posted - 01/23/2015:  15:12:09

Problem is most forks only have 4 tines....if you could find one with five it would be perfect. Bend the end of the tines over to hold the strings, even would have fancy embossing on the handle.
Always get a kick out of Mikes's inventive and creative approach to making Banjo's.

mike gregory - Posted - 01/23/2015:  16:29:58

I just put the 4th & 5th string on the same tine.

it's a simple enough matter to cut the loop and remove a broken string.

Bent fork tailpiece

mike gregory - Posted - 01/24/2015:  07:06:37

And here's the beginnings of the neck, with a cheap guitar peg for the 5th string tuner.
I had to shorten the post, so as not to drill into the truss rod.

Salad bowl banjo NECK, geared 5th, view 2

Salad bowl banjo NECK, geared 5th view 1

mike gregory - Posted - 01/24/2015:  11:34:50

Three more pictures of the work in progress.

Internal Tension salad bowl- preliminary view.

Internal Tension salad bowl-Neck 1/3 done

Internal Tension salad bowl- Heel & Dowel

Helix - Posted - 01/24/2015:  13:40:36

Objective met, goal OBTAINED, nice noggin.

We should definitely have a post earthquake competition. Mike would win.

maneckep - Posted - 01/26/2015:  17:35:12

Lookin better every day. Can't wait to hear it.

Dan Drabek - Posted - 01/26/2015:  17:49:28

quote:

---

Originally posted by Helix

We should definitely have a post earthquake competition. Mike would win.

---

I second that motion. Banjos also keep the zombies at bay. :->

DD

Beetle_bombshell - Posted - 01/27/2015:  08:21:53

Teak salad bowl looked very familiar.  Not the sophistication of internal tension but a screwed down tackhead with integral tailpiece.  PEP head.  Work on hold due to low temperatures in the (work)shop.  All inspired by the internationally renowned Mike Gregory.

mike gregory - Posted - 01/27/2015:  11:09:39

quote:

---

Originally posted by Beetle_bombshell

Teak salad bowl looked very familiar.  Not the sophistication of internal tension but a screwed down tackhead with integral tailpiece.  PEP head.  Work on hold due to low temperatures in the (work)shop.  All inspired by the internationally renowned Mike Gregory.

---

Of all the international things a military person might do for me, I think being owned by a WREN might be the most pleasant.

mike gregory - Posted - 01/31/2015:  14:35:25

Oh, SO CLOSE to done!

And Feb 1 is predicted  9 inches of snow, so, nowhere I want to DIE to get there.

May as well stay in and finish this project.

Internal tension salad bowl Banjo- Fork tailpiece	Internal tension salad bowl Banjo-Peghead	Internal tension salad bowl Banjo- preliminary overall	Internal tension salad bowl Banjo- Fork tensioner
Internal tension salad bowl Banjo- Centerline check	Internal tension salad bowl Banjo-external shot of fork

mike gregory - Posted - 01/31/2015:  18:53:01

Bridge is just temporary, frets SLIGHTLY out of alignment in a couple spots, head not quite as tight as I intend for it to eventually be, but, so far so good.

banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=

mike gregory - Posted - 01/31/2015:  20:37:44

Different, higher bridge, slightly tighter head.

Any better than before?

banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=

mike gregory - Posted - 01/31/2015:  20:49:42

Fork had to go, bridge needed a little more height.

Salad Bowl banjo- higher bridge, tighter head, no fork.

Paulf - Posted - 01/31/2015:  21:05:16

Well done Mike, sounds impressive. 

Paul

xnavyguy - Posted - 02/01/2015:  02:26:31

Mike, although your banjo sounds definitely pre-war (Crimean), to my ears, it's a little "crispier"' sweeter, and more focused in the 2nd recording.  BTW, I like Thousand Island on mine.  

Nice work!

mike gregory - Posted - 02/01/2015:  07:03:21

Thanks for the compliments Paul & X.

I should perhaps come up with a sort of Calypsonian melody, and call it "Thousand Island".

Paul Meredith - Posted - 02/01/2015:  07:41:37

Well done, sounds good!

fzartvaark - Posted - 02/01/2015:  09:03:03

Great project Mike. Very creative. And a real good sounder!  Thanks for sharing.

Alec Cramsie - Posted - 02/07/2015:  23:06:34

My kinda banjo....love it!

steveh_2o - Posted - 02/08/2015:  21:14:19

Mike,

Looks and sounds great.

I saw your original post a couple of weeks ago. I had some parts laying around and your pictures got me to thinking....

I hope you don't mind, but I have stolen a page from your playbook.

Here is a quick shot,  the back of my internal tension, hub cap banjo. 

It is a First Act drumhead from goodwill, a piece off the drum body for a tone ring, and a Chevy hubcap with the center cut out.  I still have some tweaking to do, but as of this evening it is strung up.

I have been plunking around on it.

Steve