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It is beautiful. Most hookless banjo designs will have a 19th century precedent even if the contemporary maker wasn’t aware of that.
It would be nice to see some of that Victorian ingenuity and variation make a comeback. We live in a standardised and homogenous era by comparison. But ingenuity in general is proportional to interest and popular use.

A Google search reveals a U.S. patent number 6,040,513 for inventor Ivor David Arbiter, but when you search for that number on the U.S. Patent Office website, you get "No results found".

Thank you
It’s a great concept, it appears maybe no “cease and desist” available

The trouble is replicating the alloy stampings. 12” rims might be the new standard

I found a real chasm between banjo rim builders and drum builders

Some rim makers were and are still using laminated drum , but that material is still plastic and won’t ever vintage, veneer or not
We moved on from log drums to military shells to seed (. ) to orchestral banjos to imported plywood to solid laminated to 3” one piece routed from logs again with architectural column build ups in between
The market is what drives the makers instead of the music

I’m really happy to be part of the early 21 st Century explosion of information that lets the little guy underdog do the best innovations.
So clamp-ons are yet to be applied.

Any design patent from the 1970s expired by the 1990s, making the invention free for anyone to use without permission from or payment to the inventor.

Two such modern, open-back 5-Strings have recently been offered in the classifieds.

https://www.banjohangout.org/classified/114922
 

https://www.banjohangout.org/classified/115044

Thank you, one can still get complete sets of Arbiters on line.

I was surprised initially when a drummer asked me to make a 16” Cherry helix type snare drum, I complied, but the drum makers were like rock and roll fascists: “ we don’t dimension nuthin’.” Like I was gonna steal the owls’ food.

Ok thanks for the info, it helps a lot.

Yes, Eddie, but those are indeed the superb top tensions that are in another thread and hookless with a standard mastertone ring.

I’m talking about a clamp-on with the 1/4 turn tightener predating Nechville, with drum style tone ring and real wooden shells like old Ludwig’s and such.
These just install without any holes or threads, everything is in one assembly and integrated so the weight is much lighter, as in the photo above.
You really helped me clarify.

I have been monkeying around with variations on this theme. All have been with Corian tone rings but could be with brass, etc.
Drum hoops work very well and can handle the head tension we desire. 6 fasteners works well if the hoop is strong enough.
My banjo experimentation has been on hold for six months now because I bought an 1860's house on the coast of Maine.
It needs love.
I prefer banjos but cannot walk away from an old house that is challenging me. Hope to be back in swing by autumn. Have a Big barn that is slowly getting set up solely for banjo stuff.

I see now Larry.
Simple and light!
Should work well for banjos.

quote:

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Originally posted by lazlototh

I have been monkeying around with variations on this theme. All have been with Corian tone rings but could be with brass, etc.
Drum hoops work very well and can handle the head tension we desire. 6 fasteners works well if the hoop is strong enough.
My banjo experimentation has been on hold for six months now because I bought an 1860's house on the coast of Maine.
It needs love.
I prefer banjos but cannot walk away from an old house that is challenging me. Hope to be back in swing by autumn. Have a Big barn that is slowly getting set up solely for banjo stuff.

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I’ve been doing something similar but with bamboo instead of Corian. I have a big stash of Hannex (exactly the same just different brand) but I'm saving it to make harps. You should try out the brand 'S-Hoop' they are great for banjo. A much stronger prophile and a slightly lower top that doubles up as an armrest. 

Nice. Corian is plastic, not desired.
Drum shells got no soul, and hookless is the title.
I applaud others’ efforts, but not to drift with the tide.
Repurposed materials still have footprints
Clamp-on hardware uses way less trouble for the builder.

Corian is stone and epoxy but dense and rigid. More rock like than plastic but it is thermoformable. I would rather not get hit in the head with it. And it does create decent sound with minimal material and weight. And I can make tone rings without a machine shop that sound very good.
To each his own.

I don't drum shells but found drum hoops interesting and a lot stronger than tension hoops at a fraction of the cost.

I do not use hooks.. Most of my banjos use bolts.
I have some in the works that have no fasteners showing. I do like the look of brass bolts and brass shoes though.

I started out with a solid Corian Gibson style rim and hardware. Then just kept changing things. Currently, very little Corian and a solid wood rim that is vertical grain. That presents its own issues but these are all things I have to try.

And when I am not dealing with floors and plumbing, banjos are a lot more fun.

Martyjoe--I like what you are doing.
Larry--I like what you have been doing for years. Your work has been an inspiration.

Thanks, I’ve been out of touch for a while, so I’m sorry if I offended you.
You rims are radical.

Hey Larry,
No offense taken. We all do our thing and enjoy doing it.
Glad you are back!
Tom

Ok. I got my lecture, I got someone else’s 9 photos. Shared drift is appropriate elsewhere in another thread about wooden top tension concept with off the shelf hardware.

Now the thread is about a certain type of drum hardware that clamps easily to the substantial wooden drum rim called ARBITER. Friendly research was done by others and I appreciate all those who contributed.

There are very many new astute members as seekers and contributors.

That is why I posted originally and why I’m still cruising in open sea letting the storm pass over.

Now that the air is clear
Please note there is a 12” Arbiter TOM available through Reverb Nation, and adaptability is resident here.

The top half of the hardware is the only needed usage as the tone ring AND head tightener are built in!
The head tightens with an Allen wrench @ 1/4 turn and the specs are enough to match a banjo’s needs.

Any tribute to long established casting usage, metallurgy or synthetic material adaptation is unnecessary here at this time. Harbor is full of flotsam and jetsam. Semicolon; lighter weight and long established ease of great music production is always a worthwhile quest. Simplicity is a virtue. Brevity could always improve.

Arbiterhttps://rvb-img.reverb.com/i/s--R7V2bTjV--/quality=medium-low,height=800,width=800,fit=contain/a70da3c4-c568-4661-bcef-33519c70af2e.jpg