Banjo #2: Open back tackhead #1

[zenmonkeyman]

I was so impressed with my cookie tin banjo I decided to make a more serious one. So may I present my open back tackhead with internal tightening system.

Construction notes. The neck is a branch off some kind of maple that was in the way of a home building project. The fingerboard is red oak salvaged from an old pallet. The pot is also salvaged from pallets, some is oak and some is an unidentified heavy hardwood. I'm thinking possibly beech. The head is very thin deerskin from a young doe my cousin shot a few years ago. The internal tightening ring is 1" electrical conduit hammered flat and shaped on an anvil. The beauty of this is you get a nice smooth edge against the head, and a nice smooth edge for the tightening wedges. The frets are #10 copper wire scraps hammered flat and slotted in. The "inlays" are actually brass screws with tiny bits of copper wire upset into the driver recesses. Very simple and beautiful, they go very well with the copper frets. The tailpiece is a slice off the inside of one side of a deer hoof. The nut is antler. The only parts I paid money for were the upholstery tacks, brass screws, and nylon strings. Tuning pegs are serviceberry forks.

http://youtu.be/sncOY1cCR9s

Thanks for looking!

[Will H]

Now that is freakin cool! You done a real fine job on that ol banjo there feller!

[HighEagle]

zenmonkeyman,
  That is a nice little plunker, Love the tension wedges may have to try that myself. Cool seeing banjos on a bow site I just posted two of my banjos last week on this bow forum,  foxfire mountain style.. It sounds good  you play it well.

Chuck

[barecgesh]

awesome you got a fantastic sound out of it too

[zenmonkeyman]

 

[killir duck]

that is too cool, you guys gotta quit posting these or might just have to make one and i realy don't have time right now to even think about it.

[Kullas]

Looks very good. Wish i knew how to play one

[zenmonkeyman]

Looks very good. Wish i knew how to play one

Ha, me too! The School of Farting Around is worth the price of enrollment, if you catch my "drift". I started the process on ukuleles, and finally decided 4 strings were too many for me to comprehend at once. I'm considering building a 5-string banjo next, but I'm not sure the frustration that follows will be worth it, lol

[Wiley]

I've got friends that would love such an instrument. We get together, cook a lot of food, music is performed by a variety of bluegrass musicians that show up, often to the point of having a full band going. Maybe i'll make one some day, but I would be totally ignorant on tuning it, getting the frets right. I feel like building such a thing would be straight forward enough, but I know nothing of string instruments other than they sound nice.

[PAHunter]

Holy crap, that is sweet!  I want to make one of those!    Beautiful man, hope to hear it at the TN classic.

[bubbles]

She needs some gut strings!   That's great man. There is just something about strings under tension!

[zenmonkeyman]

Thanks to all who looked and commented!

Wiley, the frets are quite easy to locate. I found an excel spreadsheet that tells where to put them; all you have to input is the distance between the nut and the bridge. A few websites to get you started: banjohangout.org, cigarboxnation.com, bluestemstrings.com. This project was quite a bit easier than I imagined it might be.

[zenmonkeyman]

Thought I'd update with this song I wrote and performed with the banjo. It sounds better (less buzzing) since I filed down the frets somewhat.

http://youtu.be/Eu96BAN9HLE

[Mohawk13]

Zen,
           Great Job and nice sound..Very unique...Like the video also...Too funny

[PAHunter]

that video was great for so many reasons!     I hope you are coming to the TN classic to play by the fire at night.  I definitely need to make one of those!