In November, 2013 I decided to try my hand at building a banjo. I didn’t have any prior instrument building experience, but I have worked with wood for many years. On November 2, 2013, my friend Ben Keyes gave a solo album release concert. I know it was Ben’s playing that got me to thinking about banjos. Take a look at the entries below to follow along with my several-month long project.
Some hardware
I ordered some of the parts I need from Stewart-MacDonald and they arrived yesterday. The first photo is of the tone ring I chose. The tone ring lies on the front edge of the rim under the head. It is used to improve the sound over using the wooden rim alone....
read moreMusic while I think about the next steps
Here are some videos highlighting clawhammer style banjo playing. Steve Martin plays in two of these. I guess it helps to have a sense of humor if you are going to play the banjo. Mark Johnson in the second one is awesome. Michael Neverisky in the third has a few...
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Got my ears on
Using some maple trimmed off the original lumber when squaring it up, I cut two pieces for ears. These will widen the peghead enough for the pattern I chose. The ears are approximately the same thickness as the peghead. The front surface...
read moreTruss rod part 2
Here I have laid out the maple filler pieces and the truss rod beside the neck to illustrate how they are installed inside the neck. The shaped pieces will keep the rod in a curved shape relative to the neck. I took this picture before I made one more filler piece...
read moreTruss rod part one
A 3/16in steel rod will be installed in the neck to provide for some ability to counteract the tension from the strings. Below I am cutting a 1/4in wide slot on the table saw. Below is the finished slot for the truss rod seen from the peghead end of the neck. ...
read moreRough cutting the neck
After copying the pattern onto the wood, I started to cut the side profile out using the bandsaw. Here I have the back of the peghead cut and the bottom of the heel The glue joint looks good! Here is the neck with the side profile all cut out. You can see that...
read moreNeck glued
I let the neck sandwich dry overnight. I forgot to mention in the previous post that I used Titebond wood glue for this. I thought some special instrument builder's adhesive or 2 part epoxy would be recommended, but after some research it seemed that standard wood...
read moreGluing the neck
The neck of the banjo is made of maple with an 1/8in thick piece of ebony running down the center. This ebony creates an accent stripe that is visible at the back of the neck. So basically it's a really expensive black line most people will ever see. But it's...
read moreSome prepared parts
Here are some photos of some of the components after preparing them as shown in the previous post. Here are the two maple blanks and a piece of ebony that will be sandwiched and glued together for the neck. The ebony is about 1/8in thick. The 3 pieces glued together...
read moreWork Begins!
I brought my lumber to my father's workshop in Maine so I could use his thickness planer, his jointer, his large belt sander, and his help. I had cut the maple down into two pieces for the neck and one longer piece that strips would need to be cut from for forming the...
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