IBMA

This really looks like a lot of fun:



World of Bluegrass from IBMA on Vimeo.
World of Bluegrass is an annual event like no other: seven days of education, networking, showcasing, jamming and commerce featuring the biggest names in the business. Our film takes you on a fast-paced ride through the week. If you haven't come to World of Bluegrass, check it out and make plans to visit Nashville in the fall of 2009.

Banjo update

I am making progress again on the banjos. I think I have a way to make the banjo head without all that hardware, which while it may look interesting is harder to get right and adds more complication (which I could really do without) It was suggested to my by one of my friends from church, and the way it works is simply to fasten/glue a plastic skin to the metal ring, and then bake it to shrink the plastic to tighten it. It of course requires that the plastic you are using shrink when it is heated, and that it is heated more or less evenly. I have tried it, and it works very well so far, now all I need to do is to see if it can hold the tension of the bridge when it is tuned.
Here is a sound sample of me tapping the head to see how tight it is.

I have my doubts whether it will hold up under strain, the reason being that the two head pieces are metal and plastic, and are glued with wood glue. I wasn't trying to make a permanant version, just to test, but it is holding much better than I thought it would.

Photos will come later.

Banjo photos

Well, I said a post or two ago that I would post photos at some point, so here they are! 

Below is a photo of the red oak from Home Depot

Detail of the red oak. The knot looks rather interesting.

Bolivian Rosewood from Bell forest Products.com

Below are two photos for texture / colour comparison
I couldn't decide which photo I liked better, so I uploaded both.
Bottom: Bolivian Rosewood with clear shellac
Left: Red oak with clear shellac
Right: Red oak with oil based finish
The tops of the red oak pieces are unfinished.

The camera tended to give these a slightly warmer than natural look, but they give a good idea of what they look like.
I really enjoy working with nice wood, which this is. I hope I can do a good job with it!

Banjo

I now have the wood for the neck of the banjo. I'm using red oak from home depot. The fretboard wood is some nice bolivian rosewood from http://www.bellforestproducts.com/. I'm planning to finish it with clear shellac. I say clear because they have amber shellac too. I may post photos at some point also.

I'm still working on the tone head. For me this is the hardest part, but a friend of mine had a really good idea which was to simply secure the plastic onto one ring, and then heat it, and see if it will shrink enough not to need any more tensioning, so that's what's in progress right now. The main problem seems to be how to glue or attach the plastic sheet to the metal ring.

Banjo neck

I had another idea; we have a lot of oak, some white and some red. If I could age/dry some of that, I could save about $30 for wood. I'm not sure if I will actually be able to do that, as that usually involves a kiln, and the closest thing that we have is an oven that we aren't using, but I'm not sure that one, I would be allowed to use it for that, and two, that a 3 foot piece of wood would fit in it.

Banjos

Well, as I mentioned earlier I am building banjos. I am making one at a time, and if it works that's all I need it to do. I will then improve upon that in my second, which should be much nicer. I am somewhat undecided what wood to use for the neck. I am using red oak for the body, and I want it not to clash with that. So far I am considering using: Bubinga, Osage Orange (Argentine), or Padauk. Just for fun, here are their
corresponding Latin names:
Guibourtia demeusei (Bubinga)
Maclura tinctoria (Osage Orange Argentine)
Pterocarpus soyauxii (Padauk)

I am considering getting one of each, but they are about $20 each currently, plus shipping. That actually seems to be a reasonable price, but it's still a lot, unless I sell some things soon. I am planning on using East Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) for the fretboard. I might also do some fretboard inlay work, probably the diamonds.

More some other time,

73, DE KJ4BXT K

Update

This didn't work too well. I sort of forgot about this website, and haven't done anything with it for a long time. Right now my main project in woodworking is building two banjos. (That may have been the secret project mentioned earlier, but I've forgotten!) We are doing the bible bee right now, and that takes up a lot of time. I never knew was so bad at memorizing. It seems like my brothers and sisters can just read a card once or twice and have memorized it. Right now the lab is also very cluttered; I just got about 50 years worth of the Proceedings of the IRE (now IEEE), plus about the same number of years of Radio magazine, and am trying to find places for all of them. I just got back from a swim meet. I swam 50m backstroke and butterfly. I only have to drop .08 seconds in my fly to break 30, which is one of my swimming goals for this summer. (I placed second, the the winning time was 30.00s) I have been doing winter swim, and am currently swimming with coaches Bill and Bob at Camelot, (SCM) and Audry Moore, (LCM). 

 I am also busy with some of the new equipment we got down in Florida. The lab has been expanded to the entire sunroom, with a woodworking space.

More later