Banjo Progress

6/27 .. I turned the outside of my banjo pot this afternoon. It only took a little time to get it to this stage ... The apple turns beautifully ... First I turned the ply ring true amd round and then rabbetted the face to make sure that when I glued on the ring, it would run true with the faceplate, and it did ... I want to discuss the interior diameter and the sound ring (the part the head fits against) with Will before I go further but it's starting to feel pretty good .... On to the the neck and fretboard ....

Gotta love that apple ... it's sanded to 32o and it already shines, even with no finish ...

the trued up faceplate and rabbet

gluing the rough pot to the faceplate

6/26/09 ... These 'spare time' projects certainly take a while to get going, but we're creeping along now .... Will's done a lot of research on turning the pots, and I may try mine over the weekend sometime. His is in the foreground, cherry, walnut and bubinga, and mine's in the clamps, apple and walnut ....

6/15/09 Well, Will wants to build a banjo and now I do too ... We got underway today by doing a test glue up of what's known in the business as 'the pot'. It's three bricklaid rings that will be put on the lathe and turned to about 11" in diameter and a half inch thick. Then you put the skin (head) over that with the hardware and attach the neck when you get it finished. I'm absolutely sure there's more to it than that, and it'll take a while, but not likely as long as The Resonator Guitar did last year. We'll shoot for the middle of July for this one ....

Overall shot of the glue up and form for clamping .... still working out the details

Close up ... Click to enlarge ... These rings are mdf .. real wood maybe tomorrow ...
Sample banjo music here ... Goldtown ... at The Barn in Pawlet 2nd and last Fridays of the month ... Will on banjo, AJ Stearns on guitar and vocals, Josh Loun on bass

6/10/09 ... Action on the real thing .... The rings are glued up individually now and we'll glue up the stack tomorrow and attach them to the metal/plywood disc for turning on the lathe tomorrow ,,

all circle parts cut on the cnc...quick and clean ... the pocket jig in the foreground above is for running the parts through the sander to remove the 'skin' that is left after cutting on the cnc ..