Fun with the Router

Today we channeled out the cavity for control panel. We drilled the hole connecting the pick ups to the jack socket and control knob. Carl is busting to get a sound out of it but if I learned one thing from Harry it's 'take your time'. Next it's finger board, notching the nut, cutting a control panel to retain the jack socket and soldering the electronics- then we can try some strings! That's Barry, my dad, holding the body steady while I route away.

Tuners bridge and pickup

Lovely day today. Got the bridge, pickup and tuners fitted.

Humbuckers are go!

Spent this morning routing out the cavity for the pickups. The plans for the lap steel specify single coil but Carl is adamant that we need 'buckers'. At least I think that's what he said!

Next is to drill out the tuner peg holes and the jack lead and volume switcher cavity.

Make your own Lap Steel part one

 or Did You Take Woodwork At School?
Yes it does look like a plank. That's because it is a plank - at the moment. Carl and I have been assembling the parts from the shopping list on http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lapsteel/ today we got together to get the ball rolling. Its already been a long story, just getting a suitable piece of 'wud' could win Carl the Perrier for stand up comedy, but we're off!

Well almost, I've managed to get the tuners and bridge marooned at the post office sorting depot after losing the 'sorry we missed you' note. It's a tale which is Kafkaesque in itself. I missed the delivery so went to collect.
'have you got a parcel for NBB?'
'yes we've got the parcel here'
'can I have it?'
'where is your card'
'I lost it, but ive got id and proof of address'
'you need a card'
'How can I get one'
'you should have been left one, if you've lost it we'll have to re-deliver'
'I'm not around next week, so I can't sign for it'
'then we'll leave a card'......

Despite all this we staggered into my garage to 'cut wood'. Now, both Carl and I didn't do woodwork at school and it shows. Most scary, was the moment we both realised we had out fingers in Harry's enormous power-saw as we tried to get it to work. We managed it but neither of us may be able to play the finished instrument! After a fit of the giggles we managed to taper the head and cut out the peg head profile, which sounds tricky but is just 'sawing in a straight line'.
Next we need to carve a curved transition from the head into the body and route out the spaces for pick ups and electronics.

Make Your Own Banjo Part 7

Finally, after months of trying I think I've got it right. I spent about six hours today fitting, stringing, unfitting, refitting, restringing, rejigging etc etc, but I think I finally got the neck right. I had to cut a slot in the pot where there perch pole fits to the body and loosen the bolt and slide it up and down until the action came right. I then cut a small shim which fits behind the neck heel and a plug to fix the perch pole bolt in the correct place and suddenly she sounded sweet... as a nut!

She needed a bit more tweeking to get the final sound right, as a couple of the strings buzzed, but I recut the slots on the nut and once they were slightly wider bingo - no buzz. It's some relief to get it right at long last, mainly for all the effort Harry has put in. Every time we it and it was wrong I was gutted for him. He's really found a creative outlet for his carpentry skills and he's dead keen to make a second instrument as proof that it wasn't a fluke, so I felt pressure to get a set up that worked so he can crack on with #2.

I've always held Harry in high esteem because he, and lots of my older relatives, are so practical and capable, and its been a rare opportunity to work on something together as equals. His skills with wood and my (meagre) knowledge of the instrument and I think we've both got something special out of it. As my mate Mark said 'That is a real legacy, something to keep and cherish for ever'.

all I can say is that I've learned a real lesson too.
2 degrees is a mighty small angle but without it you are stuffed!

Make Your Own Banjo Part 6

or The Esoteric Secrets of the Luthier
I haven't done any updates on the Rutherford banjo for a while. That's because we've been having a bit of a rethink. The original set up was made with the neck parallel to the head and this produced a loud banjo with a very high action. It also produced a neck which became progressively sharper as you played up it. Although harry and I were pleased with the first set up it obviously wasn't right. The problem was how to fix it?

We used Roger Siminoff's Constructing a 5-String Banjo: A Complete Technical Guide which is good and has a full set of plans, but there always seems to be something on which he goes a bit quiet - the angle of the neck. In his plans the heel is shown with a very slight angle at the point at which it meets the pot. Originally we thought this might be a mistake in the printing as this isn't mentioned anywhere in the book, at least not explicitly.

Not to run Siminoff's book down its great for getting all the components in the right order for building, you also need so advice on setting up, so I also bought How to Set Up the Best Sounding Banjo by Roger too! This book gives you the other half of the story, getting all the bits you made to fit together and make the right sound, but the crucial detail of the vital neck angle only shown in the plans and never mentioned is only mentioned in one paragraph in this otherwise excellent book!!!!

I spoke to friend who made a living as a luthier and he said something very telling, 'If we told you all the secrets you'd make it for yourself and I'd be out of business'. But at least with this little hint we knew where we were going wrong. The tricky part has been putting it right. Over the last few weeks we have reset the neck twice the first time we over compensated and the strings touched the frets - action too low. harry has since reset the neck again and hopefully this time it'll be right.

At the moment she's sitting here waiting to be reassembled and restrung - fingers crossed.

Make Your Own Banjo part 5 - audio

Here's a first sample of the 'big dog' in action. I'm still suffering with a trapped nerve and can't play for more than a couple of minutes - this may also be due to the fact that big dog weighs a ton!

You can hear the buzzing on the first string and the actions a bit high, but these things can be sorted. The achievement is that it actually makes a sound!

Rumour has it that Harry wants to make another!

Make Your Own Banjo part 4

Harry dropped in the banjo the other day for a first set up. Its big, hefty and loud! It sounds a bit brash compared to the Windsor but with a bit of proper setting up its gonna be sweet. Uncle Harry's done a fantastic job and this thing is a real labor of love.

Make Your Own Banjo part 3

Cometh the banjo cometh the MAN! Uncle harry dropped over again today to update me and do some work on the new instrument, and boy its starting to feel mighty real. Today we fitted the neck and body together, fixed the tail piece screws and the neck brace. Harry completed the fretting last week, and now we need to drill and fit the tuners, fit the nut and bridge, string her up, and give it a go!

I cannot wait - but as the man (Uncle Harry) said 'if its worth doing, its worth doing slowly.' Amen.

 

Here's a couple of piccies as my videoing went a bit wonky.



Make Your Own Banjo part 2



We've finally assembled all the parts for the new banjo. Uncle Harry has been hard at work carving the neck, and today was the chance to have a first fit of the banjo pot and head with the tension hoop and all the tensioning brackets - it fit like dream!



This is the my new beauty! The big decision today was where to cut the body of the pot for the dowel stick, but it was easier to determine once the tension hoop was fitted and the head had been tightened. The engraved tension hoop looks fantastic and the 24 tension brackets give it a real tight head.

A shot of the master at work! I've sourced the parts but its been Harry whose done all the skilled work.

The next step is for Harry to carve out the dowel stick and the hole in the pot for it to fit through, then we can have a first look at it assembled with the neck and body together!!!

Make Your Own Banjo

 ... with Uncle Harry.

Some of you might remember my aborted attempts at making a cigar box ukulele last year. Well despite proving that I'm no carpenter, I did get the feel that, although very subtle and complicated, this whole making an instrument thing was possible. All I needed to do was bring in the professionals. So I went to see my uncle Harry - he's the man when it comes to making things.

Harry happened to have a piece of seasoned beech which was left over from making a table and was keen to have a go. So I bought a copy of 'make your own banjo' from Amazon he started carving the neck to the plans provided. Harry has the right attitude, don't rush, take your time and do it properly, all the attitudes that I lacked in my previous effort.



We've been using my Windsor as a template and reference when were the instructions in the book weren't that clear. I bought the 11" pot from Stew Mac which came with a pre routed brass tone ring. They were a special offer and despite having to pay import duty into the UK it saved a lot of trouble as this and the neck are most tricky parts of the instrument to make.



I've been picking up the other parts steadily from Ebay and Eagle Music and Brown Dog Banjos have been a good source of UK based suppliers.

Here's where it started to get really exciting I got a pre-fretted finger board from Stew Mac, but managed to get hold of the head and tension hoop in the UK and once the elements went together for a test run it started to look like a tasty banjo.

I need to pick up the hardware for fixing the dowel stick/perch pole and a tail piece but once I've got those we are going to assemble the body so we can work out exactly where to place the neck.

I'll keep you posted!