rudy - Posted - 12/11/2012:  06:42:40

“Building A Banjo” series index is here!

Ken Levan has been very gracious with his time and abundant knowledge in his recent series of topics titled “Building A Banjo”.  Many have expressed considerable interest in archiving the entire topic posts and photos and I thought I would contribute a total index of the topics in the series in a single post so others could reference them.  These links will take you to the first page of each topic, many of which will have multiple pages presented.  The link may also take you to a redirect page if the topic has been relegated to archive status.

Ken’s goal to ultimately expand on the guide and publish it as a book and I encourage any perspective banjo builder to purchase a copy when that happens; until then you’ll have to be content with the series as it is presented here on Banjo Hangout.  Do be aware that the illustrations and/or photos may “disappear” from the discussions as time goes on.  That does happen as time goes on, so just be aware that they may not be available for viewing in the future.

Building a Banjo 1- introduction

banjohangout.org/topic/233694

Building a Banjo 2 - the rim

banjohangout.org/topic/233708

Building a Banjo 3 - pot design

banjohangout.org/topic/233830

Building a Banjo 4 – the metal parts

banjohangout.org/topic/233997

Building a Banjo 5 – bracket band

banjohangout.org/topic/234156

Building a Banjo 6 – tension hoop

banjohangout.org/topic/234323

Building a Banjo 7 – tone rings, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/234483

Building a Banjo 8 – assembling the pot, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/234848

Building a Banjo 9 – the resonator, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/235757

Building a Banjo 10 – the neck, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/235918

Building a Banjo 11 – peg head shaping

banjohangout.org/topic/239547

Building a Banjo 12 – pips, spikes, nuts, and gluing

banjohangout.org/topic/239642

Building a Banjo 13 – shaping the neck

banjohangout.org/topic/239729

Building a Banjo 14 – patinas, assembly, neck fitting

banjohangout.org/topic/239817

Building a Banjo 15 – dowel and neck alignment, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/239901

Building a Banjo 16 – tailpiece, armrest, dowel brackets

banjohangout.org/topic/240055

Building a Banjo-17-neck finishing, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/240294

Building a Banjo-18-Putting it all together, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/241544

Building a Banjo-19-The Bridge, page 1

banjohangout.org/topic/241631 

Ken LeVan - Posted - 12/11/2012:  06:54:16

Thanks, Rudy! I appreciate that.

I still have to post sound files of those two banjos in the threads.

I keep finding more stuff I have to write about, so the number of categories increase as I work on it.

rudy - Posted - 12/11/2012:  07:24:43

Hi Ken, The links have been sitting on my desktop for quite a while waiting for any further activity and it appeared that there wasn't going to be any further topics presented.  Every once in a while I have to clean house to keep up with all the stuff I have on the to do list, so this posting clears that up for me.

If you end up posting sound files to the final topic before it slips into the archives then folks will have reference to them, otherwise a new topic will be needed and folks can do a search to find reference to the sound files relevant to the series of topics presented here.

mirwin - Posted - 12/11/2012:  07:51:36

Thanks to both Rudy and Ken!  I had followed the series as Ken put it on BHO and recently went back to review the series but could not find a couple of the topics with the 'search' feature.  This clears that up.  I'm going to attempt my first banjo soon and this will be one of the sources to help me do that.  Thanks again to both of you for generously sharing your time and knowledge!

Mike

dickinnorwich - Posted - 12/11/2012:  09:00:02

This is great.

What a tremendous contribution Ken has made.

slou92 - Posted - 12/11/2012:  09:33:41

I'd like to see the index as a sticky maybe.

ellabrow - Posted - 12/11/2012:  09:42:50

Thanks for the list! Makes it a wee bit easier to go through them all now!

Elliot

Spitfire-Smith - Posted - 12/11/2012:  11:11:34

I agree with slou92. This should be made a sticky! I can't wait until Ken manages to get this all into a book. I want to be the first one on the list to order one!

Dan Drabek - Posted - 12/11/2012:  15:53:07

That series was a great gift by Ken to the forum. The generosity of members in sharing their knowledge continues to amaze me. 

DD

Quickstep192 - Posted - 12/11/2012:  18:28:51

This is great. I find myself frequently re-reading Ken's treatise as a reference, much like an encyclopedia. Thanks Rudy for making the index and thanks Ken for the excellent educational material and willingness to share.

Montanarick - Posted - 12/11/2012:  20:16:37

Ken and Rudy.....My partner Mr. Shopsmith and I say, Thanks very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Rick

Stivini61 - Posted - 12/12/2012:  06:53:17

Can I pre-order a copy of the book?  I have a special place for it on my shelf next to Edward Heron-Allen's classic on violin making.  The difference is that I actually make banjos and will use Ken's book much more.  Can I get a signed copy if I support pre-production?

Stivini61 - Posted - 12/12/2012:  06:58:50

Think of it as a "Pickstarter" campaign (snurk!)

liam_fnq - Posted - 12/12/2012:  12:13:35

This should definitely be a sticky

kaybone - Posted - 12/12/2012:  13:21:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stivini61

Think of it as a "Pickstarter" campaign (snurk!)

---

That  is a great idea. We could "pickstart" him right here on the BHO. I'd pre-order one too

kaybone - Posted - 12/12/2012:  13:21:50

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stivini61

Think of it as a "Pickstarter" campaign (snurk!)

---

That  is a great idea. We could "pickstart" him right here on the BHO. I'd pre-order one too

manomusic - Posted - 12/12/2012:  13:52:16

Thanks Rudy, I now have a folder on my desktop called Levan.
Put me down for a copy of that book as well please Ken, I've followed these posts with interest thankyou.

rudy - Posted - 03/25/2013:  17:09:38

I pulled this up to refer the topic to a new builder.  There are probably new folks who would be interested in this index to Ken's series.

Ken LeVan - Posted - 03/25/2013:  17:29:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by rudy

 

I pulled this up to refer the topic to a new builder.  There are probably new folks who would be interested in this index to Ken's series.

---

Thanks, Rudy!

Ken

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/25/2013:  17:32:15

Many big thanks to Ken for the searies and Rudy for the index, I have been telling Ken that I want a copy of the book when it's ready from the start of this project.

rudy - Posted - 04/17/2013:  05:13:09

Posting to refer topic to a new builder.  As long as this index topic is posted to occasionally it will remain "current" and won't slip into the archives.

PeterJ - Posted - 04/17/2013:  06:29:46

Thanks for doing this, Randy. While I don't see myself building a banjo, I am fascinated by the design and construction techniques. Your site is a gold mine of great information and inspiration, and Ken, you have gone way above and beyond to help the banjo community. Big thanks to both of you!

Beachbum Scott - Posted - 04/17/2013:  07:21:57

Thanks Ken and Rudy

I never plan on building a Banjo but I very much enjoyed reading those posts. They really helped me understand how a Banjo was built and how the parts fit together as a whole unit.

mutantmoose - Posted - 04/17/2013:  09:10:40

Unfortunately, it seems a lot of the pictures are MIA from the original posts.

I really want to see the book when it comes out!

rudy - Posted - 04/17/2013:  12:13:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by mutantmoose

 Unfortunately, it seems a lot of the pictures are MIA from the original posts.

I really want to see the book when it comes out!

---

That's the main problem when photos are included with topic posts.  If a poster becomes disgruntled (yes, it does happen...) or just re-organizes their photo locations or even move them around a bit on the hangout home page photos section the links are lost.

It has also happened in the past when Eric did major structural changes to the hangout storage database, but luckily that doesn't occur very often.

Two things I wish that forum users would realize:

1. Limit size to 640 by 480 for photos otherwise many browsers require the reader to continuously scroll back and forth to read the topic.  All it takes is one oversized photo or link and it effects the ENTIRE topic page.

2. Settle on where your photos will reside before linking to them.  It's only fair, and the web is ephemeral enough without contributing to "useful" information that becomes "un-useful" by our later actions.

Much as I would love to follow Dan Knowles "A luthier's life" topic (or any of the others he initiates) I can't because I would quickly develop wrist pain from continually scrolling left to right to follow the topic.  It's such a shame not to exercise a bit of care when posting to eliminate those issues.

I wish that Eric could adjust the forum software settings to automatically re-size photos and/or sizes of copy/pasted text, or even deny posts that have large photos, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.  The standard answer is for everyone to use the image attachment option, but many don't care to do that so it is what it is.

Banjo Hangout is one of the most perfect forums I can think of, so a few of its idiosyncrasies I'll just have to deal with.

As for me, once I open a topic and have to scroll to see it, I just move on.  Life's too short as it is.

Edited by - rudy on 04/17/2013 12:19:50

Dan Drabek - Posted - 04/17/2013:  18:36:59

quote:

---

Originally posted by rudy

1. Limit size to 640 by 480 for photos otherwise many browsers require the reader to continuously scroll back and forth to read the topic.  All it takes is one oversized photo or link and it effects the ENTIRE topic page.

2. Settle on where your photos will reside before linking to them.  It's only fair, and the web is ephemeral enough without contributing to "useful" information that becomes "un-useful" by our later actions.

Much as I would love to follow Dan Knowles "A luthier's life" topic (or any of the others he initiates) I can't because I would quickly develop wrist pain from continually scrolling left to right to follow the topic.  It's such a shame not to exercise a bit of care when posting to eliminate those issues.

I wish that Eric could adjust the forum software settings to automatically re-size photos and/or sizes of copy/pasted text, or even deny posts that have large photos, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.  The standard answer is for everyone to use the image attachment option, but many don't care to do that so it is what it is.

Banjo Hangout is one of the most perfect forums I can think of, so a few of its idiosyncrasies I'll just have to deal with.

As for me, once I open a topic and have to scroll to see it, I just move on.  Life's too short as it is.

---

Rudy, I thoroughly sympathize with your irritation. Every now and then, someone posts a ridiculously wide image and I've experienced just the problems you've noted.

On the other hand, I have a 24" Apple monitor (which isn't all that unusual these days) and the resolution of the monitor is quite high--which makes images appear smaller than they do on a lower-res monitor. Viewing big pictures is no problem.  My pet peeve is when pictures are posted so small, I can't see the detail I wish I could see. I guess that one size does not fit all.  

I have no problem loading Dan K's images on my screen--though I do find that his threads take a long time to load because of their vertical length. And sometimes I give up, depending on the speed of my connection. But you are right--in most cases the photos could be half the size and still tell the story. 

I've taken your advice to heart and now try to keep my image size down to the lower common denominator. If I feel I absolutely must post a large image to get the legibility across, I will post it as a link rather than an inserted image. That way someone with a smaller monitor can view the thread and only examine my image if they so choose. But, as you noted, the downside is that when I run out of storage room and do some house cleaning, the image links turn into question marks. 

Maybe some day the internet will get these irritations ironed out and it will really take off. 

DD

mutantmoose - Posted - 04/17/2013:  20:14:21

Well,I need to eat some crow - it turns out I was behind a firewall, and couldn't see the pictures because of that. Now that I am home, the pictures are there, and they are lovely, and correctly sized, and wonderful. I hope that my comments did not aggravate anybody, ESPECIALLY Ken who not only worked hard on the banjo, but took the hours to edit and post his work. I apologize for commenting from my one experience before researching further. *SIGH*

rudy - Posted - 04/18/2013:  07:01:13

quote:

---

Originally posted by mutantmoose

 

Well,I need to eat some crow - it turns out I was behind a firewall, and couldn't see the pictures because of that. Now that I am home, the pictures are there, and they are lovely, and correctly sized, and wonderful. I hope that my comments did not aggravate anybody, ESPECIALLY Ken who not only worked hard on the banjo, but took the hours to edit and post his work. I apologize for commenting from my one experience before researching further. *SIGH*

 

---

Good to fess up!  No aggravation.  It does happen that photos disappear, I think Ken has a good understanding of the issues and takes efforts to leave his in place.  It is still a good precautionary note for folks that like to do photo enhanced posts.

Edited by - rudy on 04/18/2013 07:02:01

Ken LeVan - Posted - 04/18/2013:  08:00:17

The problem I'm having right now is that I store my images in photobucket, in a non-public album, in order to get urls.  I now have more than 1,000 images in there.  Photobucket, much to my displeasure, has changed their whole site to make it possible to do stuff I have no interest in, and I cannot find my own images any more.  It's a shame, but I have no control over what they do.  If I wanted to make mugs with pictures of a tailpiece on it, I'd be able to do that, but if I wanted to find a picture I downloaded 2 years ago, I might not.

Suppose I want to post a picture of a drill-press jig on a thread about that - I know that picture's in there, but I can't find it, so I download it again. Now I have that image in the album 2 or 3 times. If I find it by chance, all the similar images will be together. If I try to delete the redundant ones, I will surely delete ones that are linked to posts.

The way their site works, I cannot search for my own images by name or date or any means, I just have to browse through 1,000 images.  I spoke with their "designer" and he told me they are "working on that".

At some point, it is going to become impossible and I am going to be forced to clear the whole thing out, and that will be the end of it.

If anyone wants a coffee mug with a picture of a drill-press heel sanding jig, just let me know.

Ken

Dave1climber - Posted - 04/18/2013:  09:07:23

Ken

I don't think I want a drill press sanding jig on a mug, however one of your fabulous banjo's on a mug could be a daily source of inspiration, and a money maker for you.  Let me know when they might be available.  

Dave

rudy - Posted - 04/18/2013:  10:59:57

Hi Ken,

I don't want to interject a lot of my thinking in this topic, but I'm curious why it wouldn't be considered more appropriate to just store banjo-related images here on the same server where they will be accessed by the topic posts.

BHO allows 500MB of photo storage, which is quite a lot for a forum to allow.  Photos on your homepage here are available any time you need them and can be linked to for off-site use if you're really in need of that sort of thing.  It's probably not as safe to permanently archive photos here, but I wouldn't think anyone would consider any of those sites permanent.  It's not like they are bulletproof mirrored sites like what's available for local computer safe backup stratigies.

I've seen many topics in the past that have dead Photobucket, Shutterfly, etc. links, and I strongly suspect that the user isn't really thinking about how it affects his postings on some other forum that he/she may or may not be thinking about when they're on the Photobucket site.  The chances of that happening would be greatly reduced if they were on Eric's server here.

It's not a huge deal to me, but everyone is very appreciative of your contributions, so it would be a shame if a commercial site that really wants to sell coffee mugs to you would negatively impact your fine body of work here.

If you decide to do something with your photos, or do your own website hosting or anything else where you would like to have 100% control over your content you could go with something like dreamhost.com/ that will allow you all the room you would want and unlimited bandwidth for $10 a month.  That's where I have my website parked.

Edited by - rudy on 04/18/2013 11:05:18

Ken LeVan - Posted - 04/18/2013:  11:30:43

Rudy, I probably have more than 500MB on photobucket already.

I really hate the way the Hangout site deals with attachments. I can't insert them into the text the way I want them, or put them in any order. When I attach sound files, they will be out of context, at the end of the post, in some kind of order I can't understand.

I'm imagining it would be the same thing with my images.  Besides, I use the photobucket ones for other things besides the hangout (like mugs, ha ha).

Ken

hskrfn - Posted - 04/20/2013:  14:14:32

Rudy thanks for posting the index again. I hope the photobucket problem does not mess up progress for Ken's book. You are both very kind to share your knowledge and experience.

airbrush - Posted - 04/21/2013:  16:56:14

A question about the armrest construction.
The post says that the tension nuts hold the rest in place.
However the only thing touching the hook is an lug drilled
oversized. It looks like the top of the hooks attach to the hoop
but the holes in the top of the rest are for hook clearance.
If so, what keeps the armrest on and stops the rest from sliding
up and down the hooks?
James

Dan Pennington - Posted - 05/05/2013:  10:37:06

Rudy 

Thanks for organizing the list of Ken's postings.  

And, Ken

Thanks for designing, building, and sharing banjo building with us.

I've saved all the postings to my 3 terrabyte hard drive.  On my Mac I can do a 'Save As' for anything in my Safari browser and it saves a 'web archive'  version with all text and photos.  Looks just like what comes from BHO, but comes off my hard drive.  So, even if the photos go away on Photobucket, I have still them.  I don't know if Windows machines do web archives.  I don't do windows. 

So, Ken, if you decide to publish all this stuff on a dvd or book, I'll buy it.  You need to make a few bucks for all your work.

rudy - Posted - 05/05/2013:  11:34:52

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dan Pennington

Rudy 

Thanks for organizing the list of Ken's postings.  

And, Ken

Thanks for designing, building, and sharing banjo building with us.

 

I've saved all the postings to my 3 terrabyte hard drive.  On my Mac I can do a 'Save As' for anything in my Safari browser and it saves a 'web archive'  version with all text and photos.  Looks just like what comes from BHO, but comes off my hard drive.  So, even if the photos go away on Photobucket, I have still them.  I don't know if Windows machines do web archives.  I don't do windows. 

So, Ken, if you decide to publish all this stuff on a dvd or book, I'll buy it.  You need to make a few bucks for all your work.

---

Windows users can do the same.  Internet Explorer has a "save as" command under the "page" menu at the top right of the screen.  The page can be saved as a single page web archive with the .mht metadata file extension.

I once sent page archives to another member (on another forum) detailing how he installed Peghed tuners.  He didn't keep the original photos and other folks wanted the information so I sent him the metadata files.  Luckily I have saved the web pages including his great photos.

Edited by - rudy on 05/05/2013 11:37:56

Ken LeVan - Posted - 05/05/2013:  13:19:03

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dan Pennington

 

Rudy 

Thanks for organizing the list of Ken's postings.  

And, Ken

Thanks for designing, building, and sharing banjo building with us.

 

I've saved all the postings to my 3 terrabyte hard drive.  On my Mac I can do a 'Save As' for anything in my Safari browser and it saves a 'web archive'  version with all text and photos.  Looks just like what comes from BHO, but comes off my hard drive.  So, even if the photos go away on Photobucket, I have still them.  I don't know if Windows machines do web archives.  I don't do windows. 

So, Ken, if you decide to publish all this stuff on a dvd or book, I'll buy it.  You need to make a few bucks for all your work.

---

Thanks, Dan!

I'm working on it.  It takes longer than I thought it would, plus, I realize I need a lot more drawings and diagrams. Originally I thought I could do it with mostly photos.

Since I've been working on it, and finished the banjos I was using as my "material" for the book, I have discovered more subjects that are of real interest on the hangout, which I have to elaborate on, so that slows it down, too.

Apropos of your "don't do windows" line, I use Macs because I've been in the design business since Macs first came out, had the Apple 2, the Apple 2e, and then all the Macs and went through all the OS updates. We had the very first version of Photoshop and Illustrator - 1.1.1,  I guess, and they are and have always been the standard platform in the graphic arts and printing industry. Therefore I "don't do windows" either (ha ha).  Years ago we had some young guys working for us in the design business, who were also still going to art school - they were great with computers, but couldn't draw, which I guess is what it's like in art school and the biz nowadays - glad to be retired (sorry, I digress).  ANYWAY, they both had bumper stickers on their cars with a Mac logo, and the line "Real Designers Don't Do Windows".

You reminded me - thanks.

Ken

rudy - Posted - 05/05/2013:  13:34:18

I don't have anything against Macs, I'm just cheap.

Dan Pennington - Posted - 05/05/2013:  13:50:19

rudy

​I'm cheap. too.  I never buy a new Mac or iPad.  I always buy the refurbished ones off the Apple store.  Then after a few years, my wife gets them.  Then we sell hers on ebay.  They hold their value pretty well.

Ken LeVan - Posted - 05/05/2013:  14:19:32

quote:

---

Originally posted by rudy

 

I don't have anything against Macs, I'm just cheap.

---

I'm cheap, too. I have the same monitor (now they call them "displays") I have had for the past 10 years - a 100 pound 21 inch graphic arts one - in fact, I have two of them. Color corrected, I can calibrate it, the cat can sit on top of it because it's warm:

In terms of my software, I have Illustrator and Photoshop  CS6 on my computer,  BUT I actually run Illustrator CS3 and photosop CS (1) because I like them better, and don't need all the gratuitous "doo-dah" of the later versions.

Not that I begrudge all the people with the names that flash across my screen when I have to force quit and reboot Illustrator to have a job - I love them all (I would like to think), but I think they should get a different job and leave me alone. I don't want to have to invest all that much time and energy in providing job security for them, or making their work meaningful for me, because it isn't.  Maybe they should join the military - I learned a lot in the Army that has been a real asset to me.

So, apropos of this - I am not a Luddite, by any means - My Dad programmed UNIVACS when I was in High school - I grew up with computers. I have dealt with them all my working life, I know how they "think". They can be wonderful.

I just don't like them anymore, or maybe the people who are forcing me to use them in their way.

I wake up each morning being thankful that I can turn on my table saw without getting an error message "Rockwell no longer supports this table saw, so it will not function- OK?"

Sorry for the diatribe,

Ken

rudy - Posted - 05/05/2013:  18:55:56

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dan Pennington

 rudy

​I'm cheap. too.  I never buy a new Mac or iPad.  I always buy the refurbished ones off the Apple store.  Then after a few years, my wife gets them.  Then we sell hers on ebay.  They hold their value pretty well.

---

Oh, I'm cheaper than that!  I specked out my desired PC and software that I wanted without purchasing it separately, then waited until my machine showed up on the Dell Repack list exactly as I wanted it and with Office pre-installed.  I purchased it right after XP service pack 2 was released and it's been trouble-free for what I use a PC for.

THAT"S cheap!

Ken I'm totally with you, man!