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Playing Since: 2008
Experience Level: Novice
BruceB has made 12 recent additions to Banjo Hangout 
Interests:
[Jamming] [Socializing]
Occupation: retired
Gender: Male
My Instruments:
Vega No 2 Special
Reiter Standard
Washburn OB120
Favorite Bands/Musicians:
Dan Levenson, Bruce Molsky, Striped Pig String Band, Chip Arnold, Haints, Stairwell Sisters, Erynn Marshall
Profile Info:
Visible to: Public
Created 1/23/2007
Last Visit 9/7/2010
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Saturday, October 18, 2008 @8:46:59 PM
Flushed with success from my previous banjo-building endeavors, I've been looking around for something else to work on. I've always liked the look of the old spunover rim banjos of the 1890s but everything I've found has either been trashed or out of my price range. Then I ran across Tim Smith's savethebanjos.com page and his Saga OK2 kit project looked interesting. It had the right look and, with a few modifications, might be worth a try. At that price, how wrong can you go? So I bought the kit online (musicbrokers.com - more about him later) and it actually arrived the next day. Upon examining the box of parts, most of Tim's observations proved accurate - this is not one of Jason Romero's creations. But it seemed solid and all the parts were there. As Tim noted, the mahogany neck was pieced together from at least three blocks of wood but it was nicely shaped and smooth. Unlike Tim, this neck fit the rim and lined up perfectly. One of the hook and nuts was stripped out but an email to the dealer got an immediate response and two replacements the next day. This guy's OK.
I planned from the beginning to make some changes. First, I changed the hex bracket shoes to a set of nice L-shoes I had sitting around - they just look more upscale to me. (see photo saga3). Then I added a wood liner to the inside of the pot - this is to simulate the spunover look. (see photo saga1 and saga2). I was suprised at how well that turned out. I wanted to add an ebony peghead overlay and a nice bone nut to replace the chunk of yellow plastic Saga provided so I milled 1/16 of an inch off the peghead and glued the overlay on (photo saga9). I also replaced the factory head with a fiberskyn head. The Saga fifth sting nut was big, ugly and in the wrong place so I fixed that, too. (photo saga10). The last change was to add a rosewood heelcap (photo saga5) and re-shape the heel. It would have been ebony but I couldn't find a big enough piece in my junkbox.
All in all, it turned out looking pretty good, IMO. I put about 10 coats of Tru-oil on the neck, then decided it was too glossy so I rubbed it down with 0000 steel wool. The Saga tuners seem OK but I've got a set of 5-stars ready if needed. But the burning question is: How does it sound? Well, surprise, surprise. Without any tweeking of the nuts, bridge, head tension or string weight, it's got a nice, loud tone that I wouldn't call bright but it's not plunky either. Definite potential here. Photos 23, 24, 28, 30 and 31 show the completed project.
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