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millwheel - Posted - 04/16/2008: 06:19:09
Here's a trick from Elias Kaufman, foremost authority on S.S. Stewarts: cut a wine-bottle cork to wedge snugly between the dowel stick and the head. Place it a few inches from the heel end of the pot, and experiment to find the best "sweet spot" position. This expedient works well on open-back banjos with dowel sticks, and might work well on those with resonators, although I haven't tried this.
Millwheel
trapdoor2 - Posted - 04/16/2008: 07:14:02
Joe Morley mentioned this as well for special effects. I've never tried it.
Gee, these days most wine bottles don't use natural cork. Either I'll have to upscale my wine choices or just increase my sample size. 
===Marc
"If banjos needed tone rings, S.S. Stewart would have made them that way."
Uncle Bead - Posted - 04/16/2008: 08:22:52
It seems today that most of the wine I drink is in boxes, but most of my beer has corks.
Eric
jgwoods - Posted - 04/16/2008: 08:42:57
I just tried it last week on my 1905 Fairbanks Regent- using a what appeared to be real cork( it was from cheap Shirazz)- and I wasn't impressed. I shaved it bit to vary the tightness between perchpole and head, moved it up and down the pole, all with no significant changes for the better. It's about the same as using a sock, or sponge, or bubble wrap, or most anything else I've tried. It changes things, but not in any clearly superior way to other "stuffings"
At this point my favorite tone modifier is a piece of paper shipping tape- similar to masking tape but about 2" wide and fairly thick- about 4-6" long centered under the bridge. I like it better than duct tape or clear "scotch" tape of the same size. The paper stuff just sounds best to me.
Of course it may work great for you- and it's an excuse to open a bottle of wine...how bad can it be?
Be yourself- everyone else is taken
wfawley - Posted - 04/16/2008: 08:58:56
You can also use an old sock to keep flies out of your wine......but I think the cork works better.
Wyatt
If your friends criticize the car you drive, or the banjo you play. Get new ones.
Edited by - wfawley on 04/16/2008 08:59:29
ELWOOD - Posted - 04/17/2008: 09:29:07
I am going to give this wine cork idea a try ,first I have heard of this... thanks.....Elwood
Tyri - Posted - 04/17/2008: 13:55:08
I once ate at a pub in Cork. The wine tasted like old socks, but the beer was exquisite.
-Brywn
Gran Tyhri's favorite Scot
superdave - Posted - 04/17/2008: 15:00:53
I just did surgery on a real cork and tried it. Not much to brag about. I removed it and put a sock in it so to speak.
Dave
pgroff - Posted - 04/17/2008: 15:48:21
When I got my Paramount Leader tenor it had been "restored": varnishy overspray, including the fretboard, top frosted head, nut glued in backwards (no, that doesn't give you a left-handed nut) ..... and a big cork stuck between dowel stick and head, at a position between the bridge and the tailpiece.
There were also some vintage mutes in the case.
My idea was, the mutes weren't doing the job so he went with the cork to muffle the thing.
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