rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/21/2010:  04:18:21

thanks to threads posted by dan knowles and richard brown, i am trying my hand at an ebony banjo.
i bought two pieces of ebony on ebay and as it turns out, this will be plenty.i started with a 36" piece that is 3" wide and 1" thick. this will be the pot. i ripped this into two pieces and then cut them into sort of "wedges" roughly 6" long with a 60 degree angle on each end. when glued together, these formed a hex shape ring. i also pruchased a piece of curly maple off ebay. off of this i cut a piece about 1/4" thick and 1.5" wide and made another hex ring. i then glued these together stacked up. two ebony, then the maple. on an old band saw that i purchased from good will, i cut the outside diameter fairly close to the finished size. i then used a belt sander to finish rounding and smoothing it.
at this point i realized that the rim was getting pretty deep, so rather than adding an ebony cap (not sure i had enough ebony to do this anyway) i cut the bottom 1/2" off including the maple stripe flipped it and glued it back on.
i then purchased an orbital spindle sander attachement for the drill press and used this to sand the interior of the rim round and down to 3/4". i then used a dremel tool with a router attachement and a sanding disc to fit the mastertone style tone ring.
this is where i am with the pot so far.

first rim ring and blocks

rim

rim2

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/21/2010:  04:39:38

i now turned my attension to the neck. i used a 2x4x 29" piece of ebonyand ripped it in two.the trimmed a 1/16" piece off one side. i also cut a 2" piece of the maple and then trimmed two 1/4" pieces off of that and glued it up for the neck.
i then cut the peg head angle on a table saw and thentrimmed the profile on the band saw. i then cut the shape of the neck also on the band saw.
with suggestions from some hangout members, i decided to use a "minstral" head design rather than my usual design because this banjo will have a tunneled fifth. (something i have never tried before) it will also have an adjustable truss rod which i cut out of a cheapo neck i had laying around. (never tried this before either) i glued another piece of maple to the face. i levelled the face of the neck and then cut a slot for the truss rod on the table saw. using the dremel, i cut a smaller slot for the 1/16" brass tubing that would be the tunnel. i set the truss rod, then using a piece of macassar ebony for contrast, glued the fret board in place. i used a exacto saw ive had for years to gut the fret slots and then glued in strips of ivory from old piano keys. ( years ago, i built a gun stock for an aquaintance whose father used to refurbish piano's. he payed me with ivory remove from the keys.) i then leveled the fret board. then on the table saw, i cut a groove on each side of the macassar for a maple binding. i put an ebony overlay on the front and back of the peg head and on the heel. ( i also put a thin piece of maple on the heel)
this is where i am with the neck so far.

neck blank
	neck and stick	neck and stick2

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/21/2010:  04:52:31

from the piece i cut out under the neck i cut the dowel stick. this is 7/8" square. on the table saw i cut the corners off so i had inverted corners. i then glued strips of maple here. this was an idea from dan knowles "ebony banjo" thread that i think is just beautiful! the differenc being that dan tapered his stick then glued in the maple. i did the maple and will taper it later and hopefully the maple stripes will fade near the bottom of the stick.
because i dont have a lathe, i used a file (checking constantly with a veneer caliper) i made the tenon on the stick. this took about two hours but turned out great! (to my suprise) the tenon is about 1 1/16" long. because of a bad cut on the heel where it fits the rim i needed a short tenon. i emailed dan to ask about this. his are usaully 1.25" to 1.5" but he says the old one that he has restuck(?) are usually 1", so i feel safe with this.
this is where i am so far. today i will reshape the heel (from the bad cut). mark the placement of the lugs and the dowel stick hole on the pot. that will be it for a while since i have ordered pegs and lugs and must wait to receive them before i proceed.

dowel stick

neck and stick2

youdye - Posted - 04/21/2010:  05:22:07

WOW! Really looks awesome so far!! Can't wait to see the finished banjo!

mike gregory - Posted - 04/21/2010:  05:31:04

My hat's off to you!
(And it's a truly magnificent hat).
Looks like you're well on your way to a truly magnificent banjo.

falconeman - Posted - 04/21/2010:  05:50:14

This is so cool!

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/21/2010:  06:08:13

thanks guys. by the way mike, that peg head design was partly your idea. you posted the pic of that black fellow with the minstral banjo.

Phil D - Posted - 04/21/2010:  06:36:46

looks awesome so far, definitely going to be the first ebony 'jo I've ever seen. You might be on to something with that rascal.

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 04/21/2010:  07:57:27

Good looking work!

bordertownbrown - Posted - 04/21/2010:  08:22:43

That banjo is looking fine, makes me want to get back to work on my ebony banjo!

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/21/2010:  08:29:48

thanks much guys. richard, i wish yo would get back to work on yours. you have alot of great ideas and technics that really inspire me. also, i really like the look of that texas ebony. whaat is the highlight wood you are usingon that?

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/21/2010:  09:06:54

well, this morning i got the heel fitted to the pot and made room for the tension hoop using only spindle sander.
now for the tough part, drilling the hole for the dowel stick. since i do not have all the proper tools, i would appreciate any suggestions on doing that process. i do have a forstner bit and a regular 3/4" bit so that will help.

heel

heel2

banjobrotheroz - Posted - 04/22/2010:  00:07:11

Great stuff,well done.

stigandr5 - Posted - 04/22/2010:  04:14:17

Beautiful work!

swirlypillow - Posted - 04/22/2010:  11:20:48

That is one awesome looking headstock on that neck! Whole thing looks killer.

DanKnowles - Posted - 04/23/2010:  05:22:28

Steve,
What types of tooling do you have? Drill press, Hand drill & etc.

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 04/23/2010:  05:59:18

thank you all very much. it is nice to know that someone besides me apreciates my work.

dan, i do have a drill press and a power hand drill. actually, i got the hole drilled with the help of my wife. unfortunately i have cheap chinese forstner bits that are not marked very well and drilled the wrong size hole! i am working on a fix now. should work out pretty well especially considering it wont be seen unless the 'jo is dissassembled even then it will barely be noticeable. you will be able (if you look close ) to see that the stripes end about 1/16" before and after the stick. oh well, not giving up. i am really liking this banjo so far. hope it will be worth all the work.

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 09/05/2010:  12:52:48

well, with summer here i have been very busy with work, riding notorcycles, and family things. i have finally gotten back to work on this banjo. i put a french polish on it and assembled it. the pegs are recessed on the back side because the head is fairly thick. there is a magnetic truss rod cover. i put an abalone inlay on the heel.there are only a few hooks on the tension hoop (left overs) and i fashioned a bone tailpiece to use until i find one i am happy with. i still have alot of adjusting to do before it is ready to play. it has a mastertone style flat head tone ring and hoop. it has rickard shoes and five star tuners. it also has a skin head. eventually i will finish it but for now it looks pretty.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 09/05/2010:  13:07:36

Steve,

That banjo looks great! You may be the first to finish their ebony banjo since both Dan and I have stalled out to do other work.

Richard

DEmery - Posted - 09/05/2010:  14:56:32

Great look'en ebony banjo. Funny how ideas and concepts for building change. It has been about 5 years since Dan started my banjo that morphed over a long period into the first all ebony banjo we could find other than examples by B&D in the 1800's...and those had laminated ebony rims. The banjo turned out unexpectedly strong. Glad to see others willing to tinker with the material. The musical nature is surprising. David E.

Edited by - DEmery on 09/05/2010 14:59:36

	Ebony Banjo	Ebony Banjo - Sherry Lynne
Pot of Ebony Banjo	Dowel Stick Carving

BNJOMAKR - Posted - 09/05/2010:  17:26:05

I like that tree inlay in the heel... neat!

rot-n-dobe - Posted - 09/06/2010:  09:54:51

first i would like to thank you all for your comments.
i was working on it this morning. the action was really high, to high in fact to be able to play. i thought about it all night and decided to try another new thing. as stated earlier i used a mastertone style tone ring and it was way to high for this banjo. this morning i cut it down! cut a 1/4" off the top with a angle grinder, then filed it smooth, sanded it to 1000 grit and polished it. it turned out to be some type of alloy rather than brass or bronze so it shined up really nice and i dont think it will rust since i am using a hide head. i almost gave up but then thought "maybe i'm inventing something new!" when it is totally complete and set up i will try to find someone that can play, if not then i will learn a couple of rolls to post. may not be much but you more experienced people with two ears (i only have one ear that works) should get an idea of what it soumds like.it is very heavy and seems to have great sustain. the action is much more manageable now but i think i still need to adjust the nuts, get a tailpiece and some hooks and nuts.soon it should be complete, then i can concentrate on learning to play!
the tree inlay was my wifes idea. i recently did an inlay on a gun stock and the tree was just left over pieces of abalone. took about 20 minutes of actual work time. wanted to do more inlay work but with that peg head design there didnt seem to be a whole lot of room for inlays so i left it.
was also going to do some carving on the heel but got impatient and just wanted to get it done. i guess the hardest part of the artsy stuff is thinking of designs and when i spend time thinking, i feel like i am not progressing. just being ebony is special enough i guess.
richard, don't worry about yours and dan's ebony banjo's. you'll get them done and i really look forward to reading about them. you two have given me alot of ideas for mine and i appreciate it very much. i think mine turned out exceptionally well but i could not have even started without your thread and dan's. you guys were my inspiration and you unknowingly helped me through alot of the work. many thanks to both of you.
dave, sherry lynn is very beautiful! i can only hope to do work like that someday. every banjo i have built has been a learning experience for me. maybe someday i will actually know what i am doing like dan and richard. till then i will muddle through, but i am happy with what i have done so far. now if i can just take the time to learn to play!!!