bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/25/2011:  11:16:50

It has been a long time since I started on the Texas ebony banjo which I had to set aside while working on other projects. Part of the problem with getting stalled out on a project is that I just can't pick up where I left off and finish without a reassessment. Earlier this week I looked things over and decided the neck was way too heavy so it got trimmed down considerably . Next I wasn't happy with the heel carving so that had to go. Now what to do for inlay?

 This is banjo number 13 though I have completed about 20 more instruments since beginning to work on the ebony banjo. I am not superstitious and will keep banjo #13 as my personal instrument.

My mother was a button collector for many years before she died, I inherited many of the buttons she had collected having sold most of the several years ago but still had a jar full of these old bone underwear buttons.

Not wanting to do my typical wood inlays or anything too conventional I decided to see what could be done with the buttons. Aside from the three wooden stars the rest of the inlay are made from the buttons without using a jewelers saw. The motif includes my initials and numerology numbers, The number 13, the infinity symbol, a vortex symbol which I created, crescent moons and misc. designs

Earls 5 - Posted - 08/25/2011:  12:02:41

nice work & idea as usual Richard !

harpman54 - Posted - 08/25/2011:  12:18:05

Pretty clever, but you've got the 3, the 6, and the 9 at the wrong frets. Putting the 9 at the 3rd fret will simply mess you up. 3 at the third fret, the 6 at the 6th fret, etc.

Honestly, it'll make even playing tablature easier.

bill

Mark Johnson - Posted - 08/25/2011:  12:24:31

I think it's funnier that way.  If it were my banjo, I'd always refer to the 7th fret as the "6 fret" just to screw with people.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/25/2011:  12:33:33

Thanks Earl!

Bill, I thought of that but I don't look much at the fret board while playing and don't do tab either. They are placed so that someone watching me play reads "369". Also I like a marker on the 7th fret which means the six would have gone there which wouldn't be right so I departed from all logic and decided to do it like this. I'm certain these numbers will evoke many questions for years to come.

RB

blockader - Posted - 08/25/2011:  13:04:04

i think this is very cool! but one thing. when i first saw the thumbnails i thought you had a swastika on the 1st fret. i reckon thats your vortex symbol and its probably not an issue when you see the banjo from a distance in person, but i thought i'd better mention it just in case.

edited: to be clear, it is only the thumbnail that threw me, it looks like a vortex symbol when the photo is enlarged.

Edited by - blockader on 08/25/2011 13:05:10

bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/25/2011:  13:35:03

blockader, Thank you for bringing that to my attention; I do see what you mean about the thumbnail but the design is not Intended to look like a Nazi emblem. The swastika is as well a vortex symbol, similar symbols have been and continue to be used by many cultures for thousands of years. It is sad that Hitler's use of this symbol has given it such negative power, probably the most powerful branding of all time.

The pattern is just something that came natural working with a limiting material such as these buttons, it was discovered by accident and I call it my vortex design.

Viewing the full size image will also reveal that the inlay looks nothing like a swastika.

uncle.fogey - Posted - 08/25/2011:  13:38:51

That's extremely cool, Richard! I am impressed.

Using the negative space of the holes as part of the design is wonderful.  Then, making the inlays as numbers is equally wonderful.  It's one of those things that if you just saw it, you would never think of the fact that every inlay was made from a circle with 2 holes cut out of it.  You are really thinking outside of the box - or "button".

My wife has a box of beautiful MOP buttons I've been looking at longingly for a couple of years.  Of course, if I cut them up she'd break my thumbs and no more banjo playing, so they are safe,  but I have to admit that I NEVER thought of doing what you have done.

Whenever I inlay a banjo neck, I always have a bunch of odd shapes of MOP left over and I think I'm going to try to come up with an inlay pattern that uses the negative pieces cut from the pieces of MOP, in order to make a pattern that has minimal waste and minimizes cutting.  I never do it.  The Gibson "Flying Eagle" motif always looks to me as if it was thought through in that way (Gibson was great at that kind of thing) - it's such an odd group of shapes.  BUT, I never spent the time to analyze that, either.

Anyway, you have done it with buttons- thanks for sharing it!

Ken

DantheBanjoMan - Posted - 08/25/2011:  14:22:16

Great idea.  I actually like bone better than pearl for both visual and environmental reasons, plus the bone is thicker than pearl and the inlay won't be affected if the fingerboard ever needs to be leveled for a re-fret. 

BTW, how come bone is so dang expensive to buy from luthier supply houses?  Isn't it a waste product?  Can it really cost that much to process it?  I've been thinking of going down to my local butcher and seeing if I can get a few scraps to do some experimenting.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/25/2011:  14:33:19

Thanks Ken,

I always enjoy working and solving problems in the constraints of limitations, been looking at that jar of buttons off and on for years but until I decided to use them for inlay no clear ideas came to my head. Seems like when you just jump in and start doing is when things begin to happen rather than contriving some intricate design and then figure out how to execute it.

When I studied drawing years ago I learned the importance of negative area and used to do line drawings that concentrated on that alone which really improves ones sense of design. 

The first of these inlays were made with just some pencil marks directly on the buttons but I sat down last night and drew out button shapes and what design might be cut from them. I'll try to post a picture of my drawings tomorrow.

jwold - Posted - 08/25/2011:  16:13:42

Just my opinions of course...

You certainly have the start of an ss stewart half-moon thing going on.
The numbers 3,6,9,8 thing just looks kind of "amateurish" in my opinion, same for the pinwheel on the first fret.
Interesting idea though, but I think those buttons belong on some civil-war reinactors underware, more than they belong on your banjo.

If it's #13 and you want to go with that spooky theme...get some scary inlays on there...jack o lanterns, devils and fire, witches and halloweeny stuff.
My .02

DantheBanjoMan - Posted - 08/25/2011:  17:39:42

Jeff,

Maybe this isn't quite to your taste, but I think he was going for a "folk art" kind of thing and I can appreciate what he's doing.  He's paying an homage to the buttons by using the holes, and I think it's very clever.  I've played one of his banjos and it was very nice instrument, and it had a "down home" feel about it that I think goes very well these buttons. 

---

Originally posted by jwold



 

Just my opinions of course...



You certainly have the start of an ss stewart half-moon thing going on.

The numbers 3,6,9,8 thing just looks kind of "amateurish" in my opinion, same for the pinwheel on the first fret.

Interesting idea though, but I think those buttons belong on some civil-war reinactors underware, more than they belong on your banjo.



If it's #13 and you want to go with that spooky theme...get some scary inlays on there...jack o lanterns, devils and fire, witches and halloweeny stuff.

My .02

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Prof - Posted - 08/25/2011:  19:00:05

Boy, I bet that bone underwear was tough on the old nether regions!  

Sorry -- couldn't pass it up.  Neat idea!

dculgan - Posted - 08/26/2011:  04:57:19

Yes! Very clever and looks great.

Jonnycake White - Posted - 08/26/2011:  11:26:35

quote:

---

Originally posted by DantheBanjoMan

Great idea.  I actually like bone better than pearl for both visual and environmental reasons, plus the bone is thicker than pearl and the inlay won't be affected if the fingerboard ever needs to be leveled for a re-fret. 

BTW, how come bone is so dang expensive to buy from luthier supply houses?  Isn't it a waste product?  Can it really cost that much to process it?  I've been thinking of going down to my local butcher and seeing if I can get a few scraps to do some experimenting.

 

---

 Don't go to the butcher, go to the pet store and buy bleached sterilized cow bone.  That will save you the work of getting the grease out.  Look at the pieces closely and on end, and get as thick bone as you can.  The bone towards the inside cavity is much more porous and not suited for inlay.  Be prepared for some real stink when you cut it up and sand it flat.

Most of the inlay I've done has been in bone, and I love working with it except for preparing the blanks. 

bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/26/2011:  14:08:42

quote:

---

Originally posted by jwold

Just my opinions of course...



You certainly have the start of an ss stewart half-moon thing going on.

The numbers 3,6,9,8 thing just looks kind of "amateurish" in my opinion, same for the pinwheel on the first fret.

Interesting idea though, but I think those buttons belong on some civil-war reinactors underware, more than they belong on your banjo.



If it's #13 and you want to go with that spooky theme...get some scary inlays on there...jack o lanterns, devils and fire, witches and halloweeny stuff.

My .02

I don't think an amateur would get quite this far but your opinion is well regarded.

I was just waiting for a civil war guy eyeing up my buttons but they will have to find their own!

Wasn't going for a spooky theme, as I said "I am not superstitious" although I do like the imagery of devils and such but would not have one tattooed on my body or inlayed on my banjo.

The 8 is not an numeral but the infinity symbol and the maybe the 3, 6 and 9 are not really numbers but only design elements like some squiggly thing that is common to inlay work.

Part of the reason for the weirdness of the banjo is because it is mine and wanted to make it so that no one would possibly be interested in buying it.

Welcome to the right side of the brain.

RB

 

 

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BanjoBach - Posted - 08/27/2011:  02:54:25

What a great Idea and it looks good too!

Helix - Posted - 08/27/2011:  06:22:04

I enjoy the shapes to start with, quite an inventory of ideas just laid out there. I like them all, I don't care, I like 'em.

Now if you could export them like you guys have humidity. I think this IS the hottest year.

PD Kirby - Posted - 08/27/2011:  07:52:39

Pentagram at the 12th

bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/27/2011:  08:43:26

DantheBanjoMan, Thank you for the compliments and thanks to Jonnycake White for his suggestion about the dog bones in answer to your question.

Mark, jwold,Prof, dculgan and BanjoBach thank you all for commenting on my post.

Helix, Thanks for your support! Man it sure is hot! There has not been a single day in Laredo for over two months that it has not reached 100, at night it dips down to upper 80s or low 90s. Today is supposed to reach 112 and we're not talking heat index add 80% humidity to that and we're talkin' heat.

We'll be back in Arizona in about two weeks and will be at the Prescott Folk Music Festival, hope to see some AZ folks there.

PD Kirby, I like the pentagram idea but the design is complete and I'm routing for inlays this morning. I do have a couple of five point stars, does that count?

Attaching a couple of photos, the scribbles are the type of thing I do when searching for design ideas, they are drawn very quickly and all go into the trash after the project is completed.

eddie83 - Posted - 08/27/2011:  09:13:31

I was wondering what happened to this one. Good to see it coming back.

bordertownbrown - Posted - 08/27/2011:  10:25:49

Thanks Eddie, On a major push to get this banjo done, I'm sure you know what it's like when you set a project aside for too long.

By the way, I love that new blue banjo you built!

Bisbonian - Posted - 09/05/2011:  13:26:13

Hi Richard, 

I ALWAYS love looking at your work, and this banjo is an exceptional example.  I especially like your use of the buttons for inlay.

About a year ago, I built a mountain banjo for a friend, but he wanted frets.  To my eye, the frets made it look a bit too sophisticated, and I felt the need to bring some rustic character back into it... so I decided to use shirt buttons for fret markers.  He really likes pelicans, and I decided to add some sort of pelican inlay, and managed to find a much larger button at a sewing shop that I could turn into a pelican...you can see the holes are still there.   Not near as masterful a job as yours, of course, but it was a lot of fun, and he really liked the effect.  

SInce the posting format has changed, I haven't been able to get an image to post...maybe later.

Lawrence