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Jonnycake White - Posted - 09/22/2011: 10:29:28
This is my first pop-bottle head banjo - not to be confused with bottle-cap banjos. I wanted to see how simple and quickly and cheaply I could build a banjo to use the plastic from a 2-liter pop bottle (that's soda bottle for you young folks) for the head. After I mounted and shrank the head, I sanded it with fine grit paper a little bit, to give it a frosted appearance (and to disguise the scrapes and scratches that were already present).
This prototype is unfinished - literally, there is no finish on the wood. In fact the neck isn't even sanded yet. But I wanted to string it up to see what the sound is like given the dimensions of the pot (can you call a rectangular body a "pot"?).
The neck is made from a piece of 3/4" by 2" by 18" poplar, routed out using a template. It takes just a few minutes to make once I made the template and rough cut the wood. I elected to go with a slotted peghead to ensure the strings would lay down on the finger board. The "nut" is just a series of common brads which space and guide the strings. I whittled the pegs out - they are very rough still, but hold tension pretty well - since I have no violin pegs around at the moment. I went with friction pegs for reasons of economy and design, plus I don't like the high gear ratios for nylon strings. The strings are 30 lb test fishing line, with the 3rd and 4th strings wound from 2 and 4 plies, respectively. The bridge is cut from maple, and the strings hook over brads for the tailpiece.
The scale length is around 20 inches, and for the sound sample I recorded (Wildwood Flower) I have it tuned cGCeg (equivalent to Open G capoed at the 5th fret).
I hope to market this banjo, once I complete design and testing, in kit form for young folks (you know, the kind that say "soda" instead of "pop"). It's pretty fun to build, especially seeing that head shrink up under the loving influence of a blow dryer or camp fire.
My thanks to Mike Gregory for transmitting several of the ideas that went into this.
dickinnorwich - Posted - 09/22/2011: 11:19:43
Pretty cool.
One thing is for certain: You won't have to worry about an out-of-round rim.
xnavyguy - Posted - 09/22/2011: 11:30:37
Goes to show you that you can make good music on nearly anything. Nice job.
mike gregory - Posted - 09/22/2011: 15:27:25
Good for you, Mr. Cake!
The more time that kids spend picking banjos, the less time left over to go wreak havoc on the community.
Best of luck with your enterprise.
Tinfoot - Posted - 09/22/2011: 15:46:55
Just wait till we start making banjos out of toddlers left alone for too long at the local Goodwill... >_<
Waltj - Posted - 09/22/2011: 18:03:39
It sounds amazingly good for what it is. Have fun with the development and best of luck with it. This might well be the reason some kid develops a life long passion for the banjo.
Walt
BanjoBach - Posted - 09/23/2011: 03:44:05
Wow, what a wonderful & fun sounding instrument. You can play some real pop - ular music now.
rudy - Posted - 09/23/2011: 04:44:30
Squared El, move over! Thar's a new sherriff in town...
These types of seat-of-the-pants projects can be great fun, nice job Jon.
Why did you chose doubled line instead of going with heavier gauge Flourocarbon leader liike the Seagaur 50-90 lb stuff?
Jonnycake White - Posted - 09/23/2011: 08:23:54
quote:
Originally posted by rudy
Why did you chose doubled line instead of going with heavier gauge Flourocarbon leader liike the Seagaur 50-90 lb stuff?
I'm a real cheapskate. Doubling the line allowed me to spend only $2.50 for a 250 yard spool of the 30 lb. test line. I would have had to spend another $2.50 for a 50 lb. test spool. And I think that's as big as I could get at my local Walmart. We're a long way from the ocean here, I was surprised to find the 30 lb. test line. But I think the solid line would sound better - although I have no proof of that.
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Shawn Hoover - Posted - 09/23/2011: 09:37:25
That's awesome. I really like the stacked heel transitioning into dowel board. Is the rim also 3/4" poplar?
Jonnycake White - Posted - 09/23/2011: 16:35:52
quote:
Originally posted by shoover
That's awesome. I really like the stacked heel transitioning into dowel board. Is the rim also 3/4" poplar?
The rim and dowel stick on this one are maple because that's what I had around. I've made another rim of poplar but no neck for it yet, so I'll see if that makes much difference when I get some time.
primitive fred - Posted - 12/20/2011: 21:06:03
I'm a real cheapskate. Doubling the line allowed me to spend only $2.50 for a 250 yard spool of the 30 lb. test line. I would have had to spend another $2.50 for a 50 lb. test spool. And I think that's as big as I could get at my local Walmart. We're a long way from the ocean here, I was surprised to find the 30 lb. test line. But I think the solid line would sound better - although I have no proof of that.
Yep - a solid line does sound different and plays better - but I actually really like the sound of braided line!
I first saw the braided line trick used on a Tibetan banjo lute called a dramyen and I loved it! I then made a three fishing line braided d-string and installed it on an old mountain banjo of mine. It developed a real plunk! A very antique sort of sound but ... it doesn't fret as cleanly and I then had problems with buzzes which it took me quite a bit of work to fix. After a while I went back to weed whacker line for my low d string to shoot for consistency of tone across all the strings but I think I made a mistake and I miss the character of my braided string!
I love your pop-bottle head idea - I'm going to try it - thanks!
mike gregory - Posted - 12/21/2011: 06:12:33
About doubling the line:
When I'm giving my banjo-making demo to a bunch of kids and or adults, I expolain that, in pioneer days, it was a long time between mailing an order back to the East, and having the stagecoach bring a new set of strings.
So, some folks would have a spool of "Music Wire", basically a light guage string, and they would reel off a single length for replacing a light string, and double and twist it for heavier guages.
And other folks would use fishline, button thread, whatever was available.
