Dan N - Posted - 06/29/2012:  09:58:30

I ordered my Rickard banjo kit in mid April and received it in early June. I ordered it with everything but the finish and the final assembly. There is a photo album on my home page showing what it looked like as delivered and after completion.



It is made of curly maple. The rim is 12" diameter two ply 1/2" thick with a Dobson tone ring. The neck has a 25.5"  scale and a frailing scoop. I ordered two nuts and two bridges so that I could change between steel string and nylon.



As it was delivered it was assembled but not finished or set up. I played it for a couple of days in that state because I couldn't resist. It was strung with medium guage steel strings. Tuned to double C, the 4th string buzzed. That was because the neck relief hadn't been set yet.



I had done a lot of practice samples to figure out the finish I wanted. It turned out that the curly maple in the banjo was much nicer than the sample material I had. I was getting discouraged at the results I was getting until I tried a test on the end of the dowel stick. The wood is where the magic happens in bringing out the curly figure. I used Transtint dye, some light coats of de-waxed shellac and some top coats of Tru-Oil.



I assembled it with nylon strings (Aquila classic). I found out that I don't care for nylon and switched back to steel. I'm using 10, 12, 14, 22w 10 guages. I really like the tone produced when I tune to double D or A. I found a string tension calculator on the web and checked to see that the tensions were reasonable with the 25.5 scale. With these gauges and scale length, the A tuning tension resembles G tuning with medium strings on a 26.25 scale.



The last thing I did was use some Stelling Glyde Coat polish on the neck. It makes the neck feel very smooth. You rub it on, let it dry and wipe it off. It makes a white coating that comes off as a fine white dust, so you have to be careful not to get the dust on everything.



I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

Finshed 1

Finished 2

Finished 4

olsneelock - Posted - 06/29/2012:  10:38:12

Oh my, ...beautiful.

jw

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 06/29/2012:  11:16:01

Gorgeous!

Danaher - Posted - 06/29/2012:  11:28:43

That looks great!

Ottawa - Posted - 06/29/2012:  11:35:50

Congrats.  I love its simplistic beauty.  Good job on the finishing.  Now we just have to hear it!

aeroweenie - Posted - 06/29/2012:  17:45:38

Well done, it looks great!

Pine Cone - Posted - 06/30/2012:  09:47:41

Looks great!  Do you remember what shade of Transtint dye you used?

Dexter - Posted - 06/30/2012:  09:53:00

Dan N.....it looks beautiful.....very good job on the finish......Rick