uncle.fogey - Posted - 07/02/2012:  16:50:00

I have the necks fairly finished, in terms of shape, and now I have to shape the heels so that I have a good contact with the rim.

This means I have to  assemble the pots so that I have something to fit them to.

We’ve come a long way with this -here’s a picture of all the parts we wanted to make back in April:





So, now, all those parts are made, and I have to put them together - for one thing, to see if they all actually fit.   I don’t want to have to keep finishing things over and over, so I have done pretty much everyt preliminary that has to be done to these.

Now I have to assemble and finish them.

At the beginning of the project, I decided to use raw brass with patinas instead of nickel or gold plating.   Of course, I could always change my mind and plate these things later - the patina is not permanent, but I like the patina idea - it ages, it looks “old” it has character, and it doesn’t inhibit the sound, it looks unusual for a BG banjo.

First thing, to get all the oils etc off the parts, I run them through the dishwasher, along with plates and coffee mugs, which gives them the beginnings of a patina right out of the gate.





Then I start soaking them in “Brass darkening solution” There are many ways to do this - JAX, liver of sulfur, etc - this is only one way - I'm sure we'll find other ones. I like the colors you can get - blue, red, brown.

I am using the water trays from  flower pots you can get from garden centers:

You  soak them, brush them, then pull them out and rinse them in water when the color gets the way you want it - left long enough, they will turn brown:



After they have gotten the patina, you touch up parts of them, especially the edges with a buffer or 3M cloth. They will get like this all by themselves, but I like to see it right away:





Now I have a lot of parts, and I have to put them together.  You can see that I have to tap the bracket bands on with a block and hammer - they fit tight like hoops on a barrel. I now have two pots - the parts are interchangeable between one another.   You can see the lively colors of the patinas here

I have to interject one thing here - there has been a lively discussion going on about steam bent rims. The rim to the left of these pictures was made in January from a beech tree cut around Christmas. After making the slats, steaming and bending and glueing, I let it dry for two weeks and turned it down. Now 6 months later, (it has been in my heated shop) - it has not shrunk AT ALL, or gone out of round AT ALL - I have to pound the bracket band on with a hammer, like a barrel hoop and the tone rings fit perfectly. It is EXACTLY the same as it was 6 months ago, and EXACTLY the same outside dimension-wise as the maple finger-jointed one that is made from 35 year old wood.  I just thought I should bring that up for the benefit of those who may be intimidated and swayed by thinking you should use kiln-dried wood. Enough said.

The resonator flange plate, is made like the old PW Gibson 2PF plates - every other hole is bigger, so you can remove the plate without taking the whole thing apart - here you can see how it works., I am doing this because these banjos are “multi-purpose” - openback or resonator "OBBG"s, and you might want to take off the flange.

Great idea - I wish I had thought of this, but I'm late by 85 years.

Before I put the heads on, I rub the top ring with parrafin. - Tympani players do this to make the head slip better so that it doesn’t get hung up when you tighten and tune the head - I think it's a good idea, and another one I didn't think of:



Then I put them all together - here’s what they look like:



 Next step is to tune them and fit the necks.

You’ll notice that the resonators have no heel openings - I’ll do that soon, and I‘ll finish the necks and resonators together, side by side.