Tylerb1 - Posted - 03/17/2015:  14:48:21

The Old Duffer is looking good. Bob

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/17/2015:  17:21:28

Tyler,

Well you have started this competition thing a whole lot younger than I did! By the time you grow up like me you should have won a bunch. In fact I just did the math...

When you reach my great linage 35 years will have passed, divide that by 3,  multiply that number times 2  and the result is gained: 23.6666666666666666666666666666666666 times that you could possably win the TENNESSEE STATE OLD-TIME BANJO CHAMPIONSHIP.

And I hope you do...

and I hope you get a new Knowles banjo for ever third one too!

By the way, what's this I hear about you performing with Norman Blake last Saturday evening?

Bob,

It's all ready for you, playing and sounding as sweet as ever!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/17/2015:  17:51:40

TUESDAY

More tonight on the guitar building front... 

I'll be installing a rosette on a guitar I'm now nick-naming Yin & Yang. This technique is one wich may be used quite effectively on a banjo resonator.

When we last looked at this top I had already laid out the soundhole placement on the front of the top. Following this it was easy to mount the top on a work board and lay out the inside edge of the rosette...

With all that figured I went in the back room and found an English walnut burl that I every so often chaw off a hunk to make the inner ring of a rosette. Then it was jointed and glued together, saw dust and cyno filled the voids and cyno was used to give support to the wood for milling...

Starting to cut out the inner ring...

First cut complete...

And cut out...

I started the ring routing then I remembered that I always spray the routing aria to help control fuzz and split out. So I sprayed it anyway...

Two rings of purfiling are installed with thick cyno. The 1/4" dowel is a perfect separator...

All glued up and ready for scraping...

Scraping...

Scraping complete. The top is now ready to be flipped over and braced. BTW that smal void at the top or bottom of the soundhole depending how you look at it, will be covered by the end of the fingerboard...

SEE Y'ALL TOMORROW!!!

kvdkieft - Posted - 03/17/2015:  18:20:40

quote:How did the performance go with Norman ?

We don't get to see him out here in California any more. Lucky you!

---

Originally posted by Dan Knowles

Tyler,

Well you have started this competition thing a whole lot younger than I did! By the time you grow up like me you should have won a bunch. In fact I just did the math...

When you reach my great linage 35 years will have passed, divide that by 3,  multiply that number times 2  and the result is gained: 23.6666666666666666666666666666666666 times that you could possably win the TENNESSEE STATE OLD-TIME BANJO CHAMPIONSHIP.

And I hope you do...

and I hope you get a new Knowles banjo for ever third one too!

By the way, what's this I hear about you performing with Norman Blake last Saturday evening?

 

Bob,

It's all ready for you, playing and sounding as sweet as ever!

---

steveh_2o - Posted - 03/17/2015:  18:41:00

I was out wondering around the hall Saturday while Tyler performed. I didn't realize intermission was over. My 12 year old son Riley (a.k.a. señor shaky cam) recorded it for me with his iPod.

I'll be glad to post it if Tyler doesn't mind.

The good news is: I did hear him warming up in the hall earlier and had myself a close up look at Scarecrow and the Shipwreck.

tylerandal - Posted - 03/17/2015:  22:41:04

Oh man!  It was a lot of fun actually!  I have never met norman before that day.  A few of my friends were wanting to put a little band together for an old time festival in Chattanooga saturday and asked me to play guitar for them...  On the way down there, I got a call from them saying they needed me to play bass instead  because they got norman blake playing guitar now.  Ha!  It was great and I could ask for a better guitar player to take my spot.  I would much rather listen to norman play than me play myself.  But it all worked out great in the end and we got to play several tunes together.  It was a great band too!  Daniel Rothwell was playing banjo and singin...  If you guys don't know him, he's well worth getting to know as well.

Steve, I'd love to hear it!  I was kind of hoping there might be a video out there in the world.  it was so much fun!  Thanks.

And Dan, as far as clarksville goes, I think you forgot to calculate all the times you are going to win it still and how I'm going to have enter on the years you have to sit out...  hahha

steveh_2o - Posted - 03/18/2015:  05:05:42

Here it is!

He didn't get the camera rolling quite on time.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/19/2015:  04:00:39

Steve,

Thanks for posting that video, cool!

Tyler,

Does that mean I should start competing again? Is that a challenge?

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/19/2015:  04:35:39

WEDNESDAY

Here it is early Thursday morning and I'm remunerating and masticating over the day that has passed.

Last evening my brother Allen and his wife Delphine  arrived and we spent the evening yick yackin'. Had a great time!

I forgot to post a couple of photos of working on my pal Bob Tyler's banjo "Old Duffer". And I wanted to. So here it is sans its strings..

And a'clippin' the ends of the new strings...

Here I'm splitting a piece of white oak for a rosette. It will be similar to the last one that I did. This is from a side drop. The piece only needs to finish out around .040" thick. I used the tall fence and a scrap piece of MDF to make a zero clearance throat guard. The scrap piece of plywood acts as a featherboard and keeps the wood tight against the fence.

It made a nice book match once the pieces were jointed and glued with thick cyno...

A few trips through the thickness sander and they were a nice .040" thick. Here I'm laying out the ring...

Cutting out the ring...

Do you remember the banjo head that I tried to hand scrape a few weeks ago. Well...

It didn't work. when I started tensioning it up it ripped starting at a point where I had scraped to deeply. Here I remove the excess before re installing the tension hoop...

Applying some shellac before routing...

VISITORS!

That's my luthier friend Chris Altice (L) from Rocky Mount, Virginia and Bob Tyler (R) with his Knowles "Old Duffer" banjo.

M

More Soon!!!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/19/2015:  06:02:18

Dan

The best part of todays post is seeing three happy friends.  The "Old Duffer" is quite nice also.  And I enjoyed the rest of your post also.    

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/19/2015:  06:22:49

Yep have to agree three smiling faces makes the day and Old Duffer is the cherry on top!

kvdkieft - Posted - 03/19/2015:  08:16:02

I would love to see a full brochure of all of your banjos that you have made! What fun it would be! Seeing Old Duffer brought that on!

The Pope - Posted - 03/19/2015:  11:06:10

Re: Pi day. 3.14.15 9:26:53 I don't think it's once in a century - it will never happen again since next year it would be 3.14.16.

What is the theory with the guitar with the split top?

cbcarlisle - Posted - 03/19/2015:  12:07:43

...once a millennium: 3015 - if we last that long...

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/19/2015:  14:18:48

PI day, could this also work:  2115.14.15 9:26:53?  Everyone I know seems to think so.  Same as this time, just drop the first two digits.

Kaelri - Posted - 03/19/2015:  19:40:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by guitarman8491

Yep have to agree three smiling faces makes the day and Old Duffer is the cherry on top!

---

How could anyone even open this thread up to read without smiling, wondering what Dan is up to each and every day?  I know we do 'round here! This is one of my many "happy places" each day. 

Tylerb1 - Posted - 03/19/2015:  20:22:18

Dan,
Maybe you need to post some pictures of the past wonderful outstanding works of art. The" Duffer" does look sweet and sounds great....

The Pope - Posted - 03/20/2015:  10:46:36

CB, right you are! Oops! 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/21/2015:  11:58:20

Dave, Doug & Ellen

Thanks!

Kenny & BOB,

Perhaps I can do something like that sometime. But in the meantime I've this little video called BANJO ARTISIAN  youtube.com/watch?v=r80XgXYfG8Q

​Eric, Curt & Dave,

Huh.....................

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/21/2015:  12:17:00

SATURDAY

We have had a wonderful time with Allen & Delphine. Unfortunately  (for us) they left early this morning headed for Nashville to visit Gruhn Guitars & Carter Vintage Guitars and (hopefully)  our favorite Taco Truck!

During their time here we had a large time catching up, going (for a short time) to the shop and yesterday going to Fort Donaldson (Dover, Tennessee). I hardly had a moment to get near the computer till now.

So here for a quick catch up...

Here's Allen (a fine woodworker himself) watching me sawing....

Wen over in Dover yesterday we went to the Land Between The Lakes and came upon this buffalo heard...

A wonderful lunch was had by all yesterday at the Dover Grill, not fancy just homemade ad very good! So there we all are (L to R) yer riter, my sweet wife Debbie, Delphine and Allen....

See Y'all Soon!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/21/2015:  13:35:36

Four smiling faces waiting for lunch

It doesn't get much better than this, unless you all are playing an instrument.



The buffalo heard is like a step back in time.

 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/21/2015:  18:36:08

Dave,

Well I  must say that Allen and I got quite a bit of pickin' in. He is a very fine well trained musician and I was fortunate enough to be able to take a master class in jazz guitar chord work while he was here.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/21/2015:  18:49:32

A FEW MORE PHOTOS

I thought that these photos had vanished up into the interspear, but looking through Photobucket they were discovered. So I'm posting then now... I hope you don't mind.

On Thursday, while Allen was here, he came down to the shop and worked with me for a few hours. One of the things that we accomplished was making a 25' radius sanding jig.  Here Allen is sand fitting the convex side of the jig...

We also cut and fitted the X-braces for the Yin & Yang guitar... 

Here tiz....

More Soon... I hope!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/22/2015:  05:45:19

Is the twenty five foot radius sanding jig for the top braces?

Its double the fun when you have a friend with you in the shop.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/22/2015:  08:01:28

Dave,

Yes it is for the top braces.

60spicker - Posted - 03/22/2015:  09:03:14

Dan, is that you picking in the Banjo Artisan video? If so, who's the guitar picker? Great stuff, as always. Say hello your most tolerant wife Debbie for me. :-)

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/22/2015:  09:39:21

Terry,

Debbie says hello! 

The guitar player is my friend and favorite guitar player of all Tim May. You can learn a bunch about this great musician at his website timmaymusic.net/

There is also a great video with Tim interview by the MelBay folks here that is quite worth checking out! 

kvdkieft - Posted - 03/22/2015:  17:12:40

Great picture before dinner! My kudos to Debbie too!!! She is great!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/22/2015:  18:36:07

Kenny,

Thanks, I think so too!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/22/2015:  19:07:59

SATURDAY 

on

SUNDAY

Tonight we've got a bunch of photos from yesterday, today and perhaps tomrrow. It all depends just how you look at it...

Saturday mornings luthier calls was a bit shy with Kevin sick and Thomas in Atlanta with his grandkids. So just in case you have trouble with math like me, I'll let you in on something,  only Zeb and I were there.

Zeb worked on making a very creative butt strap for his guitar. First tough he had to trim off all of the top and back plate overhang...

He cut out a butt strip transferred its shape to the guitar and here is routing a cavity for it to fit in.

The rest of the braces and tone bars were cut an laid in their places...

After shaping the gluing starts...

All glued and clamped...

I went looking for some more photos of Bob Tyler's cocobolo banjo Shelia or "The Old Duffer". Bob is a very good golfer and wanted his banjo to celebrate that love. So we have the golf ball, green stain and hole flags with numbers which match their frets.

Here is the peghead.

And that pretty rim...

This afternoon I had a bit of time that I could spend down at the shop so I went and removed the go-barrs...

Although the braces were basically shaped before gluing there was still some final shaping and sanding.

Here I'm using a small (cheep) model makers) plane to trim and shape tone bars...

And triming brace ends down to their final 1/8" thickness...

MORE SOON!!!

Kaelri - Posted - 03/22/2015:  20:01:40

Dan, if I may, I have a question about the Go Bar clamping thing you use. (Thing sounds real classy. huh? ) I wondered..... what does the top of that clamp look like? Is it adjustable so you can add or rake away pressure on the braces you are gluing?  (No picture needed, just wondering)  Also, I was curious if you have to replace those bendable "sticks" often that do the work to hold the braces in place? Seems like they would wear out or break after a time of use........become kindling for the fireplace? Ha.

cbcarlisle - Posted - 03/22/2015:  21:13:00

The buffalo heard is like a step back in time.

 

That must be why the deer and the antelope are seldom herd.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/23/2015:  06:12:33

Ellen,

Thanks for asking. The top of my go-barr deck is just a piece of plywood and at present is non-adjustable. But I intend to cure that soon. The fact that it doesn't break down causes it to consume too much room in the shop. I'll use threaded rods when I redo it so it will be fully adjustable up or down.

Except for some dowels that I bought (and don't like) all of my rods are scrap oak or maple flooring ripped to about a 3/16" thickness. I've never had any of these break and they return to a sort of straight state within a short time of removal.

Curt, 

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/23/2015 06:13:27

guitarman8491 - Posted - 03/23/2015:  09:58:38

Dan..that "Old Duffer" is a right nice banjo...wonderful artistry and workmanship!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/23/2015:  18:59:59

Doug,

Thanks!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/23/2015:  19:42:18

MONDAY

Ok. I wasn't gonna let you in on this, but this morning Debbie and I went out and bought a used Prius. We've been needing a second vehicle for some time and have been out looking and shopping. We were hoping to find one (that would fit our budget) before I head out on the road in a couple of weeks.

Can you believe that my winter break is nearly over? The American Queen is clling along with her new sister ACL boat The American Eagle. My feet are sure getting itchy to travel.

Well anyway we found this one at our local Toyota dealer. 2011, not a killer deal but we can afford it and it fits our needs. It rides nice and is pearly white too!

Off and running on David Emery's white oak 000.

Oneist I got to workin' in the shop this morning I first thicknessed the top. Well more like sanded the rosette flush to the rest of the top. Then I routed out the soundhole...

Here tiz. All cut out. that little dark aria is a filler piece that will be covered by the sound board.

Preparing to cut the x-braces...

Sand fitting the bottom of the brace....

X-brace fit & glued together is getting some glue to stick it to the top...

Placing the go-barrs...

Two tone bars yet to be glued in. I'll do it in the morning before I clean the shop up for students...

Debbie came by the shop and pulled me away from brace gluing to watch (and listen) to our granddaughter Katelan perform with a county wide middle school chorus. That's Katelan dressed in blue, in the center, standing next to a blond girl with a black tee shirt.

David I know it was your guitar I's a workin' on but I'm sure glad I left to see this! They all did great and she sure made her grandpa proud!

More Soon!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/23/2015:  21:21:33

You can't slow a good man down, buy a car, work in the shop, watch granddaughter perform, all in one day!!    And find time to post here!  

I am as always impressed.

DEmery - Posted - 03/24/2015:  08:02:43

Dan even I understand putting down the guitar top and heading over to see your grand girl perform.  One word about that top. Each time I see a the graining in this top it amazes me. The white oak around the sound hole with violin purfling turned out very well..., didn't it? Gonna be a fine piece. I will keep watching.........  David E.

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/24/2015:  19:13:45

Dave,

Thanks!

David,

Hopefully you'll see a bit more in tonights post!

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/24/2015:  19:33:37

TUESDAY

Yes sir ree, Tuesday means an afternoon full of students, each growing and learning in their own unique way. It's quite interesting watching, listening and playing music with each. And each on their separate instruments starting with Jordan on mandolin and winding up the evening with Raybon with his banjo. Good times!

Early this morning I dug into David emery's top. You will remember that I left it with most of the braces & tone bars gluing under go-bars. Today those were taken off  (the go-bars that is) and the lower tone bars were fit and glued in...

As the glue set up on the lower tone bars, the side bars were carved...

And the shoulder brace too!

Yes!

Soon it was time for lunch and then to teach.

After (BHO's) Raybon Moore's banjo lesson was done I  asked him if he's like to see the top come out of the clamping.

"Of course" he said with a look that spoke volumes.

So off came the bars...

And Raybon checked the top out...

Both sides!

MORE TOMORROW!!

DEmery - Posted - 03/25/2015:  04:00:36

Wish I could have been there to see the top when it came out from the bars. Looks like the braces are carved differently from the bass side to treble. More mass to control the bass notes? Do you tap the top on both sides until it responds the way you want? I know you turn rims until it thumps right. David E.

60spicker - Posted - 03/25/2015:  07:51:21

Dan, ahma wonderin. Why doesn't horizontal pressure work in the go-barr process? You'll need to use your wonderful imagination here, but it seems to me that if you could build something like this with your 3/16 pieces of scrap, lock them in place, and then provide uniform downward pressure, it would become a much smaller, more manageable, and easier to use device.

Go Barr Concept

 

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/25/2015:  17:44:48

David,

 That is correct the braces are carved differently side to side. Usually I'll cave the brass side tone bars a bit lighter on this type of guitar. It is subtle though. The braces here are not totally tuned yet. That will be done sometime before it is glued to the sides.

Terry,

That is an interesting idea. Your photos though remind me of gluing using vacuum presses which is where I intend to go in the not to distant future.

Edited by - Dan Knowles on 03/25/2015 17:45:50

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/25/2015:  18:11:01

WEDNESDAY

IN THE BANJO SHOP

Today was a banjo workin' day. Almost no guitar work. Felt like comin' home!

I started out the day working on this Slingerland tenor.

Yesterday I mounted a new skin head on it. Today I trimmed the head and put it back together.

Shucks. I got the wrong photo. Where are the strings?? The bridge??? 

After the tenor was complete I prepped a banjo neck blank, Thicknessed wood for the peghead overlays & backstraps,  and glued it up. 

Sorry, no photo of that either....

After that I grabbed a rim blank and turned it.

Right photo.

Outside first...

Then did the inside. This will be a integral wood tone ring, not metal & not separate from the rim....

And then sanding to 220...

After flipping the rim in the chuck and turning the bottom end, I cut rabbits for the binding. Both inside and out.

Not yet glued I'm marking the inner binding so I can cut it...

Cut, glued and in! Tomorrow I'll turn it to slick it up!

During a free few moments I cut out a chunk of walnut for the Yin and Yang guitar's side and back...

At the end of the day I sat down and enjoyed the Slingerland tenor. I'm certainly not a great tenor player, but I do enjoy BANJO and that is what matters!

MORE SOON!!!

cbrianroll - Posted - 03/25/2015:  19:02:00

I'm still not understanding the 50 50 top. Will the tone be that much different? Because bass and treble different woods?

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/26/2015:  06:15:56

Ben,

The short answer is yes. 

The long answer:

As instrument builders we spend our hours dealing with subtleties.As musicians we listen for these subtleties. We are always trying to tweak, change or improve our instruments tone or playability parameters. This is one of the reasons so many of us spend a fair amount of time thinking and discussing these picayune  details.  Weights of bridges, types of materials, amounts of particular species of wood, has the wood been roasted or not, the list goes on To Infinity and Beyound!

Even after the experience of building several hundred instruments I still think for hours about this. 

Once I told my pal David Emery (and have been often reminded) "Everything matters!" And it does, every change effects the sound or playability of an instrument. If that change is good-bad, valuable or not, is always in the ear or hands of the player. This is the most important thing for builders to always remember: it's not about us.

That said, my client for this guitar is a fine fingerstyle player with a very light attack. He is wanting a smaller bodied guitar  with a full resonant base and an even balance across all registers. He also wished for a guitar that expressed certain philosophical ideas, ie. the balance of differences in nature (thus Yin and Yang). Small order, huh!

After several hours of consultation, exploring ideas,  picking and such this was the project plan. Redwood-spruce top, maple-walnut back and sides, mahogany neck. The spruce should give a nice clarity and snap to the upper registers, while the redwood should impart sweetness & roundness to the lows.

Hopefully when complete it will more than match his expectations!

Dave1climber - Posted - 03/26/2015:  06:22:33

History would indicate that this will be an instrument that is very pleasing to the eye and ear.  

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/26/2015:  18:26:41

Dave...Hope so....

Dan Knowles - Posted - 03/26/2015:  18:53:59

THURSDAY

'WINGS"

Lookie, lookie, lookie!!!

 I got an email today from (BHO member) Jon Eaton posted a video he shot of us playing  WINGS at the recent Lee Academy For the Arts concert. I hope you enjoy it!

youtube.com/watch?feature=play...Due1ItRSs

​

For me that first part of tonights post fulfilled everything for me at least! Makes it a bit difficult to finish up the post! Still.... 

Back at the shop this morning I finished turning yesterdays rim...

And cut the peghead out for the matching banjo neck... oh ya I also carved the thing too...

Also I laid out and drilled for the bracket shoes & c-rod...

MORE TOMORROW!!!