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Turnabout945 - Posted - 12/14/2013: 22:57:47
Anyone else out there start on a bottlecap banjo, upgrade and wonder what the heck to do with the bottlecap? Well, I got sick of mine sitting around doing nothing, so I decided to throw in a set of classical guitar strings on a recent order from Elderly and try turning the bottlecap into a cello banjo. It actually sounds pretty good! Certainly better than it ever sounded as a regular banjo. So if you're wondering what to do with a bottlecap, I'd recommend re-purposing it into a cello banjo!
(In case you're wondering, I'm using the GHS Doyle Dykes nylon classical set, 3-6 for 1-4, and the 2nd string for the 5th, because that's what someone else on the hangout did with their Gold Tone Cello Banjo when they got sick of paying Gold Tone $20 a set for strings.)
xnavyguy - Posted - 12/15/2013: 03:55:50
Certainly better than making it a wall hanger or a clock.
mike gregory - Posted - 12/15/2013: 06:07:40
I just happen to have one more banjo than I really need.
I'll see about getting a set of Doyle Dykes strings, and the one string I don't need for the cello, I'll put on one of my Wonderful One-Stringd WUNJO DeLuxe instruments.
Anybody e-mail me, I'll e-mail WUNJO plans, free.
Turnabout945 - Posted - 12/15/2013: 14:27:14
One thing I should've mentioned about the Doyle Dykes strings is that there's no loop or ball on the end. I found them not too difficult to deal with, but they're pretty short strings, too, so I'd recommend trying something else if you have a long scale length you're not confident you can do something with the end without using a ton of string. The strings were barely long enough for my bottlecap (I believe it has a 27.5" scale), but those strings should be pretty comfortable on 26.25" scale and shorter.
Love the name of the WUNJO. What kind of music can you play on it?
Edited by - Turnabout945 on 12/15/2013 14:30:12
rcmoore - Posted - 12/15/2013: 15:04:46
I re-purposed a few extra parts, including a bottle-cap rim, that I had lying around and came up with a real Franken Banjo. It did not sound so bad after a few tweaks.
Bob Moore
Playin the radio - Posted - 12/15/2013: 16:20:33
quote:
Originally posted by rcmoore
I re-purposed a few extra parts, including a bottle-cap rim, that I had lying around and came up with a real Franken Banjo. It did not sound so bad after a few tweaks.
Bob Moore
I've seen those parts before but I can't remember if they were on a horse drawn John Deere hay rake or Foley Bel-Saw sawmill.
mike gregory - Posted - 12/15/2013: 18:25:45
You can always tie some really heavy fishline to the top end of the strings for extra length.
Might look less attractive, but what the heck, it works, and that's more important.
pickincat - Posted - 12/16/2013: 00:31:54
I had one of those bottlecap banjos. I soon outgrew it or wanted more. It wasn't a bad banjo per se. I had a guitar player friend who was an organizer for many of the bluegrass and fiddlin' events in our area. It wasn't a paying a job and he had no money. I had so much fun at one of the events he organized that I gave him the bottlecap as a gift. Next thing that happened was a few others from the events were glad he finally had a banjo wanted to fix it up for him. They did a pretty nice damn job on it and he is enjoying it still. Now I have guitar player friend who also plays the banjo.
Edited by - pickincat on 12/16/2013 00:45:42
