steveh_2o - Posted - 07/22/2014:  21:23:33

So I saw a post here on the BHO fron rudy  And it set me off thinking.   I have made a few attempts at tin can banjos since this past spring with some personal success. My work so far could probably be best described as folk art that can be played.

I had never been a banjo player but I have been trying to get some music out of number 3 here with limited results:

Anyway so on to the "cane joe".   I spent the better part of the week plotting in my mind after rudy's post got the gears turning.   My dad collects walking sticks so I try to make him one here and there for birthdays and what not.  

This past Sunday I snuck out to the wood shop and found a nice piece of cedar up in the rafters and tackled it. After several refits and failures and successes I put it together this evening.  I suppose it is a prototype.

I thought it was cool so I have worked up my nerve and made my first forum topic on the BHO. 

______________________________________________________________________

At first I had a small cookie tin on the front of the neck and a short bridge but it had a terrible rattle.   The bridge is a T shape now through a hole with a pickle jar lid for  "pot".   It is strung with fishing line (20, 30, 50lb test).

With peg tuners pointing east and west It probably wouldn't be a great idea to use for a hiking trip.

It may need to come back apart for some shaping and polishing but it may not. 

With out further aye due...  the Stick!

Now it doesn't sound like a concert hall or anything and my playing is ummm marginal, but it has a bit of volume and a sound.  Here is the video with crickets off my back porch.

youtube.com/watch?v=GRhLHdGlo04

Thanks for looking!

Steve

Mr Walden - Posted - 07/23/2014:  00:19:51

That's some real creativity there! I've seen walking stick instruments and so forth, but you've definitely given it an artistic twist. I enjoyed the video.

mike gregory - Posted - 07/23/2014:  04:48:56

I can't tell by looking.
From what did you make the frets?

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  05:08:19

quote:

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Originally posted by mike gregory

I can't tell by looking.

From what did you make the frets?

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They are actual fret wire.  I used the stainless steel backing strips off of windshield wipers (something I found online) on one of my tin cans but they were terrible to get level.   I ordered a cheap piece of fret wire from ebay. 

championofnorthhuron - Posted - 07/23/2014:  05:16:31

I can make out the tune... 'There's No Place Like Home', right? So I guess that is at least some testament to the design, accurate tuning, and your playing. Nice!

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  05:30:16

quote:

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Originally posted by championofnorthhuron

I can make out the tune... 'There's No Place Like Home', right? So I guess that is at least some testament to the design, accurate tuning, and your playing. Nice!

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Ha!  Thanks!  I'm not sure about the tune.   It started out as 'Home Sweet Home' as best I remember it by ear but I think I may have done some  umm...re-arrangement.   I caught a video a few years back of Mr. Knowles playing it and a few notes stick in my head.   Here is the video!

Dan Knowles at Holladay 2010.

I wish I could do that.

rudy - Posted - 07/23/2014:  06:27:38

Very nice, Steve.  No reason not to be proud of your creation.  You obviously have the beginnings of a long and creative career!

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  06:40:12

quote:

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Originally posted by rudy

Very nice, Steve.  No reason not to be proud of your creation.  You obviously have the beginnings of a long and creative career!

 

 

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Thanks!  

mike gregory - Posted - 07/23/2014:  07:13:51

I like the T- bridge.

If I redesign my cookie-tin banjos to use that, it will make construction even quicker and cheaper.
Since I sell them for $20 at craft fairs, cheaper in better.

Jonnycake White - Posted - 07/23/2014:  09:30:56

Yes, the T bridge idea is intriguing.  It would be interesting to see how it would sound with a bigger piece of metal - a cookie tin or whatever.

I tried the stainless steel windshield wiper strips for frets also - first on edge like normal frets in slots, then glued on their sides like Mike G. does.  I couldn't be satisfied with either way.  Yesterday I refretted the neck that had the glued-on frets with normal fret wire.  It is poplar and was too soft to hold the wire very well so I epoxied them in the slots.  Easier to do and get good results than using the strips, I think.

Good work, Steve - and soon you'll be addicted.  Keep it up.

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  09:51:25

The T bridge was what I came up with after I already had the hole through my stick. The slot in front of the hole was to hold the cookie tin in place where i cut it and left a tab. With the stick running all the way across I couldn't get the bridge low enough and still have any sound to speak of.

After I strapped the lid to the back there wasn't enough tension on the strings the way I had them tied so I had to put another strap across them. The bridge will slide forward if you bump it but it hasn't really been a problem. I thought about gluing it but I'm not sure it would hold or if it would affect the sound.

I am thinking about trying to find a bigger "pot" and come up with some sort of quick change system on the next build. One for sound and another for portability.

mike gregory - Posted - 07/23/2014:  13:43:40

I was inspired to cobble up an experimental  banjo uke.

banjohangout.org/topic/288613/#3637447

As for quick-change pots, how about four short lag  screws, instead of the nice wooden strap?

Drill 2 holes in the smaller pot, slap it on, tighten  the wing nuts, and there it is.

FOUR holes in the larger pot, two of which are big enough to miss touching the bolts for the smaller one.

Tighten the same 2 wing nuts, but on the OUTER bolts, and you've got a free-swinging circle of tin to push the air.

mike gregory - Posted - 07/23/2014:  13:56:36

quote:

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Originally posted by Jonnycake White

Yes, the T bridge idea is intriguing.  It would be interesting to see how it would sound with a bigger piece of metal - a cookie tin or whatever.

I tried the stainless steel windshield wiper strips for frets also - first on edge like normal frets in slots, then glued on their sides like Mike G. does.  I couldn't be satisfied with either way.  Yesterday I refretted the neck that had the glued-on frets with normal fret wire.  It is poplar and was too soft to hold the wire very well so I epoxied them in the slots.  Easier to do and get good results than using the strips, I think.

Good work, Steve - and soon you'll be addicted.  Keep it up.

---

Here's a cookie tin with 2 pieces of fishline and a cobbled-up version of the Steveh 2o T Bridge

banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  14:05:21

quote:

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Originally posted by mike gregory

I was inspired to cobble up an experimental  banjo uke.

banjohangout.org/topic/288613/#3637447

 

As for quick-change pots, how about four short lag  screws, instead of the nice wooden strap?

Drill 2 holes in the smaller pot, slap it on, tighten  the wing nuts, and there it is.

 

FOUR holes in the larger pot, two of which are big enough to miss touching the bolts for the smaller one.

Tighten the same 2 wing nuts, but on the OUTER bolts, and you've got a free-swinging circle of tin to push the air.

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I like it.

I was afraid to drill holes because I thought it would be a bad idea to stabilize the surface of my jar lid too much.  I put a bow in my strap so the lid is free across the flat surface.

Looking at your T bridge I wasn't sure how much space there is around your post.   I thought if it touched the sides it would muffle the sound also.   I left it free standing with only the strings holding mine in place.   

After I plinked around on it for a while today it seems like the strings polished the bridge enough it stopped being as stable and started sliding around a bit.   I roughed up the fishing line a bit where it crosses the bridge with a pair of dull scissors and it seems to have fixed the problem.  

Here is a closeup of my bridge:

Steve

Edited by - steveh_2o on 07/23/2014 14:12:51

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  19:42:53

So tonight I took the canejo into my "recording studio" (Cell Phone in the closet) and tried to play Amazing Grace.  

mike gregory - Posted - 07/23/2014:  19:48:06

Not bad at all.



I might say it was amazingly graceful, but you wouldn't believe me.



Anyway, did you more or less 'Invent" the T bridge, or did you see one somewhere?



I just made a 3-stringed banjo with fishline strings, eybolt pegs, and a T bridge, penciled on frets, and it took me under an hour.



Maybe I'll post sound files tomorrow.

Edited by - mike gregory on 07/23/2014 19:51:37

steveh_2o - Posted - 07/23/2014:  20:02:03

quote:

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Originally posted by mike gregory

Not bad at all.



I might say it was amazingly graceful, but you wouldn't believe me.



Anyway, did youd more or less 'Invent" the T bridge, or did you see one somewhere?



I just made a 3-stringed banjo with fishline strings, eybolet pehs, and a T bridge, and it took me under an hour.



Maybe I'll post sound files tomorrow.

---

Well, I guess I invented it so I need to beat a path down to the patent office!  I kid. 

No if I have ever seen such a thing I don't remember.  I just couldn't figure out how to keep my action low enough with the the neck going strait across like that.  I had already cut the bird house door though the stick to let some sound through when I had the cookie tin lid on the front.,  The tin was more of a canister so the lid had about the same diameter as the pickle jar lid. 

My goal was to keep the thing rigid enough for a walking stick.   

I am still having trouble with the bridge not staying standing up strait.   A good enthusiastic strum makes it lay over towards the head occasionally.   I am thinking about gluing a small foot to the base of it and see if that helps.

Edit:  I would definatly be interested in how yours sounds! 

Edited by - steveh_2o on 07/23/2014 20:05:11