Posted by yellowdog on Friday, June 8, 2018
I just posted an ad with a drawing and detailed explanation under "Banjo Accessories" for a new "Supercharged, Movable, Tunable Tone Amplifier For All Banjos". This is a very exciting improvement to all previous banjo tone amplifiers that I have offered for sale so please check out the ad. You'll find it interesting whether you purchase the tone amp or not.
Much like a car supercharger compresses air before it enters the car's engine, this new supercharger banjo tone amplifier greatly amplifies and "tunes" sound surface waves from the banjo's rim before they enter the body of the tone amp. One could say with justification that I should have called it a "turbocharger" because it uses the banjo's output, the banjo's air pressure waves of audible sound in the sound chamber, to create sound surface waves when they impact the tape and braided cord and create sound surface wave inputs. Which is true. So it really is both a supercharger and turbocharger but I'll call it a supercharger for simplicity.
The "supercharger" (See drawing in the ad) consists of: (1) a 4-3/4-inch long piece of waxed, braided nylon cord, 2-1/4 inches of which is covered with 3M's Model 600 clear acrylic tape. (2) The tape, which sticks the cord to the wood rim and, more important, adds surface waves to the cord all along the tape's contact length with the surface wave-amplifying, waxed, braided cord. (The braided cord amplifies waves on its fibers because the fibers intersect at an angle causing their waves to intersect at an angle and be amplified by the physics principle of "constructive interference".); (3) a size #1 steel paper clip (the standard size) at the far tape-free end of the cord which provides 3 small amplifying steel loops to the surface waves on the cord, (small loops amplify), and also amplifies waves on the fibers of the cord by compressing the fibers causing the waves to intersect and amplify, (constructive interference, again), and adds brightness to the banjo's sound from the steel; and, (4) a staple at the tone amp end of the cord which compresses the fibers of the cord causing surface waves on the fibers to intersect and amplify and which also attaches the cord securely to the top of the cross on the tone amp.
The Tone Amp body, itself, is unchanged from earlier models.
One paper clip gives great volume with beautiful high quality sound with just the right amount of sustain for solos on my tenor banjo. A 2-inch long steel paper clip gave my banjo a very strong sound but with less sound quality and sustain, perhaps better for a 5-string banjo. More than one may or may not give a better sound but should be tried because trying is as easy as adding a paper clip to a cord.
I'm glad that I did not post any recordings before thinking of this supercharged tone amp because it is going to make my playing sound a whole lot better for demos, and my playing needs all the help it can get!
Frank Geiger (Yellowdog) (06/08/2018)
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