John Herrington says:
3/17/2011 3:11:27 PM

Marc, let me encourage you to continue your project. Maple is a wonderful wood for necks on gourd banjos. I also build fine old American longrifles, and so have lots of scrap pieces of maple. Nothing like the curl of fine wood.

You might want to look at my homepage and see some of the gourd banjos I have built, in my photo files. I'm now working on # 8. Tip: when you install the skin head, don't try to stretch it as you tack it. Be sure it has soaked in warm water for 30 minutes before installing. Roll it in a towell to dry off the outside water. Then simply lay it on the gourd (I assume you have removed the top of the gourd and sanded the edge flat on a couple of sheets of course sandpaper) and with a dremill tool drill your holes for the tacks through the hide and gourd with a bit that is just smaller than the tack itself. Start at 12 o'clock, push the tack in tightly; move to 6 o'clock, just taking out the slack of the skin; move to 3 o'clock and then to 9 o'clock,each time just removing the slack. At this point install tacks in the same manner between the ones installed, then half these until you have them about 1 inch apart. The skin is drying rapidly at this point. Hurry! You may take a razor and trim the hide about 1/2 inch below the head of the tacks. Keep it as even as you can all around the banjo.

One thing I did not mention, you probably want to run a bead of Tight Bond glue around the top edge of the gourd and around the line where you are installing the tacks. You can wipe off the surplus with a wet rag along the way.

Don't worry about the head tightening. In 6 to 12 hours you could skate on the surface. Be sure and don't press upon it until it has at least 12 hours to dry. Hope this hasn't bored you, Marc, but you need to do the task as I have described it. Try to put the head on stretched tight while wet, and you may crack the gourd as it dries and tightens up. Hope this will help you in the days ahead.

Need any help let me know.

Old John on the Big Horn

"Neil Gow's Lament on the Death of his Second Wife." #Clawhammer #Banjo #clawhammerbanjo #scottish
Linked by decorah818 3 years ago: I love gourd banjos

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