Hi all, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post here, though I referred to these discussions a lot when building a mountain banjo with my father this summer. We are now building another one, and he's doing most of the work in his shop a thousand miles from where I live, so I'm trying to gather as much research as I can to help him from afar.
My question regards pot depth. On the first one we built, we made a 3" wide pot: two 1/2-inch pieces of ash for the top and bottom sandwiching a 2-inch spacer, so the chamber is 2". It's octagonal and we did not include a tone ring, but I think it sounds great - very warm and rich. The neck is walnut.
My dad thinks he can improve on our first attempt, however, so he's trying some new things. For the second one, he has cut 3/4-inch pieces of poplar for the top and bottom, but has only a 3/4-inch spacer between them and intends to insert a tone ring.
Is 3/4 enough for the chamber? I've read the other threads on pot depth here, but I didn't see anything about pots that shallow. My dad believes this is how deep others he's seen online - including Carver banjos and even one built by Frank Proffitt for Pete Seeger - but it seems quite shallow to me.
The intention is to string it with steel to help with sound clarity and volume (the first one we made has nylgut), but I wonder what you all might say about the pot depth?
Most of the ones I've made (in the Hicks/Glenn/Proffitt tradition) have the top and back rings being 1/2" thick with a 3/4" thick middle ring, though I've played with other dimensions like 7/8" and 1" and as shallow as 5/8" for the middle ring and as thin as 3/8" for the top and back, though I think 1/2" is best, especially if using a tensioning system with a plastic head. The diagram on page 183 of Foxfire 3 shows the top and back rings being 1/2" with a 13/16" middle ring.
I've built several with a wooden head ring, and I've had some turn out quite bright with nylon strings, provided with good head tension.
Kentucky-styles I think tend to be deeper, and of course lack the head tension ring.
Stove pipe, pvc plumbing coffee cans are some things Iv used for tone rings. Iv always thought abt using a wood tone ring . Anyone ever done that. I made a dulcimer with a large 11 inch out side diameter so that it would sit on my lap good with an eight inch head. Used small blocks of wood to push against the inside of the head hoop.
Edited by - RDP on 09/14/2024 13:55:48
