I have been sent an ODE rim from the days of yore or thereabouts, by someone who wants me to make a neck for it. It also needs all the hardware, as it's just a plain rim. The holes in the rim for the shoe bolts are quite small, and fit a #8 machine screw nicely, but a #10 or 12 are too big. I'm wondering if anyone knows of shoes that are sold with a #8 screw, or failing that, how feasible or appropriate it is to drill the holes to a larger size. I have never worked with cast aluminum, so I don't know what is a good idea or not. I'll be very grateful for any advice.
If I were you, I would enlarge the holes with a hand drill to accept 12-24 screws. Drilling the larger holes in the cast rim should be easy. Below is a link to an Ode Banjo Parts website that sells inexpensive, good-looking ball shoes with 12-24 mounting threads. The site is operated by the son of Charlie Ogsbury, who started the Ode banjo business.
Thanks for the advice. I get all my bracket hardware from ODE now, and have for more than two years. It's great quality and pricing. The customer wants nickel plated, or did last I knew, so it will have to come from somewhere else. Thank you very much.
The original hardware was made by Elton, long out of business, and was chrome plated. The brass Ode hardware will need to be sent out to match.
I don't think originality is an issue with this project. Just quality.
Stew-Mac's aluminum rims were very similar to Ode's. Stew-Mac use a ball shoe that, I think, had an 8-32 screw. I'll look and see if I have any.
Bob S.
Another option are the generic hex shoes that use the smaller screws. I believe they'd look alright and won't have the mismatched brass/nickel of the wonderful Ode hardware. I have at least a dozen of these rims (sans hardware) that Chuck sent me after the Gold Tone sale and I will get them back up and running someday. Someday is a big thing in my brain.
Also, thought I'd point out that Chuck used two different sizes of rim screws/bolts for these Elton ball shoes on the aluminum rim banjos: the smaller thread screws that Mr. Hoyt is confronting and larger standard rim bolts that were used on into the Baldwin/Gretsch era. A real pain when you're searching for a missing one and it's the other configuration!
I think I have a set of the Stewart Mac ball shoes I'll check on them tomorrow They're yours if want them. Steve
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