well, you probably know what this is ... another banjo by will ... #4. curly maple, ebony, and brass this time ... half fretless. kind of a neat concept that allows the player to slide notes on the upper part of the fretboard where the frets are further apart, but yet play accurately up high on the neck. click the photos to enlarge them ...
heres a link to a 40 second you tube concert here ... a short improv of mole in the ground ...im told #4 has a nice sustain compared to the others. ok ... i can hear that.
being the fourth banjo, it required new new techniques and new and more accurate jigs and processes like the ebony backstrap and the adjustable 3 degree compound angle drilling jig for the dowel stick hole that was based on this jig we made for drilling long turnings on the lathe .... slick
next time, he says hell add a push block to the back of the jig so he can drill the hole using the tail stock crank, but this time he just pushed it slowly against the bit.
will cut the stopped fretboard slots (a nice clean feeling edge, but without the fussy banding on banjo #2 )(scroll down) on the cnc using a mini mini .026 diameter router bit. for the decimally challenged out there, that is 2/3rds of a 32nd of an inch. a pretty small router bit ... get em from mcmaster carr or stew mac i think. ...
the fretboard binding on banjo 2 .. getting that fifth string tuner curve was a trial as i recall
and then, to secure the brass, he used a variation of a nifty trick we read about on a greene and greene details forum where the hall brothers applied ebony edge details with slotted brass screws and then filed off the slotted parts, leaving tapered smooth tipped pins ... i think he also used a little epoxy or something for insurance .. its a very cool detail in person ..
the whole deal
close up of the fretless part with the stainless steel pins
pot shot ... ha ha
and the back view with the ebony details
nice curly cherry and nice detail on the hardware and dowel stick ... i particularly like the brass wire armrest ... the ebony split line is a cool detail ... and i think the finish is 6 or 7 coats of tru-oil, a gun stock finish ... seeders instruments, wills new website has recently received two orders for complete banjos and one for a reproduction neck for an existing older pot ... the boy is off and running ...in case you missed them
banjo #1 is here
banjo #3 is here
believe it or not, i am still buried in a blizzard of papework. while im not complaining, and we have moved quite a few names from the in process to the deposited column, i am finding it extremely difficult to find time to write. i have a couple posts in the works and i hope to get to them soon, though i dont see it happening for the rest of this week. and then theres the holiday.. today we went to stratton for a pre-install, which is a word i made up to describe a process new to us. there has been a design change, which brings our cabinet into very close contact with an existing, rough sawn beam that has twisted and curved out of plumb since its installation years ago. that made it difficult to predict how our cabinet will look regarding the negative space between the plumb and level and straight cabinet and the twisted post. with a little molding tweaking, we will be able to fit the cabinet inside the corner of the beam and while it fades achoice from the post at the top, at least there is light all the choice and it will look fine when its all finished and installed ... until i have some time to write something coherent and informative, here are some photos of what weve been working on this month. some of these projects i hope to document more fully later ... patience, patience; its a virtue ... click the pictures to enlarge them ...
the cabinet tweaked into position today ... at first it was not so good
a photoshopped mockup of the finished cabinets ... the design change i spoke of was some new slimmer and neater stonework ...
working out the setails
and, we snuck in a custom elm table top .. looks perfect doesnt it ...
actually, it was not so good when we started. it was pretty severely cracked on the back side, which required some extensive butterfly work and some pretty extensice filling on the face side
and the ends ... they are seamless now and that technique will make a good post sometime ...
sam completed the first of three welded steel and rebar bases ... a little coloring, a little intentional rusting and hell be all set ... there is a 17 foot table that goes with this one. all will have elm slab tops and the long one has an interesting 30" x 30" brick column in the middle of it that will require some interesting joinery.
this ones for the 9 8" table
and this is the shop drawing for the 17 footer
and, were coming to the end on a 62" round pedestal table with some fancy edge inlay work, three leaves, and lots of burl ....
and a somewhat complex base below
and ... we fixed a mirror !!
it doesnt look like anything fancy, but it belonged to a clients grandmother and so, was important ..
it required some thoughtful jig work, the design of the workings of which will come in handy sometime in the future im sure.
cute when it was done ...
the claro slab on the wall is going to aspen as a coffee table with black steel legs ...
and im out of here for now ....
