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| title | date | description | categories | tags | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Making_the_Pot | 2023-03-13T00:00:00-07:00 | Banjo - Building |
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What I've noticed about banjos, at least more than I have with other instruments, is the shear amount of differences in shape, size, and sound [there is a chance that this is just bias from building this instrument and researching it a bunch] they seem to have. I think what this diversity allows me to do is create a unique looking and sounding instrument that also caters to my woodworking ability [more like lack of. good thing my dads around to fill in the gaps... or craters].
With this in mind, I do enjoy the look of a rough banjo made almost entirely of straight cuts with an exception of the head and this would fall perfectly into within my ability. We decided to take lots of inspiration from Clifton Hicks Kentucky style banjo. It looks to mostly include straight cuts but still has a unique and finished feel when completed [i believe he even mentions that it's a good style banjo to start with].
Last week we were able to get started on the pot because we were actually able to find some oak boards at Lowes, of all places,[HA! i told you I could find hardwood at a general hardware store]. We spent a bit of time drawing out the exact shape we were going to go for and landed on an elongated hexagon that was equiangular but not equilateral. We decided this would be a good shape because it wasn't too wide and cumbersome to hold in my lap while playing [don't want a point to poke me in the eye when playing] but still maintained the initial vision.
{{< imageresize "/banjo_sketch.jpg" "Sketch of Pot" "400" "Sketch of Pot" >}}
Once we got the measurements all figured out, we transferred it to scale onto a parchment paper that we laid over the oak board. This let us get a visual feel for what cuts would need to be made. We used a protractor [haven't used one of those since high school geometry] to make sure that the angles where pretty spot on.
{{< imageresize "/banjo_measuring.jpg" "parchment paper model" "400" "Parchment Paper Model" >}}
When we were happy with the parchment paper layout, we transferred it to the board with an exacto-knife by scoring the lines onto the wood. We then took it to the bench and used a C-clamp to hold it in place and a miter saw to get the nice straight cuts [well... as straight as i could get them with my wiggly arms]. A miter saw has a reinforced back-edge to reduce any bending of the blade [doesn't help much if your a shaky human] resulting in a straighter cut.
{{< imageresize "/banjo_potlineup.jpg" "Lining up pot " "400" "Lining Up First Cut" >}}
We then just placed the first completed pot layer onto the oak board and traced the outline twice more. What we might do differently next time is give a bit more space between each outline instead of placing them right next to each other. This is because one of the side vertices started losing its point about halfway through the board. We expect came from the straight cut of the layer next to it [you can see the straight cut i'm talking about to the right of the hexagon, drawn in pencil]. This shouldn't be too big of an issues to work with [fingers crossed] but may be something to consider next time.
{{< imageresize "/banjo_cutting.jpg" "Miter Saw Cutting" "400" "Miter Saw Cutting" >}}
After the other two outlines were cut, we stacked all three together to see how the pot would look size and thickness-wise [those are the official terms].
{{< imageresize "/banjo_pot.jpg" "Stacked Banjo Pot" "400" "Banjo Pot Shape" >}}
I think it turned out pretty cool! Here is just a quick rundown of the materials we used to get to this point for reference.
- 12x48x1 inch red oak board [from lowes. HAHA!]
- Parchment Paper
- Protractor
- C-clamp
- Miter Saw
That's all for this installment of banjo build!