xavishobbies/xavishobbies/content/music/wood_scouting.md

title	date	description	categories	tags
Wood_Scouting	2023-02-23T0:22:17-08:00	Banjo - Build	Top_of_the_Stack	banjo build

The truth is I'm not very good at playing banjo. And the first thing a bad musician does is blame their instrument for how bad they sound. Well believe me when I say I need a really good excuse for sounding this bad [there's a reason I haven't posted myself playing yet]. So I decided the only way to give myself that big of an excuse is to build the instrument myself [although then my dad got involved so now I might have to find a new excuse].

The style of banjo I play [or attempt to play] is called clawhammer or frailing banjo. It's heard a lot in old-time music with, what I find to be, a much warmer, more rustic tone than the twangier and brighter bluegrass and Scruggs style banjo.

I found a fella' by the name of Clifton Hicks that seems to have some videos that go into building a banjo that, I believe, emphasizes exactly that tone. I really like the sound and look of his Fretless Kentucky style banjo and I think for a beginner woodworker like myself, it doesn't seem all to difficult to try and replicate [we'll see once we get into the thick of it].

It looks like wood selection has a pretty major impact on sound and Mr. Hicks has a couple recommendations. It seems like, basically, you want hardwood for every part of the banjo. He even mentions that some older banjos were made entirely of maple. He notes that maple, cherry, or walnut are preferable for the neck, tuning pegs, bridge, and tail piece while red oak is good for the pot. This is because he finds that the porousness of the oak contributes to a great sound from the pot.

{{< image_sc "/woodcraft_wood.jpg" "Woodcraft Wood" "Woodcraft Wood" >}}

So here's the quick rundown of the plan.

For the pot

1. Grab some oak
2. Cut out three equal hexagons
3. Stack the hexagons
4. Cut a hole into the top two
5. Tack some hide or drumskin over the hole

{{< line_break >}}

For the rest

1. Grab a 4x4x36 of cherry, walnut, or maple
2. Use most to shape out the neck
3. Use the rest to whittle the bridge, tailpiece, and tuning pegs.

Obviously there is going to be a lot more to it [you don't say] but I think it's a good jumping off point to get feet wet [I always feel the hardest part of a project is just getting started].

We did end up going out and looking at our local wood selection and found it did not have any of the wood that we were looking for [or they did, but just not in a size that would work], so it looks like actually finding a good wood supplier might be a bit harder than I expected [I am ashamed to say that I thought I could find usable stock at a Home Depot. DON'T LAUGH!!!].

Another revelation was just how EXPENSIVE all the available hardwood is [now I see why instruments are so expensive]. So in order to try and mitigate any unfortunate mistakes on the VERY EXPENSIVE hardwood, I decided that it might make sense to try and prototype some cuts with a much [MUCH] cheaper wood like pine or poplar.

{{< image_sc "/homedepot_pine_4x4.jpg" "Home Depot Pine" "Home Depot Pine" >}}

Welp! That's pretty much all I got for now. Next things in the pipeline is to just get the wood and start chopping. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!