Insert obgligatory banjo jokes here.
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:27 pm
I've been thinking about what my next project should be. I've already got more guitars than I know what to do with, so another guitar didn't seem too practical.
A few days ago I was talking with a friend of mine, who said he had never seen a long-neck banjo with a frailing scoop, and he wished his long-neck banjo had one. I said that the cheapest way to get one would probably be to just make a new neck for the banjo he has now. Conceivably that was something I could do.
Well, something got lost in the transmission and what my friend heard was more like, "I'll make you a new banjo neck." He was enthusiastic and grateful. I suppose I could have corrected him and told him I was merely speculating and not volunteering to actually do it, but he was so taken by the idea I didn't have the heart to rain on his parade. Besides, I DID need another project.
So my next project is going to be a long banjo neck with a frailing scoop, to fit his current banjo pot. It will be curly maple, with an African blackwood fingerboard and head cap. Waverly planetary tuners. I plan to embed a couple strips of carbon fiber in neck as insurance against warping. I probably don't need to, but it won't hurt. He wants the neck to be slightly wider than normal. "Normal" width of a banjo neck at the nut seems to be 1-3/16" to 1-1/4". I'll make it 1-5/16". Stay tuned for disaster reporting!
A few days ago I was talking with a friend of mine, who said he had never seen a long-neck banjo with a frailing scoop, and he wished his long-neck banjo had one. I said that the cheapest way to get one would probably be to just make a new neck for the banjo he has now. Conceivably that was something I could do.
Well, something got lost in the transmission and what my friend heard was more like, "I'll make you a new banjo neck." He was enthusiastic and grateful. I suppose I could have corrected him and told him I was merely speculating and not volunteering to actually do it, but he was so taken by the idea I didn't have the heart to rain on his parade. Besides, I DID need another project.
So my next project is going to be a long banjo neck with a frailing scoop, to fit his current banjo pot. It will be curly maple, with an African blackwood fingerboard and head cap. Waverly planetary tuners. I plan to embed a couple strips of carbon fiber in neck as insurance against warping. I probably don't need to, but it won't hurt. He wants the neck to be slightly wider than normal. "Normal" width of a banjo neck at the nut seems to be 1-3/16" to 1-1/4". I'll make it 1-5/16". Stay tuned for disaster reporting!