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17 Apr ' 03:40
17 April 2012
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
Steven completed his banjo and instrument stand in April. He was awarded grade 1.
For progress photos of Steven't banjo as it was being built visit the
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The banjo is a 'tack head': furniture tacks hold a piece of calf skin on to the rim (the pot).
The instrument stand is 4mm thick birch plywood, with cross halving joints that slot together without glue. This allows it to be dismantled for storage and travel.
For progress photos of Steven't banjo as it was being built visit the Fickr project photo set
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
Steven completed the banjo in April 2012.
He had worked on it in class from mid September 2011. He also put a considerable amount of extra time in, after school and for a couple of days during holiday weeks in February and April.Work in progress photos - at the CDT department's Flickr acount.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The neck is made from a wood called 'purple heart'. Purple heart is a very hard, heavy wood. It is traditionally used for dock piles, because it is so water resistant.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The rim (the pot) is made from walnut and poplar, both of which are hardwoods. Block of the timber are 'brick built' together then the rim is turned on the wood lathe.
The tail piece is ash. The ends of the strings are tied in loops and are held in place on the tail piece using short lengths of steel rod.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The calf skin is transluscent and golden brown in colour. Its surface is lightly textured.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The surface of the calf skin is mottled and lightly textured.
The bridge is ash. It rests on the skin, held in place only by the strings.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The neck passes through the rim. The rim is fitted tight on to the neck using cast aluminium brackets and hardwood wedges.
The aluminium brackets were cast in the department.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The peg head has a veneer of purple heart on its front, to hide several pieces of glued up purple heart below.
If you look closely, you'll see that not all of the purple heart is purple in colour.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
Conventional worm geared guitar tuners are used to tension the steel strings.
Musical instrument resource page
Steven Grieve's Banjo
S4 Craft & Design
The neck is made wider to accommodate the fifth string peg.
Musical instrument resource page
It has all the information about the activities available, 28 May - 01 June 2012.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Instrument and Stand
This is a prototype banjo, built to satisfy the requirements of the final course project of SQA's Practical Craft Skills (Woodworking Skills) course.
The rim/pot of this banjo is square because the course it is built to satisfy requires traditional woodworking joints to be incorported. A conventional circular rim wouldn't allow this.
The banjo is a 'tack head' style: the calf skin is fixed in place using furniture tacks, rather than clamping ironmongery.
It has a resonator panel, behind the rim/pot. A resonator reflects sound forward, back on to the skin, and increases the instrument's volume.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Instrument and Stand
The rim/pot of this banjo is square because the course it is built to satisfy requires traditional woodworking joints to be incorported. A conventional circular rim wouldn't allow this.
The banjo is a 'tack head' style: the calf skin is fixed in place using furniture tacks, rather than clamping ironmongery.
It has a resonator panel, behind the rim/pot. A resonator reflects sound forward, back on to the skin, and increases the instrument's volume.
The banjo has a scale of 670mm. This is quite a common size.
The peg head is a slotted type, more commonly seen on guitars.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Instrument and Stand
The instrument is light in weight, as it doesn't have a tone ring fitted. Additionally it is built mostly from pine which is not a heavy species.
The stand shown here is made from a low quality plywood. Birch plywood will be preferred.
Bigger – 644 KB.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Resonator Panel / Frame Construction
The resonator panel is a square frame with haunched mortise and tenon joints at each corner. It is 300mm square. The infill panel is 1.5mm birch plywood, routed in to a rebate and fitted flush with the front surface.
A hegner saw was used to make the cut-outs around the perimeter.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Wood Turning
The resonator panel is screwed to the rim. Each of the four screwnails passes through a small turned spacer.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Rim / Carcase Construction
The rim is a carcase, with four stopped housing joints holding it together.
The neck passes through the rim and the walnut tail piece slides on to it.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Neck Angle
The neck sits at a slight angle to the rim.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Peg Head Detail
The peg head is formed from several pieces of pine.
Bigger – 162 KB.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Fifth Peg Detail
A piece of walnut supports the fifth peg.
Bigger – 63 KB.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Fifth Peg Detail
A piece of walnut supports the fifth peg.
Bigger – 81 KB.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Finishes
All wood surfaces received five coats of water based varnish.
Practical Craft Skills Banjo
Finishes
The brown colour of the calf skin was achieved during the soaking process by adding instant coffee granules to the water.
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