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Hi,
folks, I have not done any updates here for the better part of a year.
Mostly, I have been doing repairs that were already discussed here in
one way or another. Also, I got a little pug pup who takes quite a bit
of attention. His name is Ozzy and he is a fat little bundle of joy. I
can't begin to tell you how much I love the wee fart.
Anyway,
here is a banjo project: |
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Some years
ago, I bought an attic lot of mandolin-banjo parts. Deep in the pile was
a very pretty unmarked mandolin-banjo that had really suffered in its life.
The neck was a lost cause. The heel had been repaired maybe four times,
each more clumsy and desperate that before. I did salvage the fingerboard
and some of the peghead inlay. |
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The rim was a nice
heavy piece with bird's eye maple veneer. |
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You will note the
little studs around the top edge of the rim. These are steel, force-fitted
into the rim. I don't know how long they are since I was not able to get
one out.
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Directly over the studs
is a heavy steel tone ring. It is stout, being 5/16" diameter stock. |
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Two brass alignment
pins keep it in place, centered on the studs. |
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The ring is stamped
"20". Your guess is as good as mine. |
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Its got a heavy
notched brass tension hoop and handsome, matching hooks, brackets, and
bolts. I covered it with Yellowstone brand synthetic material, which you
should read about here: Yellowstone
link
After much internet
searching, I concluded that the rim was made by Lange, probably in the
1920s. Lange is the Lange in "Rettberg & Lange", the guys
who bought out Buckbee. |
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Lange made Paramount
banjos and the great Orpheum banjos. The rim bears a number of similarities
to Orpheums. The main difference is that Orpheum tone rings sat on rectangular
tabs, not studs, and their rings were sized to make an arch-top configuration.
I was able to find one ca. 1915 Lange 5-string on the web at Intermountain
Guitar & Banjo, as shown to the left. It is identical except for the
color of the rim cap. See also some history of Rettberg & Lange that
I put together here: LANGE |
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Since the mandolin
neck was trashed, I figured that this rim would be a good candidate for
conversion to a 5-string. From my stack of necks, I chose a factory second
Gold Tone neck that I have had around for a few years. It was probably intended
for the Gold Tone CC 100 or similar model. |
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When this was made,
Gold Tone was using a thick, glossy finish. I don't know exactly what it
is, but I have never cared for a thick, super-glossy finish. So, I scraped
it off (it is VERY durable). The photo at left shows the finish where it
had been chipped somehow. I am not critical of Gold Tone; their products
are quite good. Its just that their finish is not to my taste. |
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Since I had a Lange
pot, I thought it would be fun to cut the peghead to a shape used by Lange.
Looking around, I found that the Paramount peghead shape (left) was similar
to the Gold Tone cut. Here (right) is a scan of the Gold Tone peghead sanded
down to bare wood. |
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Now, superimposing
the Paramount shape on the peghead scan, we get a pattern used for cutting.
I use Photoshop Elements for this. In this case, I cut the Paramount image
in half and re-sized each half to fit. Then just cut it out with the Dremel
drill press and applied a ebonized maple headstock veneer. I left it un-inlayed
so the new owner can put down whatever she/he wants. |
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The rest is straightforward.
I drilled the heel for a dowel stick and recut the heel to fit the rim.
I also added an ebony heel cap. The neck is simply finished with a little
ColorTone stain and 4 coats of clear lacquer to resemble the rim. |
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I added some generic
planetary tuners with replacement ebony buttons. |
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The tailpiece is from
my "spares" box and the bridge is a Veerman "Mystery Wood"
model. |
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Overall. Decent rosewood
fingerboard with basic diamond inlay. Black plastic binding. Scale length
is 26 1/4" |
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Reverse. Rim thickness
is 11/16". Rim diameter is 10". |
| (will try to get an MP3 file here soon) |
It
is a nice player. It has some of the best bass response I've experienced.
For sale over at Banjo Hangout in the Classifieds. |
