DIY Network

Handmade Gourd-Banjo, Part 3: Shaping the Neck and Peg-Head From "Handmade Music" episode DHMM-206

	It may not look exactly like the ones that Ralph Stanley or Bela Fleck play, but this is what banjos were like five centuries ago. The banjo was originally a traditional African instrument and -- like this contemporary replica displayed at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee -- was made using goatskin and a hollowed out gourd.

In this episode of Handmade Music, luthier Matt Morelock creates a gourd banjo -- a primitive version of the instrument that was first played around five centuries ago. In this third segment, after having prepped the gourd and rough-cut the mahogany neck, work continues with shaping of the neck and peg-head.

Materials used in this episode:

Large dried gourd
Calfskin or goatskin
Quarter-sawn mahogany stock
Ebony for the nut
White pine for bridge
Rawhide strip
Wooden dowel
Wooden blocks
Gut string
Violin pegs
Peg reamer
Band saw
Cordless drill and bits
Bit-aligning tool
Hand saw
Scraper
Files and rasps
Sharp chisel
Sandpaper
Hole punch
Poster board
Woodworker's glue
Clamps
Gunstock finish
Carpenter's pencil

Safety Alert: Always wear eye protection and follow proper safety precautions when using power tools.

advertisement

So far, Matt has prepared a gourd for the banjo body and cut out a rough neck-blank from mahogany. After perfecting the spike and rough-shaping the peg-head or headstock, the neck and the heel, Matt begins carving the neck .

First, he creates a radius or a symmetrical arch down the back of the neck (figure A). Its apex should be at the neck's centerline so Matt traces a reference point down the middle. He uses a rasp on the mahogany to shape the curve.

The rasp is an effective tool that can remove wood quickly so, before he gets carried away, Matt places a reminder on the stock. He marks an "X" on the stock in the approximate location of where the 5th-string peg will be installed (figure B) to avoid removing too much material while carving the radius.

Figure A

Figure B

Even though the rasp makes easy work of the mahogany results don't come easy. Matt spends most of an evening getting the radius just right.

Measurements are important but they don't mean nearly as much to Matt as the feel of the neck in his hands (figure C).

When he's satisfied with the fit he uses the rasp again to perfect the joint between the gourd and the neck. When the rasp has done its job, Matt begins a slow process of test fitting the neck and the gourd. The neck will not fit the first time. Matt just chips away any obstructions he notices. There's not a lot of room for error here. The gourd is an odd shape, and the heel (figure D) has to match perfectly.

Figure C

Figure D

	Figure E
	Figure F
	Figure G
	Figure H

When the heel and gourd seem perfectly aligned, Matt puts away the rasp and clears final obstructions with sandpaper and files. He runs through several grits of sandpaper (figure E) until the neck feels smooth as glass. When it does, Matt can still merely imagine the way this gourd banjo will ultimately sound.

The shape of the peg head can be extremely ornate or (as Matt has chosen) fairly traditional with rounded corners. He marks his outline with a compass and uses a rasp to form the peg head in short order. Sanding cleans up the work before he begins placing the tuning pegs.

Matt then marks the peg head to indicate the placement of the tuning pegs (figure F). "When placing your tuning pegs," he says, "it's important that you have enough distance from the edge of the peg hole to the edge of the head stock so that if it gets knocked or bumped it's not going to rip out of the side of the headstock."

While drilling, it's important to keep the bit perpendicular to the peg head's surface so the tuning pegs will uniform and consistent. Matt uses a bit-aligning tool to make this process more precise (figure G).

And after he drills the hole for the fifth tuning peg, he sizes them with a violin-peg-reamer (figure H). "As we turn it in one direction," he says, "the blades are going to cut the proper taper in which we can fit the violin peg. Now it's important with these peg reamers that a little goes a long way and it's easy to over do it and once again it's a whole lot easier to take away material that it is to add material."

Now Matt is on the home stretch. He needs only to put all the pieces together to hear what this banjo will sound like. In the segment that follows, it all comes together with the pegs, tail-piece and strings.

RESOURCES :

African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions
(Publications of the American Folklore Society New Series)
Author: Cecelia Conway
ISBN: 0870498932
Publisher: University of Tennessee Press (1995)
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture
(Music in American Life)
Author: Karen Linn
Publisher: University of Illinois Press; Illini Books ed edition (August 1994)
ISBN: 025206433X
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Ninteenth Century
Authors: Philip F. Gura, James F. Bollman
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press (September, 1999)
ISBN: 0807824844
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

Ring the Banjar
Authors: Robert L. Webb, Margaret Hutchinson
Publisher: Centerstream Publications (2nd edition, 1996)
ISBN: 1574240161
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

The How and the Tao of Old Time Banjo
Author: Patrick Costello
Publisher: Pik-Ware Publishing (September, 2003)
ISBN: 0974419001
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

Jubilee Community Arts is a regional, community cultural center dedicated to preserving and presenting the traditional arts of the Southern Appalachians. The organization's stated mission is "to promote, preserve and present the performing arts of the Southern region and to nurture the cultural milieu responsible for the birth and evolution of these and related art forms." The organization owns and operates the Laurel Theater, a 19th century converted church located in the Fort Sanders community of Knoxville. The building now houses an acoustically and visually excellent concert hall and archives of concert and field recordings.
Web site: www.jubileearts.org

WDVX
WDVX is a regionally focused, public-supported grass-roots radio station broadcasting from East Tennessee. Emphasis is on old-time and traditional mountain music, bluegrass, Americana, classic country, folk and other traditional and roots-based musical styles.
Web-site and worldwide online-streaming: www.wdvx.com

Welburn Gourd Farm
Organically grown hard-shell gourds.
Fallbrook, CA
The Welburn Gourd Farm is the largest supplier of quality, organic hard-shell gourds in the USA, producing over 375,000 gourds each year. They also host the annual International Gourd Art Festival.
Web site: www.welburngourdfarm.com/

The Museum of Appalachia
The Museum of Appalachia
Website: www.museumofappalachia.com

Pick 'n' Grin
Knoxville, TN
Web site: www.pickngrin.com

GUESTS :

Matt Morelock, luthier, banjoist, music teacher, happy camper.
On the web: http://www.wdvx.com/DJS/MattM.htm