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Old-Time Banjo, Part 3: Shaping the Neck From "Handmade Music" episode DHMM-207

The old-time banjo is distinguished from its bluegrass counterpart by its open back and lack of frets at the lower end of the fingerboard.

In this first of three Handmade Music episodes focusing on the old-time banjo (as distinct from the bluegrass banjo) we cover the creation of the neck and fingerboard of the instrument.

In this third segment of the episode, master banjo-builder Dave Ball continues work with the carving and shaping of the maple neck. Using freehand carving techniques, he also create a distinctive feature called a "half ogee" -- a shaped area to accommodate the transition between different-sized portions of the neck.

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Shaping the Banjo's Neck

After the neck has been cut closely to match the width of the ebony fingerboard, luthier Dave Ball is ready to begin carving and shaping the banjo's neck. He starts with the heel, and after marking the shape from a template, he attacks the maple with a rasp (figure A). There are some basic rules in carving, but Dave also likes the option of veering off course if the mood hits him. "I laid out the basic shape with a template," he says, "but beyond that, it's just making sure it looks symmetrical and feels right." For some portions, he may return to the drum sander for shaping.

Dave works toward a "boat shaped heel" reminiscent of Cole Banjos from the late 1800s. The style is not easy to pull off since it's sort of a sweeping curve, "wrapping around" the curved profile from the neck (figure B). The drum sander is an ideal tool for this.

Figure A

Figure B

At this point, more formalized geometry comes into the process. Dave draws out schematics for the curve of the neck, marking out the shapes and sizes of cross-sections for various points along the neck (figure C). He measures from the center line and from fingerboard surface, creating tangent lines to determine how he needs to cut. He then transfers guide lines onto the banjo neck and begins removing the excess wood with a spoke shave or with files and rasps (figure D). He keeps cutting facets until the shape becomes round.

Figure C

Figure D

Figure E

It takes Dave about an hour and a half to carve a neck. He focuses on keeping the lines straight both down the length of the neck and as the neck is rolled around. When he carves away the tangents, he's close to having a "hand-fitting" curve on the back of his neck. A little sandpaper will finish up the practical portion of the work (figure E).

Though the neck's basic shape is established, there are still some stylistic points and, again, both instinct and geometry come into the process. The flat plane at the back of the peg-head must be blended into now curved back of the neck. To achieve a smooth, elegant transition, Dave hand-shapes these areas with files.

When the peg head gets worked out there are more math problems. The finished neck has essentially two widths. There's the upper neck with a width to cover four-strings and the lower neck that's wide enough for all five strings (figure F). It's essentially as if two cylinders, non-concentric and of different radius sizes, are coming together and must be somehow blended. Dave's challenge is to meld the two widths. The solution is something called a half ogee -- or an S-shaped curve (figure G).

Figure F

Figure G

	Figure H
	The Mumbillies playing in the old-time style at Laurel Theater, a performance hall in Knoxville, Tennessee. The theater is operated by Jubilee Community Arts, an organization is dedicated to preserving the culture and performing arts of the Southern Applachian region.

Dave carves out the half ogee freehand using various hand tools such as chisels (figure H) and micro-planes. He prefers the instinctual nature of this portion of the process as he prefers to avoid techniques that are too calculated or akin to mass-production. "It's fine if you're in a factory type setting," he says, "but if you're doing one-off instruments, it takes a lot of the fun out of it and also, I think, takes away a lot of the karma of the final product."

In the segment that follows, Dave will set aside the neck for the time being and begin work on the rim.

RESOURCES :

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

Clawhammer Style Banjo
Author: Ken Perlman
Publisher: Centerstream Publications (1989)
ISBN: 0931759331
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

How to Play the 5-String Banjo
Author: Pete Seeger
Publisher: Music Sales Corporation (3rd edition, June, 1969)
ISBN: 0825600243
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

GUESTS :

Dave Ball
Luthier
Knoxville, TN