DIY Network

Old-Time Banjo, Part 4: Banjo-Rim Basics From "Handmade Music" episode DHMM-207

A traditional old-time banjo on display at The Laurel Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In this first of three Handmade Music episodes focusing on the old-time banjo focus mainly on the creation of the neck and fingerboard of the instrument. In this fourth segment of the episode, banjo-builder Dave Ball begins work on the banjo's wooden rim.

advertisement

The Banjo Rim

Our banjo rim begins with specialist who supplies our luthier with a blank for the rim. Luthier George Wunderlich actually creates the raw form for the rim using -- believe it or not -- a brake drum from an automobile (figure A). The drum holds steamed maple strips until they assume a round shape. That cylinder is supplied to Dave in a raw form. His next task is to fashion its thickness to his liking.

"The thickness of the wall has a lot to do with the sound of the banjo," Dave says. "A thicker wall is a brighter sounding banjo, in my experience, and a thinner wall sounds a little 'plunkier.'" Dave likes thinner walls, and the lathe is the tool delivers that thickness. First the outside diameter is set by machining the outside of the rim using an auto-feed (figure B). He goes through an alternating process of cutting and measuring until he reaches the proper outside diameter -- 12 inches in this case. He actually cuts and sands it to slightly under 12 inches to allow for the thickness of the finish.

Figure A

Figure B

With the outside diameter correct in size (figure C), and the outer surface smooth, he machines the inside of the rim just as he did with the outside (figure D) turning the rim until the thickness is about 1/2-inch.

Figure C

Figure D

	Musician and instrument-maker Dave Ball grew up as part of musical family in Middle Tennessee and listening to radio programs like The Grand Ole Opry and The Flat and Scruggs Show. Though he went through a "rock 'n' roll phase," he eventually returned to his roots with old-time and authentic country music.
	The rim of the old-time banjo, sometimes called the "pot," is the portion over which the head stretches and can essentially be visualized as a section of a wooden cylinder.

This essentially completes the bulk of building the banjo rim. Dave may now add some detailing or shaping such as turning a radius on the back side of the rim. At this point he may use the lathe but with hand tools such as chisels. After a little sanding, the rim is ready for the next phase in the building of the banjo.

In the next episode of Handmade Music, work continues on refining the banjo's rim and building a resonator.

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