DIY Network

Old-Time Banjo, Part 10: Frets and Rim Completion From "Handmade Music" episode DHMM-209

Dave Ball prepares the banjo's frets.

NOTE: Images on this page may be enlarged for enhanced viewing simply by clicking on them.

This third episode of DIY's three-part Handmade Music series focusing on the old-time banjo explores the final steps in building this traditional instrument. In this segment, luthier Dave Ball installs the frets on the banjo neck and completes the banjo rim.

advertisement

Figure A

Installing the Frets

With the inlay and engraving of the banjo's neck complete, it's time now for Dave to add frets to the banjo's fingerboard. He prepares the fingerboard first by adding a small chamfer in each fret slot using a three-cornered file (figure A).

When each fret slot has a very small v-shaped groove, Dave can install the fret wire (figure B). He cuts the fret wire to size and taps it into place with a fret hammer (figure C).

Figure B

Figure C

Figure D

An option for tapping the fret wire into place with a hammer is to use a hand-held fret press (figure D). The number of frets added was decided earlier when the fret-slots were cut into the ebony. The decision was based on scale length.

"Scale length," says Dave, "probably has as much as anything to do with the tone and playability of the banjo. The longer the scale-length, the tighter the string will be for any given pitch. The shorter scale-length gets a harpsichord-like tone while the longer scale-length gets more of a piano-like tone. Regular five-string banjos tend to have scale-lengths ranging from 25 inches up to 28 or 29 inches. The Gibson banjo, probably the most common for bluegrass players, is slightly over 26 inches, and it's probably as close to a standard as there is out there in the banjo world. " Dave prefers the shorter scale-length, at around 25-1/2 inches, and more harpsichord-like sound.

When the frets are firmly in place (figure E), Dave trims the edges with a file until they are flush with the sides of the fingerboard (figure F).

Figure E

Figure F

There's also fret trimming to do on the face of the fingerboard. This trimming allows clearance for the strings that will travel over each fret (figure G). When the banjo is played, if a string contacts more than one fret at a time it will create the sort of buzz no maker wants to be known for. So Dave files all the frets level with a flat diamond block (figure H).

Figure G

Figure H

Dave uses a straight edge to ensure that the frets are flat and level. He then does what is termed "re-crowning" the frets -- putting a curve back on each fret, and rounding each, using a special file (figures I and J).

Figure I

Figure J

Completing the Rim

It's time for Dave to temporarily put away the neck and return to the banjo rim. He's ready to mount the head, and he does so with rim hardware called shoe bolts. This consists of bracket shoes and bolts that hold them in place (figures K and L). Together, they will later hold the hooks that pull the banjo head down tightly

Figure K

Figure L

When the rim is circled with bracket shoes, Dave sets the head over the tone-ring (figure M) and pins it between the hoop and the rim (figure N).

Figure M

Figure N

He adds the hooks to hold the head and tightens them against the shoe bolts (figure O). He's careful here to apply even tension to the head by slowly tightening the hardware as he makes several trips around the rim (figure P).

Figure O

Figure P

	Figure Q
	Banjo-maker Dave Ball checks the newly installed fret-wire on the banjo's neck to ensure that they are level.

The finished rim sounds a lot like a drum (figure Q), and sounds like one when struck. Dave will let the assembled rim sit for a few days for the tension in the head to equalize. In the segment that follows, some sanding and preliminary finishing is done on the neck, and this "drum" becomes a banjo.

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

Woodturning Projects: A Workshop Guide to Shapes
Author: Mark Baker
Publisher: Guild of Master Craftsman (2004)
ISBN: 1861083912
To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

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.

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

GUESTS :

Dave Ball
Luthier
Knoxville, TN