My First Turning - Banjo Rim

[Angie Orfanedes]

The real reason I bought a lathe was because I wanted to make a new rim for my old banjo of mixed parentage. For you non-banjo people, the rim is the round wooden part under the drum-looking head. My goal was to make the banjo sound better.


Well, my woodworking skills are not expert, but there are far better than my banjo skills. So I figured how hard could it be…turned out harder than I thought. But over the last two days I have put all the pieces back together, worked on getting those %%#@* buzzes out, and the new Frankenstein - banjo sounds good – okay, maybe only to my ears.

Here is a picture of everything put back together - including the new rim (ta-da).

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The rim is a segmented turning made of three layers of maple, with each layer having eight pieces, for a total of twenty-four pieces. After the glue up was complete, and before I bought a lathe, I tried to use a router rigged up to be a pretend lathe – and that scared me. I wound up turning this on my newly-bought lathe by gluing the rough rim to a 11- 3/4 inch piece of plywood, so I could turn the o.d. and i.d. in the same chucking.
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With some serious sanding, down to 600 grit, I then applied many coats of gunstock finishing varnish called Tru-Oil, and the rim finished with a light sheen.

The rod on the inside of the banjo was my second turning. I replaced an ugly metal rod with the turned piece for a more-old timey look.

While I am pleased with the banjo and its sound, I don’t think I will become a professional banjo maker any time soon.

I have made a few more dinky things on the lathe - some tool handles. a bud vase, etc....but bowls are my next goal. How hard could they be?:D

[Richard Madison]

Beautiful job Angie! Quite remarkable for your first turning.

[Steve Frederick]

Sounds..er..Looks great to me!

[David Christopher]

Angie, great looking banjo and good workmanship....what kind of lathe did you get...we need to see the lathe too

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great job! Love the look of the curly!

[Billy Tallant]

Great looking banjo... That wood really sets the banjo off.

[Chris Rae]

Nice job! it looks really good! We must see the lathe though, would like to see the other things you've made too.

[Thom Sturgill]

Most of the rims I've seen were done by steaming and wrapping thin (1/8") strips to create the cylinder (bent wood lamination) and then trued on a lathe. The end hides under the neck. Typically a brass tone ring sets under the head and it (and its fit) is important to the sound. When my dad made banjos he hunted around to find someone that could cast his rings from marine bronze, others use brass or bronze rod bent into a hoop. Though he did make 'old timey' banjos, most of his were bluegrass style with a resonator.

Yours is definitely interesting and you did a nice looking job. I wonder how a segmented rim will hold up and if it will make a tonal difference.

[Brian George]

It makes my heart feel good to see what you did with that banjo. I'll help you with learning the lathe if youwill help with learning the banjo...
Great Job!!!

[alex carey]

Definitely a great job for your first turning. Cool banjo by the way.

[Garth Jones]

Cool! And very impressive for your first turned project.

[Angie Orfanedes]

I was trying to keep it a secret, but my lathe is a (gasp) HF 12 x 34.5 - a near clone of a Jet, but the motor speed only goes down to 600 rpm. I thought about painting it white with red stripes, and labeling it "Chjet", but that must violate several international laws. So far the lathe is better than I am.

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As you can see I added a plywood shelf/box to hold weight - old barbell plates and sand.

I also added a dust collector port under the ways, and some shelves - here are the doors open...

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Regarding the banjo questions, many banjo players are like mad scientists/tinkerers trying to reproduce that pre-war Gibson sound, when even some of the pre-war Gibsons don't have it (?). Laminated rims have fallen a bit out of favor, because some of them were made with up to 12 layers, and those in the know felt all those glue layers dampened the sound.

So segmented rims have become the cool rims in the last four years. There are some people making a living from making segmented rims. I am guessing they are much better and faster than I am.

So after two banjos, many banjo books and CD's, I can somewhat play the banjo - but don't expect to see me on tv any time soon. The banjo led to the making a rim - which led to a lathe - which led to turning a rim - which led to sanding the rim on the lathe - which led to a dust collector - which led to ...who knows what. I am currently watching (studying) the Bill Grumbine video on bowl turning - he makes it look too easy...hmmm, maybe I need a chain saw...

[Tony Joyce]

Not to hijack the thread , but here is some interesting info on segmented banjo rims.

http://www.tonypassbanjorims.com/

No affiliation, just info I found while researching rims.

Tony Joyce

[John W Dixon]

The banjo led to the making a rim - which led to a lathe - which led to turning a rim - which led to sanding the rim on the lathe - which led to a dust collector - which led to ...who knows what. I am currently watching (studying) the Bill Grumbine video on bowl turning - he makes it look too easy...hmmm, maybe I need a chain saw...

And another one bites the dust. Welcome to the wonderful world of turning. Good job on the banjo by the way.

John

[Mark Norman]

Great looking banjo! And the supporting infrastructure you made along the way will serve you well.

The thread reminds me of this post a while back (before my time but I read it all): http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=59971

I love the marriage of wood and music. Its a natural. I have a friend that makes custom electric guitars that are simply awesome. http://www.customguitarstuff.com/default.htm

Keep on doing what you are doing cuz yer doing it right!

Kudos to you!

[Judy Kingery]

Angie,

Way to go!!! Amen to the comment about perfect marriage between wood and music. I am a bit careful I don't turn my fingers, ha, piano player. That's outstanding you made your banjo rim!

Bowls are doable; they are my favorite thing to turn along with platters. We'll look forward to your next adventure, nice set up and cabinet on your lathe by the way.

Nice job!

Jude

[Bernie Weishapl]

Angie that is well done for your first. Looking at it I would say bowls will be a breeze.:D