The Scroll Shop (Ed of H's Shop Thread)

[edwardofhuncote]

I haven't stopped thinking about cheesecake for a few days... but I did finally finish up this old banjo. 



This one was a challenge. And it really deserves better still, but I have it back to a playable state for the first time in so many years no one can remember. It has no brand or maker anywhere but for certain it's from the northeastern United States, around the late 1800's, just based on the hardware and general construction method. What's unusual about this one is that not a single hook or nut is mismatched. I think it's probably been leaned in a corner of a very dirty place for decades. Note the extreme wear on the back of the headstock. It had no tuners, so I've fitted a set of Grover friction pegs. It came with some kind of mechanical friction pegs, but they were long gone. These Grovers were zero-mod. 

As mentioned in an earlier post, I saved the old calfskin head by gluing some strips of hide around the edges, and using extreme care when remounting it over the rim. Just to be safe, I also ordered an 11" synthetic hide head for it, in case my plan failed. I'll use it another time. All 38 hooks, nuts, brackets, screws, and washers had to be pulled off and soaked in solvent, then cleaned and reassembled to the shell. That is a lot of parts to keep up with, but I have this plastic dish with compartments for that. (I think it was originally meant for keeping chips and dips apart... 🙄) 

The mail-lady brought my strings yesterday... they're Aquila "Nylgut", a synthetic gut string. True gut strings are ridiculously expensive and harder even to deal with than the old hide heads are. These cost $11 and sound great. They're a little bit tricky to tie on if you've never done it. Makes you appreciate modernity.

It turned out really nice. I put waaaaay more time in this job than I expected to, (or estimated the quote) so I'll end up eating a few hours, but it was kinda' worth it to see and hear the finished job.

[cozmik_cowboy]

A doff of the chapeau toward you, Sir: Your knack for saving old instruments makes you An Inspiration To Us All!

Nice work, once again.  I don't see the tie-off as a problem - but then I, Eagle Scout that I am, have known a timber hitch for almost 60 years now, and own a classical guitar.

And i have a mountain dulcimer with friction pegs; I'd have said "To blazes with zero-mod, I say; give me something with gears!"

But again good work, Greg.

Peter

[peoplechipper]

I was a boy scout too, and that banjo looks easier than using the little loops and the hooks of a modern banjo, and mandolins; I hate stringing those things...

[edwardofhuncote]

I was a boy scout too, and that banjo looks easier than using the little loops and the hooks of a modern banjo, and mandolins; I hate stringing those things...

I got my WEBELOS Badge, and was working through the Arrow of Light adventures when we moved away and I just never got back into a Scouting program. That relocation was kinda' the end for me. I could not tell you what I was doing today, but by that age (11-12?) I was already very outdoorsy, pretty handy in a shop too. Within a couple years the Ol Man had me working on banjos rather than whittling the Pinewood Derby cars.

I'm with ya' on restringing mandolins... they're just a PITA from the jump. I got ambitious the other day; same client I did the banjo for had an old KayKraft mandolin that the tuner buttons were crumbled on. It needed some other repairs too. When restringing it, I suddenly got the idea, hey... I'll put new strings on my Gibson too! Guess the thinking was, if I was going to blow an afternoon, might as well knock out both of them.

I'm kinda' particular about how I wind strings on. It's a thing... can't help it.

[lbpesq]

I was a Star scout, two merit badges away from Life, and had just been elected to the Order of the Arrow when I left scouting behind in favor of electric guitar and girls.  Never looked back!

Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

I was a Star scout, two merit badges away from Life, and had just been elected to the Order of the Arrow when I left scouting behind in favor of electric guitar and girls.  Never looked back!

Bill, tgo

I never saw a conflict betwixt those; I was a teenage Scout variously singing and humping gear for rock bands playing for all the beer we could drink (yeah - aged 14-17, that was our usual pay; let's hear it for hillbilly bars!).
Smoked my first joint at Scout camp.
Stayed in the troop, but also joined an Explorer post because they had girls - and we went camping with them!

Peter