 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Not logged in - | |
| Moderated by: Richard Hefner |
|
||||||||||||||
| Banjoreo Conundrum - General Banjo Topics - Banjo - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
| Author | Post | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||
|
Philj200 Approved 
|
I took the little critter to a orchestra rehearsal this week and had a minor catastrophe. As mentioned last year, the banjoreo is my entry in the cookie-tin banjo derby. It has a 19-fret Vega tenor neck widened and inserted into cookie tin. So I tune the critter up wto frets to open A. The only major error I made in creating it was setting the neck a too low. I had the option of trying to reset the neck… a difficult, maybe impossible fix, or finding and rebuilding it with another can, or raising the bridge about an eight of an inch. Anyone guessing what I did? (Three hands just shot up and you’re all right.) I slipped a sliver of red oak (same wood I widened the neck with). It worked like a charm. Until the bridge collapsed on it’s side during rehearsal. Nothing could make it stand up in its proper place. I noticed the pressure had deformed the top of the can a smidge. Just enough to drive me crazy. The sliver of wood and the bridge would not stay in place. Complicating everything was the size of the cookie tin. It was too small for comfortable placement of the bridge. I had to locate the bridge 9-7/8” from the 12-fret. But the can was only a little over 10” in diameter. Probably some nice round decimal number. Luckily the tailpiece I salvaged was very small since the bridge would have to be almost touching. But that also meant that the string pressure was terrible off-balance. After much gnashing of teeth (that was what the noise was last night), I glued the oak sliver to the base of the outer legs of the three-legged bridge. Using Titebond, I let it set for an hour then cut off the inner piece of the sliver of oak. I then cut a 3/8th piece from the inner piece of the sliver and glued itt at a 90-degree angle to the inner leg of the bridge. Let it dry over night. This morning I put it back together. The angled piece of oak spans the deformed part of the can. Now the bridge stays upright and in the right place. Oddly, the tone and volume have improved. Not really sure why. Perhaps the unglued sliver was absorbing vibration? Now it’s one contiguous piece of hardwood (even if it came from different trees) with less direct area on the “skin.” I have no idea why it’s working better. But it is. If any of we cookie-can aficionados face this dilemma it’s worth a try to fix it.
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Current time is 05:02 pm | |
| ezFolk Forums > Banjo > General Banjo Topics > Banjoreo Conundrum | |
