@@LowlyMountainBanjos I am working on a contrabass canjo as my first experimental musical instrument. I am planning to use what I learn with it to build cigar box guitars and gourd banjos. I am also learning to play as I go. do you know anything about how to make horse hair banjo strings? or maybe have suggestions as to where to look for the information?
@@LowlyMountainBanjos I got this from Clifton Hicks here on youtube . I have not and am still looking for primary documentation myself "Horsehair string was very common at one time. You have to twist several strands together at a time. Maybe 4 hairs for 1st & 5th strings, 6 hairs for the 2nd, 8 hairs for your third, 10 hairs for the 4th string." The taglharpa players have some nice videos on making horsehair for their instruments.
I'm kind of mystified as to how you determine the geometry that will produce the neck angle you're going for. If I remember correctly you drilled by hand the hole in the neck that accepts the dowel, and while I saw you measure the position on the gourd where the dowel exits, I'm not sure what went into calculating that location. I'm working on a single piece neck/dowel set-up, but I have another gourd, and for that one I'd really like to try the separate dowel approach, because of less waste and a less challenging time on the bandsaw roughing out the neck (plus, just doing something new). The thing that's stopping me is the question of how to figure the neck angle so you get the string height you want, and I wasn't able to get that from your demonstration. Anything you could share would be appreciated. I also like the tear-drop shaped gourds, and this dowel set-up seems to be the best way to take advantage of that shape. I'm really enjoying this series--and it is super helpful!
The answer to this is somewhat complicated, but the short version is that I keep the neck angle more or less at zero degrees on fretless instruments. Everything is determined after, and is based on, the cuts made for where the skin resonator is and where the neck meets the gourd. I find more or less the center of the opening of the neck hole on the gourd and use dividers to match the center of the dowel where it comes out the other side of the gourd. The location of the dowel at the neck is done similarly. There's a lot left out of this video series because it's intended to be a fly-on-the-wall perspective, not an instructional per se. Hope this helps.
I am learning so much from these
So glad to hear. I'd love to see and hear a banjo you make!
@@LowlyMountainBanjos I am working on a contrabass canjo as my first experimental musical instrument. I am planning to use what I learn with it to build cigar box guitars and gourd banjos. I am also learning to play as I go.
do you know anything about how to make horse hair banjo strings? or maybe have suggestions as to where to look for the information?
@@bearshield7138 I wouldn't know. Let me know if you find out. That would be a very interesting experiment.
@@LowlyMountainBanjos I got this from Clifton Hicks here on youtube . I have not and am still looking for primary documentation myself
"Horsehair string was very common at one time. You have to twist several strands together at a time. Maybe 4 hairs for 1st & 5th strings, 6 hairs for the 2nd, 8 hairs for your third, 10 hairs for the 4th string."
The taglharpa players have some nice videos on making horsehair for their instruments.
@@bearshield7138 Awesome. Thank you so much.
I'm kind of mystified as to how you determine the geometry that will produce the neck angle you're going for. If I remember correctly you drilled by hand the hole in the neck that accepts the dowel, and while I saw you measure the position on the gourd where the dowel exits, I'm not sure what went into calculating that location. I'm working on a single piece neck/dowel set-up, but I have another gourd, and for that one I'd really like to try the separate dowel approach, because of less waste and a less challenging time on the bandsaw roughing out the neck (plus, just doing something new). The thing that's stopping me is the question of how to figure the neck angle so you get the string height you want, and I wasn't able to get that from your demonstration. Anything you could share would be appreciated. I also like the tear-drop shaped gourds, and this dowel set-up seems to be the best way to take advantage of that shape. I'm really enjoying this series--and it is super helpful!
The answer to this is somewhat complicated, but the short version is that I keep the neck angle more or less at zero degrees on fretless instruments. Everything is determined after, and is based on, the cuts made for where the skin resonator is and where the neck meets the gourd. I find more or less the center of the opening of the neck hole on the gourd and use dividers to match the center of the dowel where it comes out the other side of the gourd. The location of the dowel at the neck is done similarly. There's a lot left out of this video series because it's intended to be a fly-on-the-wall perspective, not an instructional per se. Hope this helps.
@@LowlyMountainBanjos No, I got that; I know you have to leave out stuff, and this answer was right on the money. Very helpful. 💯 Thank you.
@drewby613, I was wondering the exact same thing - thanks for asking.