Grain measure banjo for sale £450 plus postage

This is my latest grain measure minstrel style banjo.

10" pot made from an antique Victorian Sieve, bent oak. Calf skin vellum with fancy trim under the tacks. The neck is Ash with a walnut fingerboard and brass panel over frailing area, this has been aged so as to complement the age of the pot. Tailpiece is sapelle with a simple flower motif. The bridge is hand made 1" tall maple with sapelle cap. Tuning pegs are all hand turned. Its fitted with Aquilia Nylgut Strings.

Tackhead Grainmeasure banjos

2 tackhead grainmeasure banjos almost complete

 Banjo #1 antique grain measure with Ash neck

Turned dowel rod.

Grain mesaure banjo #2. Ash neck and ribbon decoration around the pot rim

This neck also has a walnut finger board and decorative brass plate over frailing scoop.

Both of these banjos will be aged to look contemporary with the antique pot

Home made bending Iron

I decided to save myself a couple of hundred quid and make my own Bending Iron.

First I took a length of aluminium tubing with a 5mm wall. Cut a slot down the length of it then beat it with a large hammer until i got the desired egg shape - i.e. two different sized radii. I didnt quite expect the ally tubing to be quite so tough... it took some serious beating!!

 

I then TIG welded a cap on top of similar sized piece of ally and welded up the slit down the side (the slit was on the small radius). I then ground his down and put it on a wire wheel to make smooth.

Copying the Stewmac model I decided to add a smaller radius extension (great for the violin I plan to make). So I found a piece of  ally bar and turned it down to the desired diameter, i drilled and tapped a hole in the top of the iron and screwed the small radius extension to it. I also welded on some tabs to screw the whole thing to the plywood box I made.... sweet!

Now im just waiting for the arrival of thermometer and heating element to fit inside... then Bobs your uncle. Total price £15 in electrical parts and three lunchbreaks (about an hour and a half)... lets hope it works

A tidy workshop is...er temporary usually

A new year so i tidied the workshop... im scared to go down there to work for fear of ruining it...

Here's my lathe / bandsaw... yeah i realise its not THAT tidy but you should have seen it before!

My new spindle sander and chisel cupboard

Ive reinstated the potting bench from the garden... new mountain banjo in progress

I will soon be exploring the mysterious arts of hollow bodied instruments. Here are a couple of moulds for Cocert and Soprano Ukuleles

My only home grown gourd  all cleaned up and ready for the chop (i fear that it might be quite thin walled)

4 new necks ropugh cut and settling. From L-R Paduak with maple centre stripe, Maple with walnut, zebrano with walnut and maple, and maple with walnut uke neck. The three banjo necks will be my first for steel strung banjos and fitten with truss rods.