New item for sale. See the gallery...

John Barr, reenactor with the 2nd Delaware Volunteer Infantry, playing his Jay Moschella banjo.

Important, long-overdue addition to the shop!

new photos in the gallery.

focus-group testing the new product (they seemed to approve)...

1. I like tackhead banjos.

2. This banjo is fantastic.

Here is a mini photo essay I posted on the banjohangout, on the tacking of skin heads


(Click photo below for full size)



In the first photo (top left), you can see that I have taped over the exposed parts of the rim with painters tape. Also note that I have pre-drilled all the tack holes. This allows me to make sure the are all evenly spaced. The holes are barely smaller than the shanks on the tack, so the hold when pushed in, but are not to hard to apply. I use a small mallot to band them in completely. In addition, I have laminated the top of the inner rim with a single, 1/8" thick, .75" wide strip of maple. When the skin tightens up, it can really pull on the rim, sometimes forcing it slightly out of round, especially with a 1/4 inch rim. Nothing is worse than shaping your heel precisely for a snug fit, and then having to redo it completely once the rim shifts!

In the second photo (top right), you can see the glue having been applied. I soak skins for 25 to 30 minutes, and apply the glue 15 minutes before I take the skin out of the water, to allow time to get tacky.

In the third photo (bottom left), you can see that I have rough cut the excess skin. Note that I use two large rubber bands to hold the skin down and to help mitigate wrinkling. Once the rubber bands are on, I hold the side of the rim up to a space heater, and slowly rotate it, allowing even exposure of the sides to heat. Once the sides are dry, I begin to dry the top.

In the final photo (bottom right) I am slicing off the excess skin while it is still slightly moist, and therefore much more pliable. Always use a new blade for this so you dont have to press too hard and slice into the wood of the rim.

A lot of people swear by the practice of leaving the skin out to dry. This works fine, but I am impatient. I have never had a problem drying the skin this way, and it's then ready to use in about an hour. The only important precaution is to make sure you have dried the sides before focusing on the top. That way, when the head starts to contract, It will already be nicely anchored, otherwise it will pull the wet skin up from under the tacks, and tear, ruining your head. Wait to do your final skin trimming until everything is nice and dry, as the slice-line can move noticeably once the skin shrinks.

I hope people find this helpful. I don't want to clutter up the hangout - most everything I post here is posted in the banjo building blog on my website. I may just keep posting there instead, so definitely bookmark it if you're interested in making tackheads.

tackhead minstrel banjos made to order
www.jaymoschella.com

I sanded off all the stain that I put on yesterday because I didn't like the way it came out and I didn't like the color. I mixed some new dye, and now it looks a lot better.



I've been feeling pretty sick for the past couple days. I think I just need to rest, so I'm going to set this project aside for a bit (I hope). In any event, it's amazing how much faster a banjo comes along when you don't have to design it from scratch, but can just copy it.

Here's a copy of Tim's banjo that I'm making for myself. It's got a few little differences here and there, but will basically be the same banjo.

Here is my meager attempt at playing Ethiopian Cracovienne on the new banjo. I recorded it through the tiny built-in macbook mic, so it's definitely not capturing the full spectrum of sound, but I thought people might be interested.

new banjo is now officially up in the gallery.

It's done. This banjo has a distinct, extremely loud, extremely clear tone. The maple neck is solid, smooth as glass, and very easy to play. My only regret is that I made the fifth-string peg slightly too close to the fourth. It doesn't buzz or hit the string at all, but you can just barely notice it with your right thumb when playing. I will either wind it the other way, or make a couple bridges with the space between the fifth and fourth string slightly compensated. It's actually not really bad at all, and in fact the appearance may be the thing that bugs me the most, but as a builder, it inevitably rubs my OCD tendencies the wrong way. Anyhow, click for full size.

Here I have cut the holes in the rim for the dowel, achieved a snug fit between the heel and rim and, in the bottom two shots, I have glued the neck onto the dowel stick. I use a straight edge clamped to the fingerboard area to assure that everything stays aligned while the glue is drying.

The rim has been stained. Here it is cozied up to the neck. I now have to mate the heel to the pot, cut and attach the dowel stick, and fit it through the rim.

Bending the reinforcing band that will fit inside the rim. Disregard the Kermit the Frog oven mitt (if you are planning to continue respecting me).

The new neck is now basically finished. It looks less dark and shows more figure in better lighting.

Had a great banjo weekend. On Saturday I went with a couple friends to Paul's studio. His brother, who is also gourd instrument maker, was there. It was quite a scene - the wood stove burning in the corner while we crowded into the shop, snow piled up just outside the glass doors, and instruments of every kind coming down off the shelves - akontings, didgeridoos made of everything from snake gourds to PVC pipe, banjos, hand drums, kora, xalam. I was happy to see Paul's Hartel, which I hadn't known about, and good times were had all around.

Otherwise, I have been busy with school and work for the past week or so, so Tim's banjo has been coming a little slowly. I did get a chance to make two new sets of bones today. I will now be selling bones to those who want them. They will be $15 per pair, or $30 for a set of four.

I have decided that, once Tim's banjo is done, I am going to focus all my efforts on machining hardware and rolling rims in order to start making minstrel banjos with adjustable heads. My first one is going to be a Boucher copy.