Have you ever just wanted something? No
logic involved? It is a lot easier to get something you want when you
have a string of excuses for why you need it- ways to convince
yourself you have to have it. When it is just a desire not connected
to anything more than a passing feeling, it is much harder to
convince yourself to get it- much less the rest of the world.
Yet, these ridiculous spontaneous
purchases are what our society is made of! Being a bit of a tightwad,
what I often do is find a way to A] Make the purchase cash neutral
(an example would be buying something in a lot and selling off the
others to break even or profit), B] Trade for the item, or C] Make
it myself!
In my case, this thing that I wanted
was a banjo. I saw them in music stores and they were so bright and
interesting. I could say the attraction was bluegrass, the
claw-hammer style, or old-time music, but that would be giving me
too much credit. My connection to the banjo is more like Kermit the
Frog, Steve Martin, and Deliverance. In other words, I had no right
to the instrument!
Even cheap banjos are usually
expensive, so I set about making one out of junk I have in the
basement. The foundation is a drum. Unfortunately I had to choose a
drum that I had on hand, so my banjo body is quite large. I used a
snare drum when I should have used a small tom. Banjo heads are
usually 11 inches or so, and mine is 14 inches. That combined with
the trash can lid for the resonator back, and I have a monster banjo.
Why trash parts? That leads me to the
origin and the history of the banjo. The original banjo was a banjar
and comes out of Africa. The banjo as we know it was a slave's
instrument and it was home made. It wasn't until minstrel shows that
white Americans started to use the instrument, and at first it was in
comedy wearing blackface. When American whites began to love the
banjo, there was a great effort by instrument makers to whitewash the
instrument. That is why it looks so decorative today. I wanted my
instrument to speak of the earlier connection to folk art and craft.
Making one was rather simple but time
consuming. Take the hardware off of a snare drum until you are just
left with the ring. Cut the snare drum in half so you end up with two
rings. Look at lots of sites with banjos and combine that with using
a program that calculates the fret locations. Shape a neck by cutting
a block of wood in profile and sanding it until you are close. Mount
frets, mount hardware and mount the neck. I chose to mount the neck
by drilling a hole in the butt end of the neck and mounting one of
those screw in nuts, then drilling a hole through the body and
running a threaded rod through. It took me quite a while to shape the
butt end with a jig saw and sandpaper to get it tolerable, and even
more time to get the neck at the right angle when mounting. Now just
add the trash can lid and you can string it. The strap is made of an old belt and boot strings. The bridge and tailpiece
were the only things I bought and I got them from China via ebay.
I had a friend who can play banjo test
it, and he was impressed. Once I made it I set it on a stand out of
the way so I could grab it when the feeling struck. It is a very good
thing I did not buy a banjo! I am just starting to get that feeling
now, years later!
It is very empowering to be able to
work with your hands, stringing together a lifetime of craft and art
to make whatever comes to mind. Not all projects succeed, but I feel
pretty good about this one. Now it is time to play!
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