Here is the neck I have carved for my gourd banjo build would like opinions please
Gourd Banjo neck
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That is Gourdgeous, lol.
Seriously though, it looks great!!
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Excellent! Is it oak? Planning on putting a reinforcement bar of some sort in it?
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@Mike_R no I am not installing a truss rod bar in it or anything to strengthen it, as it is pretty stout now
when you install a truss rod you actually remove strength from the piece of wood as the area you remove is the heart of the wood which is the strongest part already
It is made out of a piece of Zebra wood 1 3/4 inches thick and 4 inches wide and 32 inches long, i sat in my lounge chair and carved it out the wing on the side is for the 5th string friction peg which i am also making out of snake wood as well as the other 4 pegs
it should need no reinforcement bar in it at all because when completed I will use nylon gut strings on it so there will not be a lot of tension on them it is also going to be fretless
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Sounds great!. I love zebrawood’s looks but I haven’t ever worked with it. Good deal on the gut strings/lack of tension.
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Beautiful grain on that neck. I’ve turned a few things out of zebra wood and always am impressed with the look of the grain
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@Mike_R its a fairly easy wood to carve even though its a pretty hard wood, but I will tell you like I keep telling my wife when working it it has a smell that smells like horse manure literally to me, and the dust is pretty nasty I have to wear a mask when I am sanding on it otherwise I start coughing and feel like I am choking
I thought about putting a Pale Moon Ebony (Black and White Ebony) finger board overlay on it but have not really decided yet I have a couple of pieces just laying here but I really love the look of the zebra wood when finished with Boiled linseed oil
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@Timothy_L if you have not yet you should try some Bocote which the next one I build will be out of Bocote if you want to see some beautiful grains and Character or Snake wood if you can get your hands on a piece big enough and cheap enough to work, I have a piece of Snake wood that I am going to be making five friction pegs for this build and That will be the most expensive things on it is that small piece of snake wood.
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How hard is it to play a fretless banjo?
@Hillbilly_picker
I have no clue but I am going to find out I have never played anything that is fretless.
I would not think it would be much harder than a fretted instrument as the notes should be in the same spots whether fretless or fretted that’s why I am keeping the de-mentions of the neck the same as a regular banjo the fifth string peg is even going to be set according to where it is on my Rickard open back except it will be a friction peg
One of the prettiest sounding banjos I have ever heard to me is a gourd banjo that is made from a bottle gourd I will see if i can find the video on you tube and post it up
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@Hillbilly_picker your question about (how hard it is to play a fretless banjo) started me thinking again LOL to make it simpler I have decided to inlay some small marker dots either on the side of the neck or on the finger board just so I will have an idea as to where the notes are if I forget LOL which at my age is highly possible it will still be fretless
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That’s a neat idea, I would like to see you play it when your done!
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I think that is a good idea. Especially for when you get up the neck. I have played fretless instruments (mainly basses) that have both side markers as well as filled slots where frets would be. Personally, I didn’t use the fretboard face markings much once I got used to it. The side markers were more helpful in playing position.
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@Hillbilly_picker
Unfortunately you will probably never see a video of me playing anything if you want to call what I do playing that’s great, I am to self conscious to put myself on a video and post up for the whole world to view I just do not roll that way I do not even have a Facebook account or any other account as far as that goes, this site and a few others is the only things i post on two of the others are metal detecting forums and the others are banjo and mandolin forums that the extent of my internet life.
@Mike_R had it not been for @Hillbilly_pickers post I would have never thought about it but the way I forget things anymore I think I better put something on it
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I get where your coming from!
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Looks Awesome!!
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