Advice on making a wooden banjo ring.... of sorts....LOL

[Greg Bement]

I am making a  banjo of sorts to give to my local VW bug club to use in their silent auction.  All the money goes to local children's cancer charity " Buggn' for a Cure".

Any way I made the body out of 3/4 oak ply (used for cabinets).  Cut into a 14" circle using my rotozip and sanded to finish it off.  The back I will mount an early VW hubcap that I made a channel to mount the hubcap in.  The front I want to use a banjo head, but need to make a ring to mount it to. It was a royal pain cutting the body free hand and don't think I have the skills to cut a ring free hand from  the same material.  Looking for ideas on how to cut a ring od of 11" and about 1/2" thick and 1/2 to 3/4' tall for the head to rest on.  I plan on cutting out the center of the body for sound to resonate off of the hubcap.  Any tricks on cutting the ring I need?  My Craftsman Roto zip type tool came with a circle attachment but the two main pieces used to mount it are missing and Sears only still offer one of those two parts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  go figure.  So any ideas, tricks, home made magic a different way to mount using???? 

Thanks all in advance.

[Greg Bement]

solved my ring problem, bought a wood knitting ring. Cut to size and used the piece I cut off to re-enforce the joint going to stack to get the height I need.  Now to come up with some J-bolts or ? to use to hold the banjo head in place.  Here are some mock up pic's

[Ted Crocker]

Great solution Greg.  Looks awesome so far.

[John Bradshaw]

     If you got the right size U bolt and cut off one side and then just had a bolt hook. Then drilled about 8 holes around the outside edge of the skin and Hub and placed the 1/2 U hook, with 1 bolt on it already and put into the frame holes on the skin side around the edge and then a lock washer and the end nut on the Hub side, that might work.  I see it in my minds eye as working, and I hope it does, and you see it to.  Please let me know, either way.  Be sure and use long U bolts, and when done, you can cut the length to feel right.

John Bradshaw  [e-mail]

[Greg Bement]

Thanks for the idea I'll try that and see how it works

 

[John Bradshaw]

     It seems like it would work.  You might want to file a little on the cut parts to smooth off.  Please let me know if it works, and pictures would be appreciated.

John Bradshaw  [e-mail]

[John Bradshaw]

picture of my first CBG Build

[Greg Bement]

Nice, what kind of wood did you make the neck out of?

[Greg Bement]

Got the head ring made, removed the crown on the handrail I'm using for the neck.

[John Bradshaw]

     I have a friend that makes quality Rocking chairs and I get his off fall which is Oak and Walnut and other fine woods.  The CBG  above has an Oak neck and fret board.  I am getting better at construction.

John  [e-mail]

[Greg Bement]

 Now that's a score if I ever heard one!  The neck looked great...

[Greg Bement]

Anyone ever used a piezo pickup on a banjo and if so where did you mount it?  If it was to the head itself what was used to adhere it?  Thanks

[Ted Crocker]

I used a Gold Nugget piezo pickup on my BambooJo.  I wedged it between the bamboo thru neck and the head.  I used the same pickup on a real banjo and used the foam double stick tape that comes on the Gold nugget.  Here's a vid of the BambooJo.  Sorry, no vid of the client one, but it sounded great.  Just the other night I had a banjo player here at Club Ted, and I merely pressed a Gold Nugget up against the front of the head and it sounded great.  He'll be coming back once my shop is set up for a permanent install.