These days if you hear people talking about an old song, they mean from the early 2000s or maybe even from the 90s (imagine that). Here are a few performances of a REALLY old song. It was written in 1843 by Dan Emmett
Now here’s a whole different trip down the river…
And finally, it’s time to trot out the Smothers Brothers
I just read Pronto, by Elmore Leonard. It’s another of the books featuring the character of Raylan Givens, which was adopted for the television series Justified. Straight ahead pulper that offers an oddball sidetrack involving Ezra Pound in a village in Italy. It’s like fast-food. You convince yourself you really want it. It tastes great as you gobble it down, but then toward the end you start thinking, maybe I should have made a salad instead.
Good though.
The person who sold me the red can on ebay was kind enough to include some machine oil still in the can. Generous yes, but the thing is you need a dry oil-free can for a canjo. I found some of this interesting product at my local Canadian Tire store…
It’s Flubber Dust and apparently, it sucks oils and odours from surfaces, just what the Dr. ordered. I poured some into the can and shook it all about for a while, left it in there for an hour, dumped it out and added some fresh stuff. I’m leaving this sit in the can overnight. Tomorrow, I’ll try washing the can out with soapy water and see if the oil is cleaned up.
I roughed out the neck shape on one of the blanks I made, using a band saw. I put the can in the photo below so you can visualize how the neck and the can look together.
The next step is to start shaping the bottom of the neck and the peg head. Notice at the bottom of the fingerboard I’ve left a gap of about an eighth of an inch. This is to compensate for the lip of the can, so the neck joins the can properly and at the same time the fingerboard is flush with the can. On my first canjo, I installed the ready-made neck under the lip. that worked out ok, but I think my approach on this one will enable me to more accurately attach the neck.
I don’t think I’ve heard this tune before coming across it today on the YouTube. It’s called Hog-eyed Man and it features Tim Rowell on clawhammer and Cathy Mason on fiddle. Great tune and beautifully played too!
Update on the new canjos:
Today I drew the neck on one of the completed blanks. I spent quite a bit of time messing with the peg head and I’m still undecided on the shape I want. Once I settle on that, this neck will be ready for the initial shaping on the bandsaw.
I also have to clean the inside of one of the cans, as it arrived with a bit of oil still on the bottom, but I think I’ll find some lame excuse for delaying that job one more day. I took the handles off both cans because the positioning of the handles and cap made installing a neck impossible unless I did it on the reverse side of the can (not so attractive).
Laminating two new banjo necks
I opened the new cans today. The brake fluid can is empty and appears dry inside. The industrial oil can, on the other hand, came with some residual oil in the bottom. I’m draining what’s in there overnight. Next I’ll either absorb that oil with some magical absorbing stuff, like that which they use to clean oil spills in garages, or, I’ll use a solvent to clean the inside. I prefer to avoid using solvents, so I’ll try option one first.
Meanwhile I started building two banjo necks, one for each of the two new cans. There are two ways to go about making a neck. One is to start with a single block of hardwood and cut out the neck from that win a bandsaw. Another way is to laminate pieces together to get the thickness required. I also laminated fancy wood strips to the top of the neck. These strips of wood will become the fingerboards. I’m not going to say fretboards here because these necks are going to be fretless. I saved enough of the fingerboard material to also use some on the heel of each of the two necks.
The next steps will be to use the bandsaw to rough out the shapes of the neck.
I found myself out in Port Credit this afternoon, at a bar. I was there because my neighbour and friend Chris Plock was playing with a really fine band called The Meteors. The band was really rockin’ and Chris, he can blow those horns of his and sing like there’s no tomorrow. I mention this because Chris introduced me to one of the guys in the band (the drummer), and he tells this guy that I’ve been making banjos out of oil cans. So, the drummer, he asked me, what’s the best kind of pick-up to put on a banjo, and I think about this, because normally you don’t put a pick-up on a banjo, although with some cigar-box and other alternative builds, it’s something to consider. The drummer sees I’m thinking about this and puts me out of my misery. “An F-150,” he says. And I thought I knew all the banjo jokes.
The two oil cans I’ve been expecting arrived by today’s post.
The Mark of Quality + Heavy Duty
It’s time to make a couple more banjos.
I drove out to Burlington this afternoon to visit a place called Exotic Woods. This place features 20,000 square feet, a showroom, warehouse and full machining facility. It also features a room filled with wood milled specifically for instrument makers.
Exotic Woods in Burlington
I was like a kid in a candy store. I already had some maple I plan to use for the necks, but I want to add a laminated fingerboard to each neck as well, and Exotic Woods had a fantastic choice. I bought two pieces (later, when I start building, I’ll show photos). I also bought a small piece of ebony I’m going to use for nuts and another little piece of some mysterious unlabelled hardwood I’m going to use to make some bridges. It’s great to know there is a place not too far from home to get a variety of wood milled specifically for instrument making.
After watching three seasons of Justified, I got around to reading Raylan, one of the Elmore Leonard books featuring the Raylan Givins character. If you’ve watched the series there is little new here, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll place the actors in the series into the book in your mind, simply because Leonard dispenses with details like descriptions. Works for me.
This is a spare, fun pulper, a tasty snack. Steak frites and a cold beer. Am I going to read the other earlier efforts? Of course. Not much to say about this one though. Disposable but good.
Played by Benton Flippen
I love the quote that just came up on my WordPress dashboard, from crime writer Elmore Leonard: “I try to leave out the parts that people skip”.
27th Street 