Articles

A brief description of how to sharpen lathe bits.

An A Scale Frailer built for and designed by Richard Lofgren

Part 1 of a rabab repair including resetting the neck, creating a new fingerboard and prepping for inlay.

I have long wished to test this cool combination and got the chance when a customer asked for it. In addition to the African Blackwood and Whyte Laydie bracket band, this banjo features a Pure Timbre one-piece rim.

Ron Grimsley of White Mountain Banjo has long been one of our best customers and uses Hickelr Banjo Rims almost exclusively, The recent completion of a White Mountain Banjo prototype put this concept to the test.

A jig that shapes the heel contour and drills the heel with a constant angle.

A comparison of two identical rims. One made with a three-ply blank from the Cooperman Company and the other made with a one-ply PureTimbre™ blank from the Fluted Beams company.

Sound Tests

There are several woods called, variously, granadillo, grenadilla and grenadillo. This article tries to sort out what acutal species can be called by these names.

Designing a prototype "Bucket Lid Banjo" for use in the DC public school project.

This article documents turning a solid wood resonator for guitar maker Stephen Cyr.

This jig finds the locations for bracket shoe holes using tension hoop notches.

My quest to make a reproduction of my first "real" banjo, a Fairbanks Electric Special No. 1.

In the quest for understanding wooden tonerings and about what makes banjo tone I have compiled a listing of wood species and their densities.

After testing rims for several months I began to be able to break down the aspects of performance that made some rims better than others. In order to evaluate the performance of wood species and to make recommendations for use and dimensioning, I have initiated this system.

I have decided to organize articles about Prototype 3 development in a separate articles directory. Click here for a list of articles.

What exactly is grenadilla and what are its properties?

False jaws are "tuned up" every time you use them, assuring excellent concentricity.

I am often asked, "What are the different tonal characteristics of wood species for use in tonerings?"

The wood that holds back the tube broke off. I inaly wood and shape it.

Cutting the inside of a rim cleanly and efficiently is a major challenge. One excellent choice is the machinist's boring bar.

The bluegrass community tends to put too much emphasis on single factors in it's quest for perfect tone. The organic whole must be considered.

Lew Stern, "Chief Surgeon" of the Little Bear Banjo Hospital in Arlington, VA reviews DVD Volume 1: Introducing the Rim Lathe.

A banjo history I wrote for an online encyclopedia project.

Walnut block rim with tubaphone tonering plus heat bending an inlay strip.

A rim project using wood inlay splines and a herringbone purfling.

A discussion of Whyte Laydie heel carving in a historical context.

Shaping a heel to meet the rim using a router on a pivot.

My first serious attempt at an accurate jig for rim making.

Ed Britt is a banjo collector and banjo historian. We spent some time shooting the breeze on some aspects of banjo history.