Banjo

[chunkolini]

I get all the mad jobs.
This customer has been looking for a Banjo sculpture for her hubby for ages and had just about given up.
I explained that I could (would) not do this.

A chinese import, and far to cheap to even think about competing with.
She gave me a budget and said I could do pretty much what I like in that spirit.
Job on. I sent her the first table top sketch in chalk.

And she was a happy chappie. I made the banjo and three poeple grabed it and started playing it independent of each other so I decided it has to be removeable from the mount. Little boys need their little toys.

I also decided to use a banjo tune not a random collection of notes, and recieved same quality advice from this site (again) so Mr Snooper if this is Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy I dont mind. if it looks or sounds anything like the original I am a happy boy.Or does it go "ding a twang ding twang twong bang bish bash bosh"

Edit, I think transposing the notes from the PC to paper to chalk on table to bits of metal has discombobulated the tune. is this the way to the perfect composition? if I do it enough times?

 

[shirazman]

Yip the good old Chinese. Nothing they wont copy
Very nice bit of work

 

[BrokenBiker]

looks good

 

[Norm]

Great job Chunko, what's the finish ? it looks very clean and shiny.

Norm

 

[chunkolini]

I used a wire brush on a bench grinder over the whole thing.
I always do each piece as I fit it, then Gun blue on the notes, give it a good wash to get the acid from the blue off then a couple of coats of Danish Oil seems to work well indoors on mild steel.

 

[Norm]

Nice one, cheers

 

[Hitch]

FIL sells the cheapy ones in his shop, sell for about £30/35 iirc

Nice touch with the 'playable' banjo!

 

[strube1369]

Once again, the eye of the artist! Very cool. She made a good investment.

 

[snowcat]

Nice work,

This is where you find he plays a tenor banjo, and not Scruggs bluegrass!! dohh

 

[chunkolini]

Tenor versus wot?
I deliberately went for a generic thing that says 'BANJO'. Hence the 'resonator ring' I had never heard of one but they all had them on google images.
I figure this a bit like being a cartoonist you pick out the features that define the subject with the minimum of details.

 

[snowcat]

Tenors are missing a string!!

Dueling banjos is played on a 5 string the bottom string (bass) tuned to G. the style of playing is known as Scruggs (after Earl Scruggs) where you where 3 picks on the Rt hand.

Tenor banjos are normally used in Folk music and are played more Rhythmic. and often use just chord shapes, Rather than playing the lead. There generally for Girls and larger drinkers.

There similar looking instruments just played very differently, although go to a picking night and even the wrong material for a tone ring can have you shunned

 

[chunkolini]

Picking evenings? I used to go to them as a kid. Bogey O'dell always won, he had the longest greenest ones.

I have seen snobbish musicians. Hilarious
'Oh dear you played twiddly when you should have played diddly'
They were folkies poor things. I would have given him a mandolin on the ear.
If anybody wants to play duelling banjos with me I reckon mine would win in a combat situation.

 

[dickie bell]

looks fantastic