Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it

Subject: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Songster Bob
Date: 21 Jan 07 - 09:47 PM

I'm trying to find a clamp to hold the pie-plate resonator on a banjo, and can't find an on-line seller of same. The kind I need is the kind that clamps onto the strut, dead-center in the back of the rim, and has a bolt that goes through the center of the resonator. I don't need the kind of clamp that fits onto the brackets around the rim's edge -- the resonator doesn't have any place to attach that kind of clamp.

I've looked at, as I said, several on-line sellers (Stewart-MacDonald, Elderly Instruments, First Quality, International Luthiers, etc.) and no one lists that kind of clamp. Do any of you kind Mudcatters know where, in the US, I can get one of these thingies?

Respond here, please. I never notice when I have Mudcat Mail.

Thanks

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: HiHo_Silver
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 09:40 AM

Try Ebay. Many banjo parts aned accessories available there. If unable to buy one, this part can be easily made from easy to get materials and can be easily installed by simply removing the bolt from the back and pulling the neck forward allowing you to slip the part up over the strut and position it properly. This is the procedure for installing all this type of resonator clamp.

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: GUEST,Sugwash
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 10:00 AM

Try Halshaw Music at http://www.halshawmusic.co.uk

It's run by Tony (Sully) Sullivan and is a cornucopia of all things banjo.

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: GLoux
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 10:01 AM

You might contact Bob Smakula for advice. www.smakula.com

-Greg

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Songster Bob
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 02:30 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I keep watch on Ebay all the time, but there's nothing there currently. Halshawmusic.com had only what I can get from Stewmac et al. Nothing listed at smakula.com, either.

I do have one more string to my bow, so I'm going to see if Mike Holmes of Mugwumps can help. I should have tried him first, I think.

Bob

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Bernard
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 02:46 PM

My banjo has, I think, the kind of bracket you're looking for. At worst, I could see if a local fabricator can copy it. It isn't that complicated, so should be easy enough. My banjo is an old John Grey - better known for their drums.

Email me and I'll send you a photo...

mudcat at bernardcromarty dot co dot uk

to foil the spammers... I hope!

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 02:23 PM

Try ANDY PERKINS,he is a banjo,specialist in faversham, kent Englandhttp://www.dickmiles.com.

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Songster Bob
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 02:51 PM

Andy Perkins doesn't seem to appear on Dickmiles.com. Did I miss something?

Anyway, I'm thinking of either buying a banjo from Ebay and swiping the part (I'll end up with an open-back banjo for sale, of course) or making my own. The latter actually sounds like the more likely action.

Bob

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 03:30 PM

andybanjo.com
KYBTTS

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: open mike
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 06:52 PM

Janet Davis banjo has always had any thing i was looking for.
www.janetdavismusic.com

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 08:12 AM

Captain Birdseye IS Dick Miles, who plays English concertina and has also prduced tutor books for said instrument.
He has recently taken to signing his postings with a link to his own web sit. I doubt that it was intended to confuse you.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Songster Bob
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 01:37 PM

Well, last night I sorted a large coffee-can full of bolts, nuts, screws, hinges, and such-like, and in the process found a strap of metal with holes in it, a bolt and a couple of nuts, and fashioned my own. The metal strap is bent into a _/-\_ shape and the bolt sticks up from the high part, high enough to protrude through the pieplate resonator, where it's held on by a screw. The strap ends are held onto the banjo strut with masking tape. It's a temporary solution, but will do till I can find more proper parts at a good hardware store.

Alas, good hardware stores are about as hard to find as this no-longer-manufactured part, it seems. So my temporary solution may last awhile, and be closer to semi-permanent. I do not want to put screw holes into the strut, or I could just use screws to hold the gizmo in place, so I chose masking tape instead of duct tape, since the stickum is easier to remove. If it looks like it's going to be a long time till I can fix this properly, I will at least take it off and re-tape it. Once it dries out, masking tape is as nasty to remove as duct tape.

Thanks anyway for the help. Perhaps I'll run across the mounting hardware I thought I had -- this resonator had to come from somewhere, so I know I had the part at one time in my life.

Bob

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 01:39 PM

Just because you do not see a part online does not mean a company doesn't have it. I hope you called some of the conpanies you mentioed, to see if their repair departments had one they could sell you, or maybe they would even tell you where to get one from their supplier.

Failing that, is it a part you could scavenge off a defunct banjo?

~Susan

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: Songster Bob
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 02:24 PM

Well, I didn't call any of the companies -- for one thing, when you're doing your web research at night, the companies aren't open, and calls like that from work are frowned on (though 800 numbers at least don't incur long distance charges).

But I contacted Mike Holmes at mugwumps.com, and he tells me those clamps are no longer manufactured, so it's harder and harder to find one. I did look at some instruments on eBay with an eye to scavenging (and may do so for tuners, another need I have), but nothing came to light readily.

Yes, I'm sure I could call or email Elderly or Stewmac and perhaps find one, and I may do that, now that I have the leisure from having made my own. I may also just try to make a nicer one from hardware items. The design is simple, with only one sort-of-hard-to-find item (the proper nut for these things is really a hollow tube with threads that screws onto a bolt -- those familiar with office equipment and ledger binders may recognize a "Chicago Bolt" if I use that term) that can be substituted for if needs be.

In fact, if they turn out to be easy to find the makings of, I may fashion a half-dozen and sell them on the hard-to-find-banjo-items list.

Bob

Subject: RE: Tech: Banjo Part Needed -- where to get it
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 24 Jan 07 - 05:50 PM

Bob-
a good source for threaded hollow tubes in all sorts of sizes is any marine supply store that carries turnbuckles.