greenscoe
Well-known member
Two weeks ago I posted images of a banjo uke I made from a Stagg hand drum. I was pleased with the way it sounded and it was well received by members of the uke group I attend.
A few hours on Youtube looking at drum making easily persuaded me I should make a banjo uke from scratch using a drum made from staves.
So on Friday I cut up some meranti into 3.25x1x3/4" pieces and set about making staves for a 10" drum. This I did with block plane (a template could be made to cut them with a router or table saw). These were then glued together with Titebond using tiewraps after I was convinced that the joints were good. There are 33 staves.
Today, I trued up the outside diameter with block plane and sanding block (120 grit). I simply kept comparing the drum with a circle marked on a flat surface until it was true. The inside was done with a small plane with a curved blade and help from a sanding drum in my pillar drill.
The drum is now to size at 10" diameter with 5/8" wall thickness. The variation in outside diameter is no more than +/- 1/16 and the sides are square with the ends. It's hard to believe it was done by hand and that neither a lathe nor a router was used.
I need to get the metal parts and decide on final drum dimensions to continue the build.
I'm wondering why I don't see others on the forum making banjo ukes?
A few hours on Youtube looking at drum making easily persuaded me I should make a banjo uke from scratch using a drum made from staves.
So on Friday I cut up some meranti into 3.25x1x3/4" pieces and set about making staves for a 10" drum. This I did with block plane (a template could be made to cut them with a router or table saw). These were then glued together with Titebond using tiewraps after I was convinced that the joints were good. There are 33 staves.
Today, I trued up the outside diameter with block plane and sanding block (120 grit). I simply kept comparing the drum with a circle marked on a flat surface until it was true. The inside was done with a small plane with a curved blade and help from a sanding drum in my pillar drill.
The drum is now to size at 10" diameter with 5/8" wall thickness. The variation in outside diameter is no more than +/- 1/16 and the sides are square with the ends. It's hard to believe it was done by hand and that neither a lathe nor a router was used.
I need to get the metal parts and decide on final drum dimensions to continue the build.
I'm wondering why I don't see others on the forum making banjo ukes?