DIY banjo uke, resonator question also

My first ever build, a banjo uke!
Basically a cheap uke neck glued onto a tambourine.
the video records the journey of the build, demo near the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZfkuhLkU4
next step, learn some banjo things.

For now its open backed, thinking about adding a resonator on the cheap and easy.
As I understand it a resonator could just be a flat piece of wood glued to the back? maybe a cookie tin lid? Off the top of my head I seem to remember resonators being curved, but I have no skills or tools.

Also, can anyone tell me the deal with banjo head tension? I'm not sure how to maximise tone and volume for my banjo.

Comments on any of these is appreciated

UPDATE: the twine holding the tailpiece broke in the night, so i did it again, this time braiding three strands of twine into a super twine. if one strand broke in two days, hopefully three will last forever.

Wow! 35 views and no comments! I guess you've knocked us speechless!

frofrofro said:

Also, can anyone tell me the deal with banjo head tension? I'm not sure how to maximise tone and volume for my banjo.

Click to expand...

From the Deering page here:
http://deeringbanjos.com/banjo-head-tension-you-can-do-it
"the banjo head should give just a little to gentle pressure from our hand and the bridge should definitely look like it is sitting on a flat surface as opposed to resting “down in the valley.”

why the ghetto neck attachment? was it so you'd have a properly spaced 12th fret? rather confusing.. it'll look okay with a bit of work though.

banjo head tension is entirely up to you. i'd get a torque wrench. just make sure when you tighten it, you do it like, NORTH - SOUTH - EAST - WEST. you want tension to be perfectly equal on all sides.

if i put the neck straight on, the bridge would be too close to the rim of the tambo.
Not going to do more work at the moment, maybe if i hit my hand too much on the corners of the block