Building a bottle gourd banjo, and hopefully learning from a major mistake

[@MarsG0Dofw4r_]

Round peg, round hole is the science! Beautiful job, I'm going to try to do one....

[@lecameleo]

Great !!!! Thanks for showing mistakes and problems, it's very humble and that's what helps the most !

[@CallsignReach]

Thank you for sharing your process. It’s a beautiful instrument and I hope you’re able to get it back up and running.

[@gtrboy77]

Hi Ben, I just finished my first gourd banjo. When I was carving one of the square holes for the neck stick, my gourd cracked between there and the edge where the skin gets fastened on. I stopped immediately and put some glue the crack and lightly clamped it overnight. Then i thought about it some more and ordered a sheet of carbon fiber from Amazon and I ended up doing two layers of carbon fiber and epoxy. It didn’t add much weight, but it is super strong now and it won’t crack again unless someone really abuses it. So you had the right idea using fiberglass on the inside. I wore a respirator when using a power sander or die grinder to clean up the edges of the carbon fiber, but I did find out the hard way that I should have been wearing long sleeves because I got carbon fiber dust on my forearms and they were super-itchy for at least a day.

[@bengreco]

Awesome, yeah the more time that's gone by the more I've thought the fiberglass was the right choice. I really need a respirator because that dust is nasty. I've had the itchiness you described as well, my arms will be really itchy for the rest of the day at least. I've been playing it pretty fast and loose on the safety stuff but since I'm doing this more regularly I gotta be careful. Hope the banjo came out great!

[@Lara-kc3xy]

AWESOME Ben thanks for that jea I'm learning too don't have all the tools you have but I'm making do with what I got.still got allot to learn .but I'm determined man .thanks for the vid .cool

[@doritomango]

Love the making video. I know the other ones got more views but this is my favorite to watch.

[@bengreco]

Thanks! I wanna start making these for every project I do going forward

[@parmezan1060]

I rlly like the burnt plugs color variety

[@bengreco]

yeah I can see that, in person it made them look kinda dirty but I might try to replicate it in the future

[@YaSalaamYaSalaam]

Awesome channel. Great work, keep sharing!

[@Midnightmountie]

You could cut in a little bowtie inlay to stop that crack probably without removing the head. If you look at adam hurt's gourd banjo, there are a bunch of them in there

[@bengreco]

oh wow I never noticed that on Adam Hurt's banjo. That was made by David Hyatt who is a gourd banjo building legend, and I know it's been worked on since Adam Hurt got it. It looks there's a crack running between the two heads, and the bowties are all that's holding it together. In older pics of the banjo, the bowties aren't there yet. Wish I'd thought of this before I tore this banjo apart. Thanks for mentioning that, I'll have it in my mind for the future!

[@brettdm674]

Huge bum out at the end! Still can't get enough of your videos

[@seahorseist]

Brilliant video and workmanship I have never seen a bottle gourd banjo before it looks really nice

[@LindskogTed]

imagine what you could make if you had real proper tools for the job! still very impressed of what you are able to make!

[@DeweyKentM]

Maybe you can heat up the gourd or just the skin to help loosen the hide glue. I really like the look of this instrument. I wish I had the skills to make a left handed one for myself.

[@bengreco]

Thanks! Yeah that's a good idea, maybe if I hold a solder iron to the head of each tack it'll warm it up enough to pull out, and I'll probably have to just rip the skin to shreds. I'll be attempting it this weekend and filming it, fingers crossed

[@DeweyKentM]

@@bengreco I was thinking maybe a clothes iron would be enough to go over the rim as you peel it off. The head probably will rip to shreds, but at least the gourd will be saved. Good luck!

[@bengreco]

​@@DeweyKentM I took a crack at it last night and the pegs just pried right out, no heat! And the whole head peeled off in one piece, even though the glue held the tension with no tacks. Hide glue is some weird stuff,

[@DeweyKentM]

@@bengreco awesome! I kind of wondered if it would even need heat. I’ve watched a couple of videos on how to make hide glue and they always talk about how it’s not as strong as wood glue on purpose so that pieces can be taken apart fairly easily for repair. I figured the tacks would come out okay because of the wedge shape on all sides. I hope you can reuse them on this instrument. They are a wonderful touch that really drive home the handmade look. I can’t wait to see it when it’s done!

[@bengreco]

@@DeweyKentM yeah that makes a lot of sense. I saved all the tacks and will definitely be reusing them, getting ready to tack on the new head today!

[@tedsdogwalking]

I'm sure that you probably fixed the crack by now. My first thought was probably trying to just fill the crack with epoxy resin. At most having to remove a tack, moisten the head and just lift up the portion of the head around the crack, applying the epoxy, and then replace the tack once the epoxy sets up in about 5 min. A little light sand on the crack of course. If it worked, it would save you considerable time and preserve that beautiful build. Just my first thought, and it might not be a good one. I don't have near your expertise or experience. Still working on my first build, a squared ell. But I'm itching to do a gourd banjo, and your build really taught me a lot. Thank you.

[@miguelandrade8463]

Nice job. Can you please tell me the dimensions of the nut? Thank you

[@zebracloak]

Awesome dude 🤙🏼

[@kylewood4852]

Excellent presentation man! I had the same issue you did after I assembled it. Those baby gourds are fragile.

[@bengreco]

Thanks! Yeah looking now at how thin the gourd is I really should have reinforced it. Were you able to salvage yours?

[@NarcanMedic]

Sounds great! Great work!

[@feraltweed]

Nice build

[@AuroCords]

I just found your channel and I love it! Hoping to see some more outdoors playin' And, of course, the second episodes of every one of your series :]

[@AuroCords]

(yes, all 4 of them) I'll take some new 1-episode-long series too tho

[@bengreco]

​@@AuroCords hahaha I'm glad someone is watching my series, the original purpose of this channel. More to come for sure. Heading out to film some banjo by the LA river right now!

[@AuroCords]

@@bengreco looking forward to that! Enjoy 〰️

[@JewishandProud88]

Very cool Ben

[@swedishcrowbar4211]

I think that the charm with a gourd banjo should be not simetrical and homemade with what you have!

[@Gnomewoodworker]

that peg shaper, is that one of those off of amazon or ebay? and what size blade is on your bandsaw? good work

[@Moosefh]

Where did you get your peg shaver? I want to try making my own tuning pegs but the good ones are just way too expensive.

[@bengreco]

I just got mine off amazon I think for like $30. It's pretty junky and I couldn't get it to work for the longest time, but I've found the key is keeping the blade really sharp. I try to sharpen it between each build. You can also make your own with a peg reamer and a razor blade, there are some tutorials on youtube but I couldn't get that to work

[@Moosefh]

thanks, i might just try that.@@bengreco

[@reillychoma7248]

Hey Ben, if it’s not too much trouble, can you list the dimensions of the original piece of maple you used for your neck? Thanks 🪕❤

[@bengreco]

hey, sorry didn't see this earlier. I try to start with about 40" length, 3" width, and 2" depth. The length is so long because I like to form the entire neck, dowel stick, and peghead from a single piece of wood, but if you glue them up separately there's no need for that length

[@reillychoma7248]

@@bengreco thank you, I’ll most likely be doing it the way you do it with the one long piece

[@StevDoesBigJumps]

Which size pegs do you make?

[@Gnomewoodworker]

Ahh yea Clawhammer style :)

[@victoriamason7081]

Awesome! How long does it take you to sand?

[@bengreco]

Takes damn forever, many hours. That part I don't film much of because it's so boring

[@henrysscrollsawworks6917]

Can you use metal strings with wood pegs ⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️

[@bengreco]

I haven't tried, but I think it should be okay if the pegs are made of a very hard wood like ebony. If it was walnut or something, I'm sure the thinner strings would eventually eat through

[@henrysscrollsawworks6917]

@@bengreco what if there made from box maple my saws want hardly cut it it's a very hard wood

[@henrysscrollsawworks6917]

1more question ❓❓ where did you find the tuning peg shaped ❓❓

[@bengreco]

I'd say go for it and see what happens. I'd be a little worried about it eating through. Usually they build bridges out of hard maple, and cap them with ebony for steel strings. @@henrysscrollsawworks6917

[@bengreco]

I use a tool called a peg shaper, it's for making violin pegs and it looks like a pencil sharpener. You could also just buy premade ebony violin pegs, which are what I used on my first ten or so banjos @@henrysscrollsawworks6917