Hi J.Ed,

Good advice - I like the idea of an old tamborine for a body.

Thanks

Thank you J.Ed for joining my group. Feel free to add to the discussions or ask questions. Please check out my instructional video CDs:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/njmikeb/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Enjoy your practice, Keni Lee 

Hi J.Ed.

Can't wait to see the photos of your Banjo-rines. I have a hand drum that my young daughter managed to puncture & tear. Was thinking of using that as some kind of resonator box (not having any experience stretching skins over drums, or even knowing where to get such skins). I'm thinking of cutting a circular sound board out of 1/8" thick wood laminate a bit over-sized and then filing the edge down down to fit. But that's another project down the road.

The reason I wrote was to suggest to you to use nylon tie-wraps (the kind electricians use to dress up their wiring with) as frets on your Banjo-rines. On the 2-stringer "toy" guitars I've made for some friends' kids around here, I've used them with with pretty good success. If you have a digital tuner, you can use that to tune each fret position before really tightening down the tie-wrap. I also use a larger tie-wrap for the nut so the sound volume of the 0 fret is similar to all the other frets. At first I used a bolt for the nut, but the nut (fret 0) sounds a lot louder, because, the soft nylon tie-wraps do mute the sound somewhat. If you shop around, you may be able to find 7 different color tie-wraps the same size and use them to provide a color coded scale to help kids remember fret positions and the like. My 'toy' 2-stringers all are diatonically fretted like a mountain dulcimer or strum stick. This makes them easier to learn to play.

Well, happy building...

-Rand.

Hello,
I have started a CBN group entitled, "How to Play CBG" It is my hope and intention to encourage the "Wealth of Talent" here on the Nation to share their knowledge and skill to further the CBG movement. Please consider contributing an instructional "video" link to this group. If you are a viewer seeking instruction, please feel free to write. If you have any suggestions or know other players who you think may want to post instructional "video" links, please contact me. Thank you for your interest and support, Keni Lee