Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joker on June 22, 2010 at 10:16am

The Joker canjo, made for me by "Big Daddy" Darren Dukes

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on June 22, 2010 at 12:15pm

That's certainly a beautiful instrument. Makes me re-think my attitude toward not troubling with putting a finish on the canjo stick before building out the rest of the instrument. I like the alternating dark and light finish on the "fretboard" and the fretwork is beautiful. I see it's a chromatic fretboard. Are the two strings tuned in unison, or an octave apart, or what? Do you have a side view photo? One that shows the attachment of the can to the stick and the strings in relation to the nut, fretboard and the two "bridge" holes.

Permalink Reply by Joker on June 22, 2010 at 11:15pm

I have the strings tuned G D. Some times I will tune it an octave apart though. I will try to post some more pics soon

Rand Moore said:

That's certainly a beautiful instrument. Makes me re-think my attitude toward not troubling with putting a finish on the canjo stick before building out the rest of the instrument. I like the alternating dark and light finish on the "fretboard" and the fretwork is beautiful. I see it's a chromatic fretboard. Are the two strings tuned in unison, or an octave apart, or what? Do you have a side view photo? One that shows the attachment of the can to the stick and the strings in relation to the nut, fretboard and the two "bridge" holes.

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on June 26, 2010 at 6:07am

For a first try, it's a great job. I'm new to canjo building too. My canjos all use soft plastic tie-wraps as frets basically because I lack wood working skills or even a full set of tools to do a descent job of fretting the neck. The second nice thing about tie-wraps is that they are movable, so you can adjust for errors in your fret spacing. I find that even slight changes to the nut, or replacing a can can cause the "tuning" of the frets to go off (usually by the same amount). So, I no longer glue on a nut (just held on by string tension), and I bolt my cans on using a slotted hole on the "bottom" side of the can so that I can also adjust "bridge" placement. Also, on most my cans you'll see several holes punched in the bottom in an attempt to lower the action (lower the string angle so they are closer to the frets and easier to play). I have also started using nylon guitar or ukulele strings with a wider (softer) string feel to give my fingers a break. Doing that produces a lower toned instrument, which I'm taking a liking to as well. I'm doing a fair amount of experimenting and plan to continue to do so until I feel I have "perfected" my canjo building ability. At that time, I'll be sure to write up my results. In the mean time, I'd say don't give up the instrument building. It's a great hobby in of itself (besides playing music) and you learn a lot about the physics of the instrument. I think you may have just bitten off too much for a beginner canjo builder in doing the fretwork with real fret wire and all. I hope to evolve my designs in that direction, but for now, I'm loving the movable frets.

Also, I liked the photo of your canjo's head. It's clean and simple. I am still trying to work out how to do a multiple string head. Maybe I'll use this method on my next attempt and put the tuners on opposite sides of the head. I'll have to research the head design and tuner placement more. Will check out the CBN suggested solutions first.

Oh, I'm talking to Diane from Chicago. Well, you are not a novice canjo builder! At least not compared to me! You can nix much of what I said above, but maybe someone else will like some of my suggestions. I've started to work on a cookie tin banjo and have purchased an can of extra virgin olive oil to (eventually) make another canjo out of. Both or these I wan to make as multiple string instruments. Will let you know how they turn out. Take care!

Permalink Reply by John Norris on July 10, 2010 at 6:58pm

I was hanging out on the Diddley Bows and Other Primitives group, and thought I had something new...you all beat me too it! Currently sporting what is probably some aluminum picture hanging wire from the garage. I'll need to upgrade that at some time and hope that makes for a better sound. I'm trying more of a washtub style sounding device, and tuning akin to a Diddley Bow, but thought you all might find it at least interesting. Here's my contribution:

and the back end:

Keeping it simple- John Norris

Permalink Reply by Roger Morin on July 11, 2010 at 8:01am

Well John Norris I think your diddley bow is great should give a video of it so we can hear how it sounds

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on July 11, 2010 at 4:18pm

Hi John. That's a nice build for someone who has never heard of a canjo. I just was wondering how your string (wire) is connected to the "can side" of your instrument? The "standard" canjo design pierces the bottom of the can with a hole through which the string is run and the string is terminated by tying it around a nail (or the like) near the end of the canjo stick. Your pictures seem to show that your string is terminated on the bottom of the can itself, perhaps by tying it to something and pulling the string through the hole in the bottom of the can till that something is snug up against the bottom of the can. I wonder if the result is the same, better, or worse than doing it the "standard canjo" way. I guess I should try it to find out for myself. I've also read many of the posts on the "Diddley Bows and Other Primitives" group. Most my builds feature electrical tie wraps as frets, so I'm not much of a fret-less instrument enthusiast. But hearing/viewing some of the Blues and experimental music videos from the Diddley Bows group (and elsewhere in CBN) has certainly caught my eye and ears. Since then, I built a one-stringer cigar box fret-less "guitar" to experiment a bit with slides and hammering with a stick, etc. My 5 y.o. daughter has taken an interest in it and likes to make "experimental sounds" with it. She finds it very fun, and I also find it quite interesting. I can play a few simple children songs on it once I figure out where the sweet spots are on the neck for the good sounding notes. I still will have to practice a lot before I can do anything like the Blues. Well, that's all I had to say. Take care. -Rand.
John Norris said:

I was hanging out on the Diddley Bows and Other Primitives group, and thought I had something new...you all beat me too it! Currently sporting what is probably some aluminum picture hanging wire from the garage. I'll need to upgrade that at some time and hope that makes for a better sound.


I'm trying more of a washtub style sounding device, and tuning akin to a Diddley Bow, but thought you all might find it at least interesting.

Here's my contribution:

and the back end:

Keeping it simple-

John Norris

Permalink Reply by John Norris on July 11, 2010 at 5:48pm

The wire is attached to the can bottom. I punched a hole in the can, strung the wire through, and tied it to a washer on the inside, snugged it up tight.

It sounds very metallic, but I'm thinking it may be due more to the wire than the attachment to the can. The can is thicker than the beverage cans, so that might account for a difference as well.

That's great that you took a look at some of the amazing stuff folks are doing with Diddley Bows and such. I was going to dismiss this sort of thing, until I saw/heard OneStringWilley etc.. However, I am not much of a musician. My experiments are more inline with your daugher, than the CBN folks.

That said, I'll put up a video to follow soon for those that are curious about how this sounds.

Rand Moore said:

Hi John.
That's a nice build for someone who has never heard of a canjo.
I just was wondering how your string (wire) is connected to the "can side" of your instrument? The "standard" canjo design pierces the bottom of the can with a hole through which the string is run and the string is terminated by tying it around a nail (or the like) near the end of the canjo stick. Your pictures seem to show that your string is terminated on the bottom of the can itself, perhaps by tying it to something and pulling the string through the hole in the bottom of the can till that something is snug up against the bottom of the can. I wonder if the result is the same, better, or worse than doing it the "standard canjo" way. I guess I should try it to find out for myself.

I've also read many of the posts on the "Diddley Bows and Other Primitives" group. Most my builds feature electrical tie wraps as frets, so I'm not much of a fret-less instrument enthusiast. But hearing/viewing some of the Blues and experimental music videos from the Diddley Bows group (and elsewhere in CBN) has certainly caught my eye and ears. Since then, I built a one-stringer cigar box fret-less "guitar" to experiment a bit with slides and hammering with a stick, etc. My 5 y.o. daughter has taken an interest in it and likes to make "experimental sounds" with it. She finds it very fun, and I also find it quite interesting. I can play a few simple children songs on it once I figure out where the sweet spots are on the neck for the good sounding notes. I still will have to practice a lot before I can do anything like the Blues.

Well, that's all I had to say. Take care.

-Rand.

/blockquote>

Permalink Reply by John Norris on July 11, 2010 at 5:58pm

Thanks Roger.

I just need to get up the courage to do a short vid! Lots of real musicians here. But to help further the cause, I'll put something up soon.

Roger Morin said:

Well John Norris I think your diddley bow is great should give a video of it so we can hear how it sounds

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on July 18, 2010 at 11:48am

Here's a link to another page on Cigar Box Nation that shows a photo of Bairfoot Cajun's "double barrel" canjo. (You'll need to scroll up to see the photo.) It's a very innovative canjo design. Too bad I can't find a video to see how it sounds. I wonder if it sounds louder than a single can? The only other double-can canjo photo I've seen was that "Curtain Pole Spam Diddley" (bow) that "JUJU AKA SOUNDSSOGOOD" built for the Spamdolin? Spam-off!!! contest in 2009. Does anyone else have any inovative canjo designs they'd like to share? Let's see 'em!

-Rand.