We thought you would be interested in how a Eucalypt banjo
is made. Here's an overview, thumbnails to the left, description to
the right.
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It takes 18 Queensland Maple blocks to make one rim. These are
glued together to form 3 rings each made from 6 blocks.
These are then glued together to form the rim ready for
machining. |
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The 3 rings are glued up and allowed to cure
overnight. This photo includes in the background,
entirely free, a Eucalypt open back rim waiting for its
neck. |
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The rim is then machined on our metal lathe to very
close tolerances, especially the fit of the tone ring to
the rim which has to be just right, not too tight, not
too loose. |
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While on the subject of metal lathes here's a
vertical milling attachment used to make the resonator
brackets. It's also used to mill out between the feet of
our own Eucalypt bridges. |
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This shows the assembled rim, tone ring and
resonator flange. We use
D'Aguilar Bell tone rings
exclusively simply because they are the best. |
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By far the most work goes into the resonator. Ours
are laminated with 5 layers of 1.2mm Queensland Maple
veneer in a homemade vacuum press. Factory presses can
cost well over $1,000 - this one cost me just over $100
using an old fridge compressor. |
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Here's 4 resonators ready for spraying. These are
for the Eucalypt Standard Banjo. |
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After spraying the resonators are allowed to cure
for 3-4 weeks. The buffing machine shown here brings up
an unbelievable finish ... it's great for polishing
necks too. It was spinning when the photo was taken but
the flash has frozen everything. |
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The groove for the truss rod is cut using a 60 year
old Record multi-plane I found at a local market, a
tedious but therapeutic process. The plane is gorgeous
to use. |
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This fearsome looking thing is our fret slot cutter.
A pin drops into the blocks at the front locating the
exact position for each fret. An engineers fine slotting
saw is then pulled across the fingerboard to cut the
slot. Perfect every time. |
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The neck/heel shape is cut on this jig made by our
friend Tony
Millard (the fiddle player, see gallery page). The final
and precise shaping is done by hand. |
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Necks are shaped using draw knives, spoke shaves and
drum sander. With a bit of practice it's surprisingly
quick to shape a neck but the tools have to be razor
sharp. |
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We use epoxy embedded stainless steel threaded rod
for the neck attachment, not lag bolts. This is much
stronger and more rigid what's used in factory made
banjos. This neck is for an open back, you can just see
where the frailing notch is. |
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All the frets are pressed in using a 1 ton press
with a special arbour to ensure absolute flatness of each
fret. However, they still have to be dressed. See below. |
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Frets are dressed with the neck set absolutely
straight before rounding off the fret ends and removing
any sharp burrs. Special, and expensive, luthiers files
are used for this. |
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An open back rim under construction. At this stage
the rim core is getting a burl veneer covering. Purely
cosmetic but looks great, worth clicking the photo to
take a look. More on the open back page. |
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All Eucalypt Banjos are fully set up before delivery
including head tension, neck relief, action, and making
sure there are no buzzes. The blue thing is a Peterson
Virtual Strobe tuner ... it's deadly accurate. |
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Here's a set of Keith tuners, sometimes called 'D
tuners" we installed for an owner. |
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This one shows a Fishman Rare Earth pickup we fitted
for a customer. You can also see the serial number of
this banjo branded into the rim. |
