Classic-Banjo
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JOHN PIDOUX ACCESSORIES.
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Permalink Reply by Joel Hooks on
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It is pretty unlikely that I will make more than one. I have to cut the parts out with a jeweler's saw and then try to bend the socket to size and shape (the last time it took a few tries to get a useful one). Then I have to solder it together and be careful not to use too much so that I fill in the socket (don't ask me how I know that this can happen).
And after all that, I don't really like the idea of breathing flux and solder smoke.
All in, this is something that I can easily blow an entire Sunday on, just for one. Meanwhile, no regular thimbles get made.
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The only way I could see this being workable is for me to reach out to my day job's Ningbo factory and have them find someone to make them. But then they would be on Temu and Aliexpress before the container reached the US with my first shipment.
I also cannot see a way to make them idiot proof. I envision the solder popping loose when people mess around with them and then I would be replacing them all.
In the end, they are not that great. I mean, the design is okay but they are clumsy and tend to catch the edge of the socket making a click noise.
I think that if the celluloid was riveted to a cut down regular thimble it would be superior. I've got to find tiny rivets and a setter to try that.
Then I would have to find a way to safely saw, sand and polish a bunch of celluloid without setting myself on fire.
And after all that work, the good old fashioned thimble was the common standard for a reason.
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Permalink Reply by Trapdoor2 on
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Here's some pix of the Expression Stop mounted (and it works!). I had to make a clamp bar, as the original metal one had been lost. So, about an hour ago, I made this one out of a scrap of Ebony fretboard. I used the advertisement that Joel had posted as a guide. It came out nice and it works fine. The clamping screws really need something a bit thinner, but I didn't have a piece of aluminum or steel handy. Maybe later...but I like the Ebony.
In any case, it will take some fiddling around to get it set where it is most useful. It damps very nicely and is very easily adjustable. At first, the button stuck out too far but as I backed off the corks, it reduces the amount of movement necessary to "undamp". "Undamp" as it is damping as default. When you press the stop, it moves the corks away from the head...making things louder. That is backwards from what I expected. I thought it might be a "soft pedal"...but no, you press for "LOUD". I suppose that makes sense. Holding the banjo to your chest pushes the button and it is a normal banjo. Lean forward a bit, as I do when I want to play PP, and the banjo does it for you.
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Nice job Marc! So it works like the Farland Harp Attachment, always on. Farland recommended that you keep a stiff pocket book in your breast pocket to press the lever against.
I figured there was a pretty good reason why 100% of the Farland Harp Attachments I have seen were either removed or disabled.
The Hartnett version is a "soft pedal" that is not pressing by default.
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It is surprisingly adjustable. The corks fit in brass sleeves, which are very lightly spring loaded into the threaded "cans". So, you can turn the cans in and out individually. The mechanism's spring is pretty light by itself, but the cork springs are even lighter.
Because of the distance between the dowelstick and the head, you can't actually adjust it so that the corks don't touch at all, they're always in contact. I think there probably ought to be a separate adjustment for the initial contact. A few strips of masking tape would shim the corks away a bit to get the barest of damping and reduce the throw needed. I suppose that would be personal preference though.
I'm going to mess with it. If I can get my head wrapped around working with it, I'll try to make/post a sound file.
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Permalink Reply by Steven Watson on
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The info about the Expression Stop is extremely interesting, thank you for sharing. I would be very curious to hear how it sounds. The idea of having the banjo muted by default seems so counterintuitive.
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Press something (fingers, wine cork, block of wood) inside the head where the bridge sits and strum the strings. That is what these gizmos sound like. There might be more nuance to it than that, but it will give the basic idea.
Steven Watson said:The info about the Expression Stop is extremely interesting, thank you for sharing. I would be very curious to hear how it sounds. The idea of having the banjo muted by default seems so counterintuitive.
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Yes, just about any banjo mute that touches the bridge has the same impact on the sound. The only one that really makes a very different sound is the Gibson "Wrist Action" mute, which is like running your banjo thru a phazer or flanger. I'd love to have one but they're very rare.
http://earnestbanjo.com/wp/wp-content/gallery/gibson-tb-18-masterto...
The one bothersome sound this Expression Stop makes is a skritchey sound when the corks move on the head. Because there is a radius involved, the corks move both in and out and slightly across the head...which sounds like a fingernail dragged across. I have some adhesive-backed felt discs which may ameliorate that situation.
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Thanks Joel, I just tried that on my Farland (with both fingers and a bit of wood). It just sounds like a quieter version of more or less the same sound, rather than a different sonority, which is what I imagined the the harp attachment, expression stop etc. might produce.
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I want to be clear, I think these kinds of attachment gizmos are the coolest thing ever. I might not ever use these things, but that won't diminish my admiration of them.
Mutes, Willmot Wood resonate chamber things, Grover Vibrator and Tone Ring, Thump Eradicator... take my money!!!
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