HOW TO MAKE A BANJO

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 24 (Supplement)

HOW TO MAKE A BANJO

It will be quite easy for you Billy •boys to make a banjo—the only things you’ll need are: an ordinary wooden cigar box; a piece of wood, one inch square and eighteen inches long; . a length of florist’s wire, thirty inches long; !a small piece of wood for the bridge, and another piece of wood, two inches long and one inch square for rhe key: two one-inch wood screws; and finally. a few bootmaker’s brads. First of all. take the long piece of wood, which is to form :ho handle of your banio. and. with a sharp penknife, slope off each end. as shown in diagram B. Tn the more sloping end you must now bore a hole fX'i. This

will take the winding key later on. Then take off the cigar box lid, and mark out a triang.t;, about two inchej from one end, having its sides two inches long (see diagram A) When you’ve done this, you must cut along the lines with your penknife, till you have cut the triangle right out. Now you must make two holes at the other end of the lid (P and Q, on the diagram), and you can then attach the handle by passing two screws through these holes, and screwing them into the handle. Now tack the lid back on to the box with the brads—and then you must make a key like the one in Diagram C. You can cut this from a stick of fire-wood, and fit it into the hole marked X on the handle. Mark notes on this, approximately as shown: and now you should knock a brad in the box side, as shown at O on Diagram A. Fasten one end of your length of wire round this, and carry the other end over the instrument, winding it round the handle. (Diagram Z). Put the little piece of wood that is your bridge underneath the wire as required by winding or unwinding the handle. To play the banjo, hold it by the handle in the left hand, pressing the box part against the chest. Mhke the different notes bv placing the fingers of the left hand on the ream red spaces, and twnn<r the wire with a small oiece of thick celluloid, ’shaped like Diagram G. This is called the plectrum. With a little practice you’ll soon ho able to pick ont all sorts of tunes on your l*injo. which will give you and your friends heaps and beans of fun! Owen Martin.