. . . of hair-brained ideas. The second cigar box guitar, even though it was turning out fairly well, was causing me a great deal of frustration. I was trying to make a trim piece to go around where the neck inserts into the body and on the third failed attempt (and subsequent waste of expensive/exotic hardwood) I decided to step away from it for a bit. I'm going to go on to something else and will come back to it when the mutual hostility has subsided.
This next project is going to be a banjo. I know even less about banjos than I do about guitars, so I don't know what I'm thinking 'cept I think it's going to be fun. I spent a fair amount of time going through ideas on what to do about the 'pot'. I thought about using a commercially produced hand drum as a base, I considered stretching my own drum head, as I've done that making taiko drums so it's something I'm familiar with . . . various things were possibilities. But then in my research I ran across some reference and images of banjos with metal heads. They're not common, but they are out there, and for whatever reason the idea appealed to my twisted brain. So a metal head it is. Now, how to go about it?
I went on a quest to find something that could be repurposed to be my metal banjo head. I was looking everywhere. Nothing I was finding seemed right. When The Wife Unit asked what I was looking for I said, "Something I can use as a metal banjo head. They look something like this." and showed her an image I had found. She said, "Looks like a pie tin." The thud from me smacking my forehead could be heard a block away. My search continued in the kitchen section of our local dry goods store. I decided to go with a tart pan. The bottom is removable. I'm not sure if I'm going to find a way to use the side segment or not, but the bottom will be perfect .
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