I made an MP3 comparing the sound differences between the Hammer and Axe banjo's. Remember I am a novice player so this is just to compare the sound of the banjo's and not to critique my playing abilities. :) In the near future I will try and get a banjo player with a little more skill and a better recording setup.

This is a link to where I have the MP3 uploaded on Banjo Hangout. http://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/music.asp?id=67415  (There is a link to Banjo Hangout's home page on my Resources page.)
 
I dont have the ability to upload and play MP3's from my web site yet so I will use my account at the Banjo Hangout for now.

Bill

Maybe I should back up and just list what I did different on my two banjo's and why,

Both banjo's are hickory. I had the hickory and thought it would make pretty banjo's. Also, then I could theme the banjo's. Hammer and axe handles are hickory the axes and hammers would make neat inlays and such.

The Hammer was first. It is a Pete Segar style long neck. why? Why not I was making it and I could always play it with a capo.

The Axe was the second. It is a standard length bluegrass-ish style banjo.

I sparred both necks so I didn't have to have an adjustable truss rod. The spar would keep the necks from bowing under string tension.

I removed the 5th string tuner peg from the neck. I didn't like playing around it. For the Hammer banjo I submarined the 5th string under the neck. For the Axe banjo I used Steinberger tuners in the tail piece.

Both banjo's have the head tension reachable from the outside of the banjo. I did this by purchasing 10 1/8" heads from Elderly music and making 12" OD tension rings that accommodated socket head cap screws, stainless of course.The Hammer has 16 bolts the Axe has 24 bolts just so they would be different from one another.

Both are non traditional resonator banjo's. The Hammer has a hand formed aluminum bell resonator rubber mounted at three points. The Axe has a modified commercial splash cymbal mounted through the center as the bell resonator.

I incorporated a custom push-pull arrangement to adjust the neck angle. this places the adjustment nut on the outside of the tub so that I didn't have to remove the resonators to adjust the action.

I also widened the string pitch and necks because I have fat fingers and that makes them easier for me to play faster.

I thought that I was being innovative when designing all of this into my banjo's only to find out that most of this has been accomplished over the years by different manufacturers. O-well this is my interpretations and design. I think they are interesting and they have been a blast to make.

what do I hope to accomplish with my blog???? It is strictly for my entertainment, hopefully yours too. I am constantly searching for guest bloggers in the business to give us some encouragement. (again thanks Roger Siminoff - our first guest)

Just added a few resource links, Check them out and send me any that you'd recommend
thanks
bill

I may not have met Roger Siminoff but I did get to talk with him on the phone today. It was a memorable conversation. Another first for me. How to and instructional books are my passion so it really was an honor to talk with him.  Today He e-mailed us the following note. 
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Bill,
          I'm excited that you have made such great progress, and are sharing your work and your experiences with your fellow banjo enthusiasts. While it is very exciting to build a string musical instrument it is doubly exciting to play one that you have built!
Keep up the great work!
Roger
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words of wisdom
again thank you

The first design element I wanted to talk about was how I planned to eliminate the truss rod. I sparred the neck with a bar of 1/8th” aluminum.

I did this by splitting the neck wood in half then bonding each half on either side of the aluminum, I varied from traditional adhesives used in banjo building and went with a polyurethane glue. The glue used was Gorilla glue that they sell almost everywhere these days.

Using an orbital sander, with 60 grit paper, I scored the aluminum to get a good bond. After scoring, I cleaned the aluminum with lacquer thinner and damped the wood just before applying the adhesive. Dampening the wood will aid the polyurethane glue to cure more evenly.

My theory was I could grind the neck flat before finishing the fret board and the neck would always stay flat due to the aluminum sparr. It would also leave a unique aluminum stipe down the back of the neck (coolness factor) 

Notice all five peg holes in the peg head. I don’t like working around that peg on the neck when I play. The grove is to bond a brass tube beneath the fret board for submarining the 5th string.

I will add more soon. 

But just for a note: I thought that sparring the neck was innovative and all me. I later found out that Martin Guitars often bonds a square tube beneath the fret board for just the same reason. But they didn’t get the cool aluminum stripe.

I just set up my web site tonight. I added some Amazon links to try and make this worthwile for myself and those looking for the stuff that Im talking about. Soon I will start blogging about my hickory banjos that I have built so far. I will describe the designs and why first.