Merlefest 2013...

Overhead view of the Main Stage area.  We are in row 28 on the lower left in this image.

The late, great Doc Watson

As I've posted many times before, Merlefest is a marvelous celebration of Americana and "Roots Music" that takes place in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina every April.  It was established to celebrate the life and music of Merle Watson, son of legendary guitarist and singer Arthel "Doc" Watson, who passed away last year.  This was my 24th Merlefest and would be the first without Doc's inspiring presence.  The weather man was predicting a wet weekend, but Mary Ann and I left on Thursday prepared for any kind of weather.

For the last 22 years, the Mead entourage had stayed at the Red Carpet Inn in North Wilkesboro.  It was conveniently located near Wilkes Community College, the venue for the festival.  But each year, the motel became less attractive and more expensive.  This year we decided to break with tradition and stay in Boone, about 35 miles from the festival, and commute each day.  We were in a brand new Courtyard Marriott -- clean, bright, fresh, and free of mold.  Hooray!

After we arrived Thursday evening we drove to Wilkesboro and reserved a parking place for the weekend at a parking venue just outside the entry gate.  This way, even if we got a late start in the morning, we'd have a convenient place to launch our daily expedition.  We then proceeded to Amalfi's, a local Italian restaurant that we had discovered a couple years ago and are very fond of.  After a pleasant, liesurely dinner, we returned to Boone for a great night's sleep.

The Hillside Stage, one of many venues

The Courtyard chain has forged an alliance with Starbuck's Coffee, so first thing after I awoke, I went to the lobby and got two cups of strong coffee to get us started.  We got ready and proceeded to the festival, got our wristbands and went to our reserved seats near the main stage.  Because of the size of the festival, there are nine active stages and venues.  Each act or performer rotates through various performance venues over the four-day course of the event.  They might appear on the main stage one night, then be in the dance pavilion the next day, and then lead a workshop at a different location at another time.  The whole thing is very carefully choreographed and seems to go off like clockwork.

We always see new acts that surprise us.  This year, we discovered Scythian (an upbeat band with a Celtic flair), Della Mae (a terrifically energetic all-girl band), and Matraca Berg (a very talented songwriter from Nashville).  Ms. Berg inspired the audience with a description of a charity she was involved in, Magdeline House, that helps prostitutes proceed out of their unfortunate lives.

Della Mae

We stayed until after 10:00 PM on Friday, making sure we heard a couple of numbers from Government Mule before we left.  It was already drizzling when we arrived on Saturday, so we tended toward indoor venues -- the Old-Time Tent and the Walker Center Auditorium.  We stayed until a little after five, at which point it was raining pretty steadily.  As we were leaving the Walker Center, I turned to two young ladies and asked them if they had tickets to the "Midnight Jam."  They didn't have tickets.  I told them it was their lucky day and gave them our tickets.  The Midnight Jam is a limited admission musical free-for-all that is a great experience, but we had already decided not to go.  We were glad to see that someone could use our tickets.

On Sunday, we slept in.  We had wanted to hear some of the Sunday acts, especially the Avett Brothers, but it was raining cats and dogs.  We decided to have a liesurely lunch and take a little tour on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  One of the hotel staff recommented Coyote Kitchen.  We found it and had a wonderful lunch.  Then it was on to the Parkway for a few miles to the Cone House Visitor's Center and Craft Center.  We went a few more miles after enjoying the Cone House, but the fog was too thick to see any vistas, so we decided to descend on an access road and head home via Elizabethton and Knoxville.

Although we didn't witness as much music as we have at some previous Merlefests, it was still a relaxing and enjoyable music weekend.

Banjo Boys, Chapter 17

Clint had completed nearly everything as we started today's work.

Today was going to be very special.  As we started the day at Hardee's in Meridianville, Clint and I anticipated the COMPLETION of his banjo.  All that remained for him to complete was finishing his nut (the bone at the top of the fretboard with grooves in it to control the string position), installing the fifth string tuner, a separate nut for the fifth string, and to install strings.  I could almost hear the music.

When we arrived at the shop, Clint started working on his nut.  He had to craft a small wedge-shaped piece of ebony to fit under the nut and glue that in place to create a straight surface to support the nut.  Then he crafted and carefully shaped the nut and glued it in place.  In the meantime, I was installing my fifth string tuner.  This tuner has a tapered shape that is pressed into a tapered recess in the side of the neck.

The tapered reamer

I first made a jig to hold the neck rigidly in place while I drilled a hole into the side of the neck.  Then I began reaming out the hole and enlarging it using a special tapered reamer.  After several trial-and-error test fittings, I felt that the hole was ready.  I then removed the knob from the tuning peg, placed a piece of wood over the tuner body, protected the neck with a soft rag, and used a screw clamp to carefully press the tuner into the recessed hole.  The pucker factor was high.  Did I have the hole large enough or too large?  Would I split the wood?  Was the hole in the right position?  The end result was just fine.

My fifth string tuner and nut (the little white spot)

I finished my tuning peg installation just in time for us to start on Clint's.  His installation also proceeded just fine.  We also drilled tiny holes to install the individual nut that positions the fifth string relative to the other, longer strings.  I had purchased a small white nut and Clint made his out of ebony.

We had lunch at Honey's Pool Hall and Diner in Fayetteville (home of the original slawburger).  Then began the next step in Clint's progress -- installing strings.  I showed Clint how to groove his nut for the strings and how to wind the strings on his tuners.  

I proceeded to work on the remaining brackets that are needed to complete my "pot."  As you may recall, Monty had made all his brackets out of brass stock and even gave me 8 finished brackets to get me started.  I had to drill and tap several of mine and also to polish them.  This is a tedious job.  To hold the bracket while polishing it, I made a handle with a long screw that cinches the raw brass bracket against the wood of the handle:

The polishing handle

Soon. I started to hear notes coming from upstairs, where Clint was installing strings. Then I heard the telltale "pop" of a breaking string!  And I had left our other sets of strings at my office.  Clint only broke one more before he decided to leave well enough alone.

So here's our status:  Monty and I are waiting for clear plastic heads for our banjos.  Estimated delivery is sometime in May.  Clint has a three-string banjo.  Our plan is to visit a banjo player this week to discuss nut design and breaking strings and other setup issues.  I will continue to work on my brackets and associated attachment hardware during the coming weeks.  We're close!

Banjo Boys, Chapter 16

Even though I've been out of town and the Banjo Boys haven't convened in a couple of weeks, there has been progress worth reporting.  Monty has proceed to apply his tung oil to finish the wood of his neck.  The results are beautiful:

Monty has also crafted his tension hooks out of spoons, and they are ready to install.  He very cleverly drilled and tapped holes in a tab that he bent in the end of each spoon.  This enables him to use screws going through the brackets, rather than threaded rods and nuts, to control the tension on his head.  We now have to wait for the head to arrive.  The original estimate was May.

The spoon-made hooks, ready to install

My rim with brackets (Courtesy of Monty)

I've done very little to my banjo since our last update, as I've been working in Texas.  Last weekend, I did shape my tension hoop and deliver it to Dan Shady.  I also attached the first 8 brackets to the rim, courtesy of Monty Love, who gave me these finished brackets when he decided to use 16 in lieu of 24 on his banjo.  I was in the process of making the remaining brackets when I broke a drill bit and didn't have a spare.  So I have yet to complete,  polish, and install my remaining brackets.

In the meantime, Clint has been proceeding as well.  Both Clint and I finally got around to shaping our tension hoops and took them to Dan Shady to get them silver soldered.  We picked them up on Friday.  Clint had decided to have his rim powder coated in a semi-gloss black finish.  He was notified on Friday that it was ready, and he picked it up.  It looks great:

That wasn't enough.  The pressure was too great.  The neck was finished, the rim was finished, the hardware was all ready, the tension hoop and flesh hoops were now available, and Clint had bought the goatskin to make a banjo head.  The temptation was too much.  So on Saturday, April 6, 2013, Clint followed the directions he had found on the internet, carefully soaked the leather, made the head and assembled his first banjo.  He has ordered strings, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet he'll buy some at a local music store before the mail-order ones arrive.  I don't think he'll be able to wait.  I know I couldn't if I had this beautiful instrument this close to being playable.

Mule Day!

The Spirit of "Mule Day"

This past week, the city of Columbia, Tennessee, celebrated "Mule Day."  “Mule Day” has been a popular Columbia tradition for nearly 170 years, since the 1840s.  It began as “Breeder’s Day”, a single day livestock show and mule market event held on the first Monday in April.  Over time, “Mule Day” evolved from a single day event into a multi-day festival, attracting thousands of attendees, lasting almost a week.  The heavy involvement of Maury County in the mule industry has caused the event to grow over time into “one of the largest livestock markets in the world.”

Mary Ann and I had selected Mule Day as an event we wanted to attend "one of these years."  This turned out to be the year.  We arose early and did our household chores and got ready to leave home around 11:00 AM.  We had read that Saturday was full of exciting events -- the Mule Pull at noon, followed by the Skillington Draft Mule Show at 2:00 PM.  And of course, there was the possibility of seeing the Mule Queen and her court sometime during the festivities.

Lined up for the beauty pageant...

We headed over to Interstate 65 and turned north.  About 20 miles south of Lewisburg, everything came to a stop.  I can only assume that there had been some kind of serious conflagration ahead, as there was no evidence of southbound traffic.  Something had all four lanes blocked.  I was able to get off at an exit ramp a couple of miles up the road, on highway 373, which took us through Mooresville and Culleoka en route to Columbia.  We followed the sizable crowd to the city park adjacent to the fairgrounds at which most of the events take place.  A short hike later, we were in mule owners' heaven!

There are lots of mules (and horses) at this event -- mule wagons, individual mules being led and ridden.  You have to keep an eye out for mule traffic as well as motor vehicles.  After a few minutes getting oriented, we found the entrance gate and found the center of the junk-food universe!  Fried anything, funnel cakes, kettle corn, and beverages that Mayor Bloomberg wouldn't approve of.  We found a Cajun food trailer and enjoyed a lunch of red beans, rice and Cajun sausage (you don't want to know how it's made...).

Then it was off to the Skillington mule arena, where we saw a number of mules being tethered in preparation for the class judging.  It was a great place for peple watching as well as observing the festivities,  At this point, it was about 70 degrees, partly cloudy, with a gentle southern

breeze -- perfect!  At 2:00 PM promptly, the judging began.  The announcer would call for the class and the animals would be led to the judging area in front of the bleachers -- Jack (the father of the Mule) and Jennet classes first, graduating to the Draft Horses (the mother of the Mule).

After the first couple of classes had been judged, we were treated to the arrival of the Mule Queen and her court.  They proceeded to be seated in the judges' pavilion in the center of the arena.

The 2012 Queen and her court

After a couple hours here, we decided to meander toward the parking area.  We stopped to get a tee shirt for a friend and a button to make a refrigerator magnet, and then walked to the car.  And to bring the day to a relaxing end, we took the slow road home, avoiding the interstate.  You ought to consider going to this event sometime.  It was a lot of fun.

Banjo Boys, Chapter 15

Today started out kind of dreary, with intermittent rain and even some talk of snow.  Monty decided he had other commitments that prevented his participation in today's festivities.  In fact, Monty has been working on his banjo during the past week, and had sent reports and pictures.  He has now mounted all his brackets, made his own hardware to lock the neck to the rim and installed it, and he has applied his first coat of tung oil finish to the neck.  His banjo is complete to the point of installing the head and setting it up.

Here is the neck tensioning fitting that Monty made from an aluminum billet: 

And this picture shows it installed.




The banjo assembled with the tension hoop and neck is really beautiful.

Monty's banjo is about ready
to receive its head and start being played!

Remember, you can click on any of these images to see them full-size.

So Clint and I were playing catch-up to some extent today to finish as many details as we could.  I cooked up some eggs and Mary Ann prepared bacon and sweet potato biscuits.  After a hearty Banjo Boy Breakfast, we headed to the shop.

Clint started out working on his newly-acquired hardware.  He spent about an hour polishing it prior to installation.  In the meantime, I was attempting to polish my rim.  I used progressively finer sandpaper and emery paper until I reached 1000-grade emery paper.  Then I began polishing, first by hand, then using a buffing wheel mounted in the drill press.  I'm really pleased with the results:

The polished rim turned out better than I expected!

Meanwhile, Clint had turned his attention to bending his tension hoop to get it just right.  We initially formed brass stock into circles by rolling them in a rolling mill at Dan Shady's shop.  The result is a hoop that overlaps itself as shown here:

These hoops are close to circular, but not perfect.  So they have to be tweaked using a round "anvil" made from an old piece of pipe and a rubber mallet.  It's tedious and frustrating to get the hoops exactly right.  And of course, the ends must be cut off where they overlap.  On the tension ring, which will be silver soldered, the ends are cut on an angle to provide a greater surface area in the soldered joint for strength.  Here's our high-tech anvil, on loan from the Shady Boys:

One of the unpleasant discoveries I made while examining the tension hoop material and my assembled banjo is that I didn't create a large enough gap between my fretboard and the rim to accommodate the flesh hoop and the tension hoop.  I'm going to have to enlarge this opening using a chisel or some other mechanism.  This is one of those mistakes that would have been extremely easy to avoid and is going to be an enormous pain to fix...

The groove that's too small for the hoop!

Clint had installed his steel pin that is inserted in a hole drilled through the heel cap and through the dowel rod where it extends into the neck.  This pin provides extra security to prevent the dowel rod from ever pulling loose from the neck.  He wanted to cover up the hole where this pin had been installed.  On eBay, he had acquired a tiny hat pin that looked like a bird in flight encircled by a gold rim.  This tiny jewelry item was about a quarter inch in diameter -- Just about perfect to inlay into the heel cap.  Clint plugged the hole with black-dyed epoxy, let it harden, then inlaid the tiny bird-in-flight.  Here is the result:

Sticking to his "bird" theme throughout, Clint had also acquired a brass-finished bird skull drawer pull from a craftsman on Etsy.  He fastened it to his newly-arrived dowel rod ferrule, where it shall maintain a guard over the banjo.  There's no doubt it will ward off evil spirits:

Clint sent a picture of his banjo after he got home and finished installing the hardware.  He has installed the hooks in the brackets and needs only to finish his tension hoop to be ready to make the head.  

Monty is at about the same stage, but his tension hoop is finished.  Monty still has to make his hooks from some vintage spoons that Dinah acquired for him.  And I need to finish making my brackets and get them installed, shape my tension hoop to get it silver soldered, make my hooks from the navy spoons I got on eBay, and make a head.

The Banjo Boys won't be getting together next week because I'll be away.

Hat Day

"Howdy, Buckaroos."

Recently, I came down with a severe case of HAS -- Hat Acquisition Syndrome.  This malady is a close cousin of GAS -- Guitar Acquisition Syndrome, which afflicts a couple of my close friends.  I have observed that when they come down with GAS, there's only one cure.  They buy a new guitar and the symptoms disappear (at least for a while; It seems to be chronic.).

I believe that in my case the HAS was brought on by a recent job assignment.  I've been working in Texas.  A lot of Texans wear hats.  Big hats.  Cowboy hats.  They brought to mind my days living in Oklahoma.  And I used to wear a type of hat that was commonly referred to as a "short horn."  Taking a cue from my GAS-afflicted pals, I decided to search for a proper hat.

A little Googling revealed that the hat I was looking for is the Stetson "Open Road."  Think LBJ.  And a little further research told me that the hat is available in straw or felt (either a 3X beaver felt or the top-of-the-line 4X).  I'm a felt hat kind of guy.  I started looking at prices.  This is no WalMart commoner's bonnet.  For the 4X model, we're looking at over $200!!  I decided that maybe straw wasn't so bad after all.  Then I mentioned my quest to Clint, my co-worker, who happens to be a real pit bull kind of Internet searcher.

We measure my head.  I need a 7-5/8 sized hat.  Clint goes to work.  Within a few minutes he informs me of the following ad:

I mentioned it to Mary Ann and she said, "Let's go over to Marietta on Saturday.  It would be an adventure."  So, I emailed the seller who called me back.  We figured out where and when to meet.  Mary Ann and I drove to Marietta yesterday, met my new best friend, Rory, and tried on the hat.  It fit.  I paid him.  The HAS disappeared instantly.

The hat was initially purchased a few years ago at Stark & Legum men's clothing store in Norfolk, Virginia.  It was given to Rory's father, who never wore the hat.  It was still in its box with the original wrapping paper.  Rory's dad passed away a couple of years ago and Rory put it in his own closet, thinking he might wear it some day.  That day never came, so I was fortunate enough to get it.

Mary Ann and I had a lovely dinner at the Moonlight Bistro in Mentone, Alabama, and got home around dark.

The Moonlight Bistro

Banjo Boys, Chapter 14

Clint at the end of the day with his assembled banjo!

The B-Boys met at Hardee's at 8:21 for a healthy breakfast.  After proceeding to the shop, we opened up the big door, moved Winston outside (he got a bath later in the day!), and set up shop by moving the "messy" tools outside.  We decided to help Clint get caught up, since he has missed the last couple of weeks.

During the day, Clint got his main dowel hole drilled, crafted his dowel rod from scratch, got the dowel rod glued into the heel of the neck, and removed and replaced the ebony heel cap with a thicker piece of ebony. What a day of progress.

My tuning pegs installed

Monty had brought a brand new brad-point 3/8" drill bit that we needed to drill the holes for the tuning pegs.  Both Clint and yours truly got our holes marked and drilled without incident.  The big concerns when drilling these holes are to locate them precisely and to avoid any splintering or "tear-out" of the edges of the holes.

The mounted trishield

On my banjo, I also drilled a small hole in the dowel rod for a steel pin that is part of the hardware that holds the neck firmly against the rim.  I got all the hardware mounted and it works perfectly.  I also made a small sliver of walnut that I glued on the surface of the heel cap that presses against the rim.  Because of the shape of the rim, there had been a tiny gap there that is now filled.  I also finally glued the Buick trishield emblem into its recessed cavity on the peghead.

The hardware that holds
the neck in place

Monty, in the Banjo Boy tradition of helping his fellows, assisted both Clint and me all day.  We dined at the Pizza Hut in Fayetteville.  And to top the day off, as Clint was filing his dowel rod hole in his rim, I found time to wash Winston, who had gotten pretty grungy from being outside in rain and snow over the last several weeks.

All three of us now have things that really look like banjos!

Monty assists Clint in drilling his rim using a
metal-cutting hole saw that Monty located on line