Wormy Chestnut for Banjo?

[Mark Gottesman]

I have been resurrecting an old banjo for my niece to play. While standing in the basement staring up at the ceiling, which I do lot when trying to think of how to do something, I noticed the pile of Wormy chestnut boards that came out of a house (Old room panel board).

Since I am easily distracted, I got to thinking that it might be a fun project to make a mountain style banjo out of the WC. The next thought was, that I had no idea if it was a suitable wood that would hold up to the strain and not sound(?) proper. Not sure how the wood contributes to that.
Mostly see tight grain hardwoods like maple or walnut used in construction.

Anyway, wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this subject.

 

[CarvedTones]

Is it brittle? Bending the hoop could be problematic. You will get some differing opinions, but anything reasonably hard should work. The noise comes from the skin and as long as the wood doesn't deaden its vibration and will hold the hardware okay, you should be fine. There are slight differences that matter to really discerning players, but it is mostly practical.

 

[Mark Gottesman]

Actually, I thought I would have better luck building a block rim out of several layers of trapezoidal blocks. sort of like stacking several wagon wheel rims on top of each other and then turning to size.

Maybe a steambent one later on as a real challenge, but I think the holes and odd grain would make that a hair puller.

 

[CarvedTones]

Or cut arcs on the scroll saw or band saw, assemble circles offset on each layer so the joints are always in different places and you don't have to rely on them (you could even leave gaps). I have an old Hasluck plan that is a through neck - is that a "mountain banjo"? He bent 1/4" oak for the rim or at least that is what he specified. I think this plan is from around 1900.

 

[Mark Gottesman]

I use (correctly or not) the term mountain banjo to describe a type of banjo described in Foxfire #3. It is typified by a small inset drumhead.

This is a generic sort of photo. Many are made in the state.

View image in gallery​

 

[CarvedTones]

Google images definitely shows a lot like that, so that does seem to be the right term. Dang - something else to catch my interest...