The One-Piece Banjo Shell From Fluted Beams LLC

By Ronnie Nichols, June 15, 2010

Back in 2010, I was asked to make a sound file showing the sound of this shell in my banjo. I told the folks at Fluted Beams that I was not a professional player and I’d try to make a little recording to demonstrate the sound of this shell in my banjo. Here is the sound file.

 

I was exploring the web a while back when I came across some information about a wood process from Fluted Beams LLC.  It described some wood that had been treated with this process and the fellow said you could tie a strip of it in a knot. It seems the wood is compressed lengthwise.  After it dries to below 10% moisture content, the shape is fixed. Being a luthier, I immediately wondered if this (engineered wood) would work on a banjo shell. I sent an email to Tom at Fluted Beams LLC and inquired about it. Since most banjo shells are made from 3 plies of hard maple wrapped and glued together, I wondered if it would be possible to bend this shell in one piece. I had made some shells from blocks of maple glued together in different configurations. Tom answered my email promptly and said that they indeed would make me a shell. He had recently made a prototype and he allowed me to purchase a blank to try in my banjo. This article describes this shell and my final fabrication of it.

 

Here is what the shell looked like when I received it. It was evident that these folks knew what they were doing. It was an excellent piece of hard maple bent to my specs and left a little oversized for my final shaping.

The shell was joined together with the prettiest scarf joint I’ve ever seen. It is amazing to me that they could shape it so perfectly. Here is the scarf joint. It is so well done that it may be hard to see.

 

As soon as I could, I started on this shell. I was trying it in my personal banjo. My design is a little different from the normal Gibson- type shell and Chris at Fluted Beams accommodated my needs by making this shell a little thicker and a little taller than most.

I mounted it in my lathe and set about the final shaping. The wood was dry and turned beautifully. My primitive equipment will probably surprise some.

I turned the back side first and shaped the ledge where the flange attaches.

 

 

This wood seemed to be magic. It turned and sanded to a beautiful luster. (Note from Fluted Beams: it turns so well because it is all face grain, no edge grain, due to it being bent from a single plank. The chips peel off instead like long strands of spaghetti.)

A quick check with the flange to make sure it is right. Hard maple- a beautiful sight.

 

 

 

After shaping and partially sanding the back side I removed it and reattached it to turn the front side where the tone ring sets.

 

Here is the tone ring fitting in the shell. This is a light-weight tone ring which is part of my design. Here is the shell with the turning and sanding all done.

 

 

Here it is with some of the other parts attached.

 

A little staining and some lacquer finishes the process.

The finished shell before assembly.

 

Partially assembled pot.

 

This shell was a pleasure to machine. I would highly recommend it for any banjo. There is a lot of wood and very little glue in it. My banjo sounds just like I want it to with this setup.

This process has the potential to change the way shells are made in the future. I’m proud to be one of the first to try one.

Many thanks to Chris and Tom for letting me try out this great product. You can use my name as a reference any time you want.

Update: November, 2014. Apparently this process hasn’t revolutionized the banjo-building world. Stewart Macdonald once listed these shells in their catalog but they removed them after a while. I must admit that I don’t keep up with all the banjo builders and new things on the market these days. The folks at Fluted Beams are still making these shells. I haven’t had any contact with them in several years. I looked them up on the web and they still have these banjo shell blanks for sale. I can only say that I wouldn’t trade my one piece shell for all the submerged wood and pre-war shells you could give me. That is just my personal opinion. I really like the tone of my home-made banjo and this shell is at the heart of it.

Here is the link to their site:

http://www.puretimber.com/banjo-rims-1/