Blogs

Inexpensive canjos for kids

Posted by Jack Murphy on August 27, 2019 at 10:39pm

Anyone have some building plans and scale templates for a diatonic canjo?

Trying to come up with a simple, easy to build, an inexpensive one for a bunch of elementary school kids (maybe twenty of them) to build and decorate. One stringer, no frets, and a hardware store eye hook (or something similar) for a tuning peg. Need to keep cost way down. I'll probably pre-cut and pre-drill everything, and mark the fret positions, then they can paint or decorate the neck themselves. Might use dowels, or 1 x 2's for the necks.

If anyone has spare strings (any gauge) or tuning pegs they would like to donate, comment here, or email me at quikclik@hvi.net.

I'll be doing this for free as a volunteer at the local library, and there is no budget available at this time, so material donations are welcome.

Thanks,

Jack Murphy

E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Comments

  • nathan pope August 29, 2019 at 11:49pm
    I made some for my sons class. i used some scrap 1"x1" pine, i secured a soda can to the wood by sandwiching the can between the board and a 2" piece of a wooden ruler inside the can. i used fishing line with a washer tied to the end as the string and the eye bolt tuner. each one was a couple bucks. i used a file to remove the top of the can so it wouldnt be sharp and secured the string to the bottom if the can. i used the normal 25" scale the fishing line made a good sound but it stretched alot so it took a couple tunings hope this helps
  • Jerry Jordan August 28, 2019 at 4:22pm

    I have hundreds of unused new strings.,.,any thing from.008 to.052 .,.,message me and I can donate to the cause.,.,let me know what else you might need.,.,tons of junk around my shack.,.,,

  • Kevin Hale August 28, 2019 at 11:11am
    My very first comment on CigarBoxNation since joining this morning (After almost 20 years of messing with this craft/hobby/calling I am delighted to be on board!): Use two strings! A taste of that “real banjo” experience of a drone string will inspire some of those young’uns to keep going.
  • BrianQ. August 28, 2019 at 12:44am

    Here’s a pdf of a 21” scale template ,complete with fret markings. Shorter scale could mean shorter pieces of wood could be utilized? As for the Diatonic fretting, just think of the Major scale? Mark frets 2-4-5-7-9-11-12 & that coupled with the open note , should cover octaves. I have done this kind of thing before & it is very rewarding to see kids get excited about using their creative minds. Best of luck to you, I hope it all works out for you Jack :D

    http://ukeland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/21-inch-fretboard.pdf

This reply was deleted.