I will post pics of my adventure shortly.
That'd be great.
Yeah I re-watched some of John's videos after that attempt and noticed he'd rammed his sand down much more firmly than I was ramming mine. I do feel that cope probably fell out due to lack of ramming since I was being extra sheepish about ramming that. I wasn't convinced my talcum parting powder would prevent the sand from sticking if I rammed it too hard. Before I do it again I'll probably buy some real parting powder along with any crucibles. I do aim to cast brass since it's what these banjos are usually made from.
The banjos are pretty interesting in construction.
http://savethebanjos.com/Cammeyer%20ZB.htmThey were unpopular amongst banjo players and the butt of many jokes. The bodies were often made from compressed sawdust, some kind of early MDF, which were pretty vunerable to moisture. But they were amongst the first banjos introduced in the UK and sold reasonably well.
I mostly just like the look of the heavy brass frame suspended inside the pot, and it's probably easier to produce than all the shoes, hooks, and nuts of traditional banjos. I've repaired a couple of banjos in the past, one of which required a new 50 hooks and 50 nuts. It was fun trying to figure out the most efficient and consistent ways to produce them, but it was still tedious work.
