The Black Banjo!
by Jerad
My dad and I started on my project the day it was a
assigned from school, When I got home I already had in mind what I
wanted to do. I ran inside , and told my dad that I wanted a
black banjo. Luckily it just so happened my mom was doing laundry and
had emptied out a plastic washer soap bottle. We took the bottle and
sliced it with a jack knife I did that part myself, dad just guided my
hand along side. Then we went to Wal-Mart, and got some fiber glass
only 4.99. We took it home got out a plastic cutting board then me and
dad put on some latex gloves, because its really itchy if you get it on
your skin. Then we peeled the fiber glass into thin pieces, we stuck it
to the bottle, I made glue and stirred it with a paint stick.
We set it out to dry for 12 hrs. , after 12 hrs. we peeled it off
the bottle, then after that we took the cutting bored and made the
frame for my banjo. It dried for ten hrs. because it was warmer in the
house then the garage. We peeled that off ,because it got stuck to the
cutting bored. We glued the frame to the big long pole sticking out the
top and let that dry for 15 minutes, then drilled it into the frame for
better support. I soon began to spray paint my banjo soon after the
base coat had dried. Then came the hard part, putting on the strings my
dad had to help me do that part because they had to be tight so I could
determine weather or not my dynamics were loud or soft I figured
both, because it depends on how hard you strum it. Next came the
determination on the pitch, me and mom came up with that the thicker
the string the lower the pitch, the thinner the string the higher the
pitch. The description of my sound slash, timbre would be flat
and pure. For all the other fourth graders for years to come I had a
real blast doing this project not only did I spend quality time with my
dad, but learning what the words dynamics , pitch, and timbre
mean.The Black Banjo!