I kept trying for years to get a banjo to sound like Earl, Sonny, or J.D.
and then it dawned on me. I can't play the banjo like them. So I started to focus
on making the tone ring. I have had many years experience as a machinist. I also
had the opportunity to work with a manufacturing engineer who had worked at many
different manufacturing Co. in the 1920's and 1930's. He was full of knowledge as
to the way materials were processed and machined. I tried to apply as many of these
techniques and procedures as possible to the manufacture of my tone ring. After many
different trials & errors they kept getting better.
Then my best break came just at the right time. I went to an outstanding banjo maker
(Some say the best) to get his opinion of my ring.
He happened to like it and wanted to try it on his banjos.
I left two rings with him and six weeks later I was getting orders. The rings
have been used since May of 2002 on the
Osborne Chief and most of the Frank Neat Banjos. Some of the very best banjo
players in the Bluegrass world use them in some of their banjos and say they are
the best new rings on the market and that I should not change a thing.
Their approval of my ring has made my efforts worthwhile.