Thimbles for beginners? - Minstrel Banjo2024-03-29T00:29:03Zhttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/forum/topics/thimbles-for-beginners?commentId=2477478%3AComment%3A88723&feed=yes&xn_auth=noJoel, sounds like you have ou…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:889182013-04-04T14:55:52.777ZStrumeliahttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/Strumelia
<p>Joel, sounds like you have outstanding quality control. :)</p>
<p>Joel, sounds like you have outstanding quality control. :)</p> Geez, I read what I wrote and…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:889692013-04-04T14:13:03.394ZJoel Hookshttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/deuceswilde
<p>Geez, I read what I wrote and I must be working too hard. I'm usually a good sport. Please excuse my childish tantrum. </p>
<p>I cannot speak for other manufactures, but I make sure that all the edges are smooth. I know that lots of folks use gut (me included) and I don't want my products to be the cause of fraying. Practice causes enough. </p>
<p>The "blanks" are stamped with a custom die set in a 5 ton flywheel punch press (electricity not steam, but I've thought about trying to find…</p>
<p>Geez, I read what I wrote and I must be working too hard. I'm usually a good sport. Please excuse my childish tantrum. </p>
<p>I cannot speak for other manufactures, but I make sure that all the edges are smooth. I know that lots of folks use gut (me included) and I don't want my products to be the cause of fraying. Practice causes enough. </p>
<p>The "blanks" are stamped with a custom die set in a 5 ton flywheel punch press (electricity not steam, but I've thought about trying to find a screw-press and doing it the old fashion way, steam power would be great, but I have neighbors that would not like the coal smoke).</p>
<p>Next I take off the burr with 2000 grit paper. Then I toss them in a tumbler with glass beads to make sure.</p>
<p>After the shaping process I take them to a cloth wheel with polishing compound to shine them up.</p>
<p>Using modern technology (egad!) , I then clean them in a ultrasonic cleaner to remove 95% of the compound.</p>
<p>I rinse them with fresh hot water and dry them with a soft cotton cloth to clean off the rest.</p>
<p>The polishing and cleaning is what I do different than the originals. In the 19th century these were thought of as a commodity. Stamp 'em and sell 'em by the dozen. Who knows who made them, and I've seen examples of unused originals that are pretty rough edged.</p>
<p>I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I also buy stuff and want it to be correct. Luckily, I can do small batch production so that the extra attention can be given. </p>
<p></p> I second the "smooth as butte…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:889662013-04-04T13:42:06.551ZPaul Draperhttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/PaulDraper
<p>I second the "smooth as butter". I use Joel's thimble on my steel strings for clawhammer -- doesn't sound metallic at all, but rather like a very strong fingernail (which I don't have). I "usually" don't use it on gut or nylgut unless my nail is particularly floppy that day, or i'm having trouble gliding.<br></br> <br></br> <cite>Valerie Díaz Leroy said:…</cite></p>
<p>I second the "smooth as butter". I use Joel's thimble on my steel strings for clawhammer -- doesn't sound metallic at all, but rather like a very strong fingernail (which I don't have). I "usually" don't use it on gut or nylgut unless my nail is particularly floppy that day, or i'm having trouble gliding.<br/> <br/> <cite>Valerie Díaz Leroy said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/forum/topics/thimbles-for-beginners?commentId=2477478%3AComment%3A88911&xg_source=activity#2477478Comment88911"><div><div class="xg_user_generated">My banjos only have steel strings,so I can't speak to the what a thimble may do to those strings. My nails are taking a beating so I ordered some of Joel's picks. They are smooth as butter. The sound may be to harsh for others, but it is helping my abused nail.</div>
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</blockquote> My banjos only have steel str…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:889112013-04-04T10:47:46.798ZValerie Diaz Leroyhttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/ValerieDiazLeroy
My banjos only have steel strings,so I can't speak to the what a thimble may do to those strings. My nails are taking a beating so I ordered some of Joel's picks. They are smooth as butter. The sound may be to harsh for others, but it is helping my abused nail.
My banjos only have steel strings,so I can't speak to the what a thimble may do to those strings. My nails are taking a beating so I ordered some of Joel's picks. They are smooth as butter. The sound may be to harsh for others, but it is helping my abused nail. Let's see....who has the bigg…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:887242013-04-04T02:45:20.785ZStrumeliahttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/Strumelia
<p>Let's see....who has the <em>biggest thimble</em> here? Or fob? Lordy, I think I may faint dead away! Pass the smelling salts! lol!</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3129090450?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3129090450?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200"></img></a></p>
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<p>I'm lucky to have bought 3 brass thimbles from George W. about 15 years ago, looong before I ever dreamed I might be interested in actually playing any minstrel tune or minstrel style. Got them for clawhammer, but…</p>
<p>Let's see....who has the <em>biggest thimble</em> here? Or fob? Lordy, I think I may faint dead away! Pass the smelling salts! lol!</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3129090450?profile=original"><img width="200" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3129090450?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200"/></a></p>
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<p>I'm lucky to have bought 3 brass thimbles from George W. about 15 years ago, looong before I ever dreamed I might be interested in actually playing any minstrel tune or minstrel style. Got them for clawhammer, but found them not as nice a natural tone as plastic picks, which sounded a little more like natural nails to me.</p>
<p>I know some clawhammer players who use brass bluegrass picks but turned the other way. It's a god-awful sound on steel strings for playing old-time, if you ask me. And horribly overbearing in a group. But I digress- a thimble is different, and minstrel is different. </p>
<p>Frankly, don't people have trouble with brass thimble edges abrading and cutting into their nylgut/gut strings?? Seems to me my G.W. thimbles have kind of sharp edges.</p> Sorry, guess I can't take a j…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:887232013-04-04T02:23:34.657ZJoel Hookshttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/deuceswilde
Sorry, guess I can't take a joke.
Sorry, guess I can't take a joke. AHHH.... GUYS! This is "Ant…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:889632013-04-04T02:21:02.444ZJeffhttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/JeffFauver
<p>AHHH.... GUYS! This is "Anthony G Spangler" post on Thimbles... I think we are heading off topic... </p>
<p> Can this be taken to a different posting area? </p>
<p>AHHH.... GUYS! This is "Anthony G Spangler" post on Thimbles... I think we are heading off topic... </p>
<p> Can this be taken to a different posting area? </p> I guess you told me.tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:888322013-04-04T02:11:27.404ZTim Twisshttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/TimTwiss
<p>I guess you told me.</p>
<p>I guess you told me.</p> And you sell guitars, instruc…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:889012013-04-04T02:10:01.555ZJoel Hookshttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/deuceswilde
<p>And you sell guitars, instruction books and lessons...</p>
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<p>I make every one of them in my shop, shaped by hand. I polish each one to a mirror finish with cloth wheels before I send them out. They are not the easiest in the world to make. A lot of pounding with hammers and shaping.</p>
<p>Someone has to make them.</p>
<p><br></br> <cite>Tim Twiss said:…</cite></p>
<p>And you sell guitars, instruction books and lessons...</p>
<p></p>
<p>I make every one of them in my shop, shaped by hand. I polish each one to a mirror finish with cloth wheels before I send them out. They are not the easiest in the world to make. A lot of pounding with hammers and shaping.</p>
<p>Someone has to make them.</p>
<p><br/> <cite>Tim Twiss said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/forum/topics/thimbles-for-beginners?xg_source=activity&id=2477478%3ATopic%3A88780&page=2#2477478Comment88900"><div><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>Of course Joel loves thimbles, he sells them. He is the "Mr. Haney" of the banjo world.</p>
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</blockquote> What you don't know about me…tag:minstrelbanjo.ning.com,2013-04-04:2477478:Comment:887222013-04-04T02:05:33.023ZJoel Hookshttp://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/profile/deuceswilde
<p>What you don't know about me Tim is that I was in a punk band until I found the banjo.</p>
<p>Sex Pistols, Misfits, hardcore stuff like Face to Face and Biohazard- played covers of them all.</p>
<p>One of my favorite bands to this day is NOFX. I've seen Danzig in concert half a dozen times. I was at the Nirvana "In Utero" convert at Fair Park in Dallas a year before Kurt killed himself. </p>
<p>Shook hands with Henry Rollins. Had my picture taken with Jerry Only. Sang on stage with…</p>
<p>What you don't know about me Tim is that I was in a punk band until I found the banjo.</p>
<p>Sex Pistols, Misfits, hardcore stuff like Face to Face and Biohazard- played covers of them all.</p>
<p>One of my favorite bands to this day is NOFX. I've seen Danzig in concert half a dozen times. I was at the Nirvana "In Utero" convert at Fair Park in Dallas a year before Kurt killed himself. </p>
<p>Shook hands with Henry Rollins. Had my picture taken with Jerry Only. Sang on stage with Pennywise at Trees. Stage dived at no less than three Bad Religion shows, four Pantera shows, Slayer... you name it I was in the pit.</p>
<p>I'm no stranger to guitar and plectrums.</p>
<p>So pray tell.. how is it ridiculous?</p>
<p><br/> <cite>Tim Twiss said:</cite></p>
<blockquote cite="http://minstrelbanjo.ning.com/forum/topics/thimbles-for-beginners?xg_source=activity&id=2477478%3ATopic%3A88780&page=2#2477478Comment88900"><div class="xg_user_generated"><p>This is sort of like saying that one does not have to use a plectrum to learn rock guitar. You can, but the two sort of go together.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Ridiculous analogy</p>
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