A tribute to Banjo Ukulele Enthusiast Clive Stanton
Last September, a true friend of the banjo ukulele passed away. Clive was an avid collector and player, and had some truly innovative solutions to many of the problems we banjo uke players face. He had a wonderful sense of humor and we wrote many many emails through the 3 years I knew him. Clive is survived by his wife Fay and children Liz, Bonny and Ben.
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Clive with his wife Fay and below his wonderful banjo uke collection
With his daughter Liz.
Clive was born in Lester England and was raised in Canada after the age of 3. He moved to New Zealand at age 20 and remained there until 1989 when he moved back to Vancouver. He learned many trades during his life and settled on being a longshoreman in the Vancouver area. He told me of his early days as a young man where he had learned the lost skill of metal spinning, which is the method that many of the original banjos were coated with a thin sheet of plated metal.
Clive had many wonderful suggestions to me through the years, but the two that stand out involved replacing a banjo skin that has been removed, cleaned and soaked up to be put back on a banjo. Normally this is just about an impossible task, but his idea of placing the skin on a towel, putting the flesh hoop over the skin in place, then putting the tension ring over both of those, and tucking the skin up under the tension ring before carrying the whole assembly to the rim, and placing it on already "tucked". This allows you to finesse a used, but good quality skin back on an instrument after cleaning and works like a charm!!
Next, but no less clever, is his method for replacing the flat resonator on Gibson banjo ukes (ub1,ub2 &ub3). His solution is to place toothpicks in each screw hole for the reso screws, then put the little spacer bushings over the toothpicks. Once they are all in place you can fit the resonator down over the toothpicks and pull one toothpick at a time out, before replacing the screw. I mentioned this a few years ago in my blog as the "Stanton" maneuver. Works like a charm and you never have the bushings falling down into the pot, or worse yet on the floor. (also remember, if your screw holes are stripped , just break off the tip of one of those toothpicks and put it down into the hole along side the screw and it will tighten up perfectly and the screw will never fall out again!)
Clive's wife and daughter survived him and were kind enough to send a picture of him for the blog.
Strum away Clive, we will miss you!!
Last September, a true friend of the banjo ukulele passed away. Clive was an avid collector and player, and had some truly innovative solutions to many of the problems we banjo uke players face. He had a wonderful sense of humor and we wrote many many emails through the 3 years I knew him. Clive is survived by his wife Fay and children Liz, Bonny and Ben.
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With his daughter Liz.
Clive was born in Lester England and was raised in Canada after the age of 3. He moved to New Zealand at age 20 and remained there until 1989 when he moved back to Vancouver. He learned many trades during his life and settled on being a longshoreman in the Vancouver area. He told me of his early days as a young man where he had learned the lost skill of metal spinning, which is the method that many of the original banjos were coated with a thin sheet of plated metal.
Clive had many wonderful suggestions to me through the years, but the two that stand out involved replacing a banjo skin that has been removed, cleaned and soaked up to be put back on a banjo. Normally this is just about an impossible task, but his idea of placing the skin on a towel, putting the flesh hoop over the skin in place, then putting the tension ring over both of those, and tucking the skin up under the tension ring before carrying the whole assembly to the rim, and placing it on already "tucked". This allows you to finesse a used, but good quality skin back on an instrument after cleaning and works like a charm!!
Next, but no less clever, is his method for replacing the flat resonator on Gibson banjo ukes (ub1,ub2 &ub3). His solution is to place toothpicks in each screw hole for the reso screws, then put the little spacer bushings over the toothpicks. Once they are all in place you can fit the resonator down over the toothpicks and pull one toothpick at a time out, before replacing the screw. I mentioned this a few years ago in my blog as the "Stanton" maneuver. Works like a charm and you never have the bushings falling down into the pot, or worse yet on the floor. (also remember, if your screw holes are stripped , just break off the tip of one of those toothpicks and put it down into the hole along side the screw and it will tighten up perfectly and the screw will never fall out again!)
Clive's wife and daughter survived him and were kind enough to send a picture of him for the blog.
Strum away Clive, we will miss you!!
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