* * * * * SPACING THE FRETS ON A BANJO NECK. BY PROF. C.W. MACCORD. The amateur performer on the banjo, if he be of a mechanical turn, is often tempted to exercise his skill by making an instrument for himself; and the temptation is the greater because he can confine himself to the essentials. The excellence of a banjo in respect to power and tone depends mainly upon the rim and the neck, that is, supposing the parchment head to be of proper quality; but then the preparation of the heads is a business of itself, and the amateur is no more expected to make the head than to make the strings. So again, all the minor accessories, such as pegs and tail pieces, brackets and bridges, are kept in stock for his benefit, and he may justly claim all the credit if his efforts in connection with the two principal parts first mentioned result in the production of a superior instrument. Among these ready-made items is a "fret wire" of peculiar section, furnished with a flange ready for insertion into fine saw cuts across the neck, which much facilitates his work. Of course, the correctness of the notes depends entirely upon the accuracy with which the frets are spaced, and the accompanying diagram exhibits a convenient method of determining the spaces by graphic means. [Illustration: SPACING FOR BANJO FRETS] It is to be understood that when the distance from the "nut," N, to the bridge, B, has been determined, the first fret is to be placed at 1/18 of that distance from the nut, the distance from the first to the second is to be 1/18 of the remainder, and so on. To determine these distances by computation, then, is a simple enough arithmetical exercise; but it is exceedingly tedious, since the denominators of the fractions involved increase with great rapidity; being successive powers of the comparatively large number 18, they soon become enormous. In the large diagram, the distance, A C, on the horizontal line corresponds to the distance, N B, on the instrument. At A erect a vertical line, and mark upon it a point B such that B C shall be exactly eighteen times any convenient unit, B I. In the illustration B C is 26 inches, and B I is 11/2 inches, so that B C is 27 inches in length. About C as a center describe the arcs, B L, I K, and through I draw a vertical line, cutting B L in D; draw the radius D C, cutting the inner arc, I K, in J, through J draw another vertical, cutting B L in E, and so on.