There are many adequate domestic woods to serve as finger/fret boards, as I mentioned in the previous post. Hard & long wearing, but maybe not the right color. Vacuum dyeing is an option, and any color could be used, royal blue or fire engine red..? I’m interested, but haven’t committed or invested in those capabilities.Continue reading “Persimmon 2”
Category Archives: Banjo Making
December 2024
I’m back in my shop and starting to get into a bit of a rhythm there. It was a busy farm season even though there wasn’t much soft fruit due to a January freeze (-10F). Garden vegetables, apples and various other fruits, nuts and honey carried us through the market season. I’m enjoying the WinterContinue reading “December 2024”
Banjo Making 5 – May 2024
It’s been a while I know.. busy on the farm. After the rims are turned and trued up it’s time to veneer the outside and inside. I’ve experimented with regular veneer, which is pretty thin (about 1/24″, or 0.024″, or 0.6 mm) which is a standard thickness, and found it to be too thin. It’sContinue reading “Banjo Making 5 – May 2024”
New Guitars & Banjos – Spring ’24
My Winters work are a couple of Weissenborn or Hawaiian type slide guitars, and a couple of open back banjos. One of the guitars top, back & sides are made from koa wood, with black walnut binding, fretboard, bridge and headstock veneer. The other is the opposite, black walnut body and koa trim and bridgeContinue reading “New Guitars & Banjos – Spring ’24”
Banjo Adventures – 4
After the ‘barrels’ are cut they’re ready to turn on the lathe. My current method is to use 3/4″ plywood screwed to a lathe faceplate, using two pieces of plywood is probably a better way, more stable. I center the barrel on the plywood and drill four holes (or more) through the ply into theContinue reading “Banjo Adventures – 4”
Adventures in Banjo Making – 02
For me, the first step was to figure out how to make a pot, or the body of the banjo. There are a few ways to make one, one is to bend long strips of wood into a hoop, and laminate them together. Another is to make a segmented ring with wedge shaped pieces, thenContinue reading “Adventures in Banjo Making – 02”
Adventures in Banjo Making – 01
A good friend handed me a banjo a few years ago and I loved it. I’ve had some experience playing in open G tuning on a guitar, so that was a plus not having to learn a new tuning, and there were only four strings! (It was a tenor banjo). The same friend later loanedContinue reading “Adventures in Banjo Making – 01”
Hampel Guitars 