Seeders Banjo #008 Walnut and Cherry Piccolo Banjo
This walnut and cherry piccolo banjo was built for my first international order. I happened to have a very interesting piece of ebony with some distinctive grain that I think complemented the Saturn and Star inlay design nicely. This piccolo banjo features hidden fret ends with no binding, a new standard feature for all Seeders Banjos without neck binding. This gives the feel of neck binding but keeps the neck very simple and unadorned. As you can see in the video below, piccolos can be powerful little banjos that can accompany very well.
- 8″ Pot
- 18″ Scale Length
- Walnut Tone Ring
- 1 1/4″ Nut
- Hard Oil Hand Rubbed Finish
- Antiqued Brass Bill Rickard Hardware
- Seeders Cherry Bridge
- Hidden Fret Ends
Seeders Banjo #007 – The Vermont Banjo
This banjo was built for a local client who requested Vermont inlays. Staying with that theme I used all Vermont hardwood in the construction. I used Cherry for the pot and neck with Walnut details, inlays and for the tone ring. The fretboard and the overlay inlays are Hornbeam. The bridge is constructed out of cherry and hornbeam. The hardware is from Bill Rickard’s Workshop.
- 11″ Pot
- 26 3/16″ Scale Length
- Walnut Tone Ring
- 1 1/4″ Nut
- Hand Rubbed Hard Oil Finish
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Hardhack/Cherry Bridge
W.A. Cole Piccolo Conversion
This banjo started it’s life as a banjo mandolin somewhere around the mid 1890′s to 1900. It came to me without a neck and the owner wanted a five string piccolo neck built for it. Using a picture of a W.A. Cole piccolo banjo I built the neck using cherry instead of his usual choice of mahogany and added his ‘boat heel’. The pot was in need of a good cleaning up and was also missing the neck attachment wedge signature to W.A. Cole’s banjos. The piece of hardware is dovetailed into the dowel stick with a slight taper to pull the neck tight against the pot as it is tapped into place. A very nice looking piece of hardware and very functional if fitted correctly. With some help from a frets.com post by Frank Ford, I cut one and sent it out to get plated.
This is a really nice sounding banjo. Surprisingly loud and has a great low end growl that I haven’t heard in other piccolos. I think it must have something to do with the spun over pot. I’m not sure the video will do it justice.
- 8 3/4″ W.A. Cole spun over pot with skin head
- 18″ Scale Length
- 1 1/4″ nut width
- W.A. Cole Boat Heel
Seeders Banjo #006 Cherry Piccolo Banjo
Seeders Banjo #006 Cherry Piccolo Banjo
Simply adorned cherry and walnut piccolo banjo. Cherry burl peghead overlay, ebony fingerboard with cherry burl Corgi paw print inlay. This banjo was built as a travel banjo and as a companion to a Jason Romero banjo. I’m a big fan of his work so I’m quite honored to have a Seeders Banjo as a ‘little sibling’ to one of theirs in a collection. This piccolo had a much more ‘plunky’ sound than the others because of the skin head and nylon strings.
- 8″ Pot
- 18″ Scale Length
- Rosewood Tone Ring
- 1-1/4″ Nut Width
- Hand Rubbed Hard Oil Finish
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Scooped Ebony Fingerboard
- Goat Skin Head
- Seeders Curved Bridge
Seeders Banjo #005 Walnut Piccolo Banjo
Seeders Banjo #005 Walnut Piccolo Banjo
American Walnut piccolo banjo with red veneer detail. Banjo has the ‘Seeders 002′ peghead with claro walnut overlay. Mother of Pearl moon and star inlays in a rosewood fingerboard.
- 8″ Pot
- 18″ Scale Length
- 1-1/4″ Nut Width
- Hand Rubbed Hard Oil Finish
- Antiqued Brass Finish
- Walnut Tone Ring
Here’s a quick video of this banjo. Lots of volume for a little thing!
Seeders Banjo #004 Half Fretless
Seeders Banjo #004 Half Fretless
Short scale (A-scale) half fretless banjo. Made with cherry, ebony and brass with stainless steel position dots in the brass fingerboard overlay. The pot is made with curly cherry and the neck is made with straight grain cherry with an ebony backstrap. The frets are installed so that the ends are hidden making a very fast and smooth feeling neck, similar to a bound fretboard. Slotted peghead modeled after an 1866 Tilton Improvement banjo I acquired last year.
- 10″ Pot
- 24.8″ Scale Length
- 1-5/16th” Nut Width
- Hand Rubbed Hard Oil Finish
- Polished Brass Hardware
- Half Fretless with Stainless Steel Position Dots
- Brass Side Dots
- Hidden Fret Ends
- Ebony Backstrap
Here’s a short video of me playing an improv based on the tune ‘Mole in the Ground’
Seeders Banjo #003 Piccolo Banjo
Seeders Banjo #003 Piccolo Banjo “Tosh”
Piccolo banjo designed and built for a four year old but is fun to play as an adult and easy to travel with. Cherry and walnut neck and pot with a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard inlays are gold mother of pearl inlaid into white mother of pearl. Handles many different tunings well.
- 8″ Pot
- 18″ Scale Length
- 1-5/32″ Nut Width
- Walnut Tone Ring
- Hand rubbed oil finish
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
Here’s a small clip of me playing it. A little fingerpicking and a little clawhammer.
