048 – B’rer Rabbit Trickster Banjo

This banjo features some of my favorite inlay and engraving work yet. The unique folklore trickster theme led us to make some very fun decisions that tied everything together very nicely in a personal and cohesive way. We started with B’rer Rabbit on the peghead and the Japanese Kitsunev, a nine tailed fox, in the scoop with fox prints traveling up the fingerboard. We later added a raven to the back of the peghead and lastly a butterfly to the heel. The connection of the two is as follows, “in the Canadian Pacific northwest, the Haida depict Butterfly as the companion of Raven the Creator-Trickster, perhaps acknowledging the unpredictable and unreliable nature of “flights of fancy” and dreaming”. The copper of the half fretless overlay with brass screws led to the use of copper and brass side location dots as well as the raw brass hardware. Overall a very fun and playful but elegant design resulted.

• 12″ Curly Walnut Rim
• 25.5″ Scale Length
• Wenge Tone Ring
• Copper and Brass Half Fretless Overlay with Engraved Fret Markers
• Copper with Brass Eye Side Location Dots
• Ebony Peghead Binding
• Engraved White, Black and Gold Mother of Pearl and Abalone Inlays
• Figured Maple Details with Golden Brown Stained Finish
• Backstrap
• Raw Brass Hardware
• Brooks Banjos Hooks and Nuts
• Scalloped Ebony Nut
• Seeders Violin Bridge
• Fielding Tailpiece
• Aquila Nylgut Strings