038 – Seeders Style 3 Cherry Banjo
This banjo was built for someone who started it all for me. The 4 year old that the very first banjo I sold was built for and my piccolo/pony banjo was designed for was turning 9 and was finally ready for a full sized banjo. It’s a variation of my Style 3 model made from Cherry.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 1-5/16″ Nut
- 11″ Cherry Rim
- Cherry Neck
- Rolled Brass Tone Ring on Pins
- Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Van Epps Style Tension Hoop
- Cole Style Boat Heel
- Walnut Rim Cap
- Striped Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- Published in Banjos
037 – Engraved 12″ Thin Rim Banjo
A walnut long scale banjo with a thin rim featuring engraved mother of pearl inlays. The rim has the owners niece and nephews initials engraved into the rim cap to add an extra personal touch. I used the floral engraving theme to design a unique fifth string transition carving.
- 27″ Scale Length
- 12″ Walnut Thin and Deep Rim
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Weymann Peghead Shape
- Ivoroid Bound Fingerboard, Rim and Peghead
- Ebony Bound Dowel Stick
- EVO Fretwire
- Nickel Hardware
- Fifth String Transition Carving
- Published in Banjos
035 – Pi Banjo Conversion
This banjo started as a 4 string Little Wonder banjo from 1919. The original neck was falling apart and the owner wanted a new five string neck. Built for the same customer as the Prime Number Banjo and is a similar numbers theme. Using Pi as the idea we came up with this unique design. I came up with a new technique for making delicate inlaid dots to feature the number of the banjo at the end of the Pi string and a Pi symbol for the decimal point.
- 10-15/16″ 1919 Vega Little Wonder Rim
- 26-3/16″ Scale Length
- Pi Themed Inlays
- Ebony Fretboard and Peghead
- Ironwood Inlays
- Delicate Inlaid Dots
- Cherry Neck
- Published in Banjos
034 – Coffee Themed Pony Banjo
This piccolo/pony banjo features coffee themed inlays and a coffee color stain. There’s a coffee pot on the peghead, a coffee bean on the fifth fret and a coffee cup on the scoop. Made for a graphic designer that no doubt enjoys her coffee. Even being small these piccolo/pony banjos offer a great palette for creative inlays and designs.
- 18″ Piccolo/Pony Scale Length
- 1-1/4″ Bone Nut
- 8″ Curly Maple Steam Bent Pot
- Rolled Brass Tone Ring
- Engraved Coffee Themed Inlays
- Ebony Fingerboard
- Seeders Peghead Shape
- Calfskin Head
- Aquila Nylgut Strings
- Published in Banjos
033 – Seeders Engraved Style 3 Banjo
This banjo was built as the first prototype for a standard Seeders model I’ve been working on. It’s not named yet and the final details and options being finalized for future builds. It features W.A. Cole and Fairbanks inspired appointments with a few of my own twists. The tone ring is a variation of the classic W.A. Cole Eclipse tone ring, a modern Little Wonder tone ring placed on pins to raise the ring off of the rim. This give is a very crisp punchy sound with a lot of presence that will cut through in a group setting without being too loud or overpowering.
- 11″ Cherry Rim with Black Lacquer Finish
- Eclipse Variant Tone Ring
- Fairbanks Style Peghead Inlay
- Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- 1-5/16″ Bone Nut
- 25-1/2″ Scale Length
- Satin Lacquer Finish
- Nickel Plated Hardware
- Ivoroid Binding on Rim
- Striped Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead Overlay
- Scooped Fingerboard
- W.A. Cole Boat Heel
- Published in Banjos
032 – Brass Star Curly Maple Banjo
- Published in Banjos
Maple Leaf Spun Rim Banjo
This Walnut necked banjo features a very nice spun rim most likely from the Buckbee factory or possibly a Fairbanks. It is simply adorned with an engraved Maple leaf and unengraved star on the fingerboard. The rim features 30 brackets and is a nice heavy spun rim construction that lends to a great sounding banjo. This banjo was designed as a short “A” scale banjo.
- Walnut Neck
- 11″ Nickel Spun Rim with Original Hardware (possibly Buckbee)
- 1-3/8″ Nut
- 22.72″ Scale Length
- Engraved Mother of Pearl Maple Leaf peghead inlay
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead Overlay
- Ogee Scoop
- Hard Oil Finish
- Dobson Heel Profile
- EVO Frets
- John Balch Hide Head
- Published in Banjos
Vega Little Wonder Conversion Banjo
A 12″ Vega Little Wonder rim that, like many of these, was originally a tenor banjo. The neck was long gone and the owner happened to have a very nice piece of Santos Mahogany around that an old friend had given him many years ago. Sticking with a simple Vega aesthetic I created a new neck from the wood he sent. It turned out to be an excellent neck material and a perfect color match for the stained maple rim. A simple adorned but extremely enjoyable banjo to play. The Little Wonder rims and tone rings are often overlooked but they can have an excellent sound when setup correctly.
- 26-3/16″ Scale Length
- 11-15/16″ Vega Little Wonder Rim
- Ebony Fingerboard, Peghead and Heelcap
- Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Original Dowel Stick Construction
- Calf Skin Head
- Published in Banjos
Vega Tubaphone Slothead Banjo
A nice old original Tubaphone rim with an original Tubaphone resonator. The client wanted a slothead neck with simple aesthetics setup for fingerstyle playing.
- Original 11″ Vega Tubaphone Rim with Resonator
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- Curly Hard Maple Neck with Ebony details
- Brass side dot inlays
- Micro Dot Mother of Pearl Fretboard Inlays
- Slothead Peghead
- Seeders Curved Bridge
- Renaissance Head
- EVO Fretwire
- 2 Way Truss Rod Hidden in Heel
- Published in Banjos
Washburn Raised Tone Ring Slothead Banjo
This banjo started it’s life as a Washburn Banjolin. It had a broken and badly repaired neck that wasn’t worth saving so I built this neck to go on the rim. It has a very unique design that Washburn used for a few years with many tenor banjos and banjolins. It has a pleasant but unique sound as you could expect from the odd construction of the tone ring and is fun to play.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 2 Way truss rod hidden in Heel
- Curly maple neck with Ebony Details Stained to Match Rim
- Ebony short backstrap overlay
- EVO Frets
- Small Dot Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Brass Side Dots
- Washburn Raised Tone Ring Spun Rim
- Slothead Peghead
- Goat Skin Head
- Seeders Fielding Style Bridge
- Soft V-C shape neck profile
- Published in Banjos