172 – Podolak 12″ Dobson Special Banjo
This banjo has a powerful well rounded tone unique to the Dobson Special with a comfortable neck profile ideal for all hand sizes and comfort while playing all over the neck. The Dobson Special utilizes a Dobson tone ring mounted on a rolled brass ring to isolate the tone ring from the wooden rim giving it a unique and powerful Dobson sound with more balanced and a crisp overall tone. It’s simple but elegant inlays and overall design has a vintage inspired look while having modern playability and durability.
This banjo was made for the talented Leonard Podolak, of the Canadian band The Duhks. Leonard is an excellent banjo player who’s particularly fond of playing jigs and reels on the banjo, a skill not for the faint of heart! It’s always exciting to hear what players like Leonard will do with the banjos I create.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 12″ Curly Maple Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Mother of Pearl Dot Inlays
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Seeders Tailpiece
- Sustainer Neck Attachment
- Seeders 3 Foot Bridge
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- EVO Fretwire
- 1-5/16″ Black Tusq Nut
- Black Rim Binding
- Dark Reddish Brown Stain
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Renaissance Head
- Cole Boat Heel
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulose Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
171 – 12″ Dobson Special Banjo
This banjo has a powerful well rounded tone unique to the Dobson Special with a comfortable neck profile ideal for all hand sizes and comfort while playing all over the neck. The Dobson Special utilizes a Dobson tone ring mounted on a rolled brass ring to isolate the tone ring from the wooden rim giving it a unique and powerful Dobson sound with more balanced and a crisp overall tone. It’s simple but elegant inlays and overall design has a vintage inspired look while having modern playability and durability.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 12″ Curly Maple Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Seeders Tailpiece
- Sustainer Neck Attachment
- Seeders 3 Foot Bridge
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- EVO Fretwire
- 1-5/16″ Black Tusq Nut
- Black Rim Binding
- Golden Amber Brown Stain
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Renaissance Head
- Cole Boat Heel
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulose Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
170 – 12″ Curly Maple Dobson Special
This banjo has a powerful well rounded tone unique to the Dobson Special with a comfortable neck profile ideal for all hand sizes and comfort while playing all over the neck. The Dobson Special utilizes a Dobson tone ring mounted on a rolled brass ring to isolate the tone ring from the wooden rim giving it a unique and powerful Dobson sound with more balanced and a crisp overall tone. It’s simple but elegant inlays and overall design has a vintage inspired look while having modern playability and durability.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 12″ Curly Maple Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Seeders Tailpiece
- Sustainer Neck Attachment
- Seeders 3 Foot Bridge
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- EVO Fretwire
- 1-5/16″ Black Tusq Nut
- Black Rim Binding
- Golden Amber Brown Stain
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Renaissance Head
- Cole Boat Heel
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulose Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
166 – 12″ Ashborn Rim Nautilus Banjo
This was a very fun and unique project with my friend Marc Horowitz. Marc had me make a rim design that I’ve always been intrigued by, the James Ashborn style rim with an integral wooden flange instead of shoes or a bracket band. I pondered on how I’d like to make it and how it would handle tension over time and I landed on a combination of my typical steam bent rim and a block laid flange. I laminated a regular rim, split it in half and then glued the block flange in between the two halves and then machined it from there. This gave it a very unique look and structure. One that I feel like will be incredibly durable and stable over time. Along with this rim design Marc really wanted to try out a couple of different tone rings for this project and the best way we figured to do so would be to create two rims. With my Sustainer neck brace (patent pending) this was quite easy as my necks bolt on with two acorn bolts. Very easy to swap the rims with this hardware I’ve created! Marc wanted a Bacon Silver Belle tone ring and the other with just the walnut top of the rim shaped to a bearing edge. We both had a feeling if we liked both rims that a second neck would be needed but we wanted to make sure our design and construction choices were going to work out the way we hoped. Sure enough it did and another neck is on the way…
- 12″ Ashborn Style Walnut Rims – Silver Belle Tone Ring (166B) – Walnut Rim Bearing Edge (166W)
- 26.4 Scale Length
- Figured Walnut Neck
- Richlite Details
- Nickle Plated Hardware
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- EVO Fretwire
- Ivoroid Binding
- Green/Black/Green Purfling
- Magnetic Truss Rod Cover
- Seeders Adjustable Walnut Armrest
- Seeders Hand Engraved Tailpiece
- Seeders Wide Relief Tension Hoop
- Seeders Sustainer Neck Attachment
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Black Tusq Nuts
- Vintage Thin Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer
- Published in Banjos
156 – 12″ Curly Maple Dobson Special Banjo
This banjo has a powerful well rounded tone unique to the Dobson Special with a comfortable neck profile ideal for all hand sizes and comfort while playing all over the neck. The Dobson Special utilizes a Dobson tone ring mounted on a rolled brass ring to isolate the tone ring from the wooden rim giving it a unique and powerful Dobson sound with more balanced and a crisp overall tone. It’s simple but elegant inlays and overall design has a vintage inspired look while having modern playability and durability.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 12″ Curly Maple Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Hand Engraved Monogramed Seeders Tailpiece
- Sustainer Neck Attachment
- Seeders Violin Bridge
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- EVO Fretwire
- 1-5/16″ Black Tusq Nut
- Black Rim Binding
- Honey Maple Stain
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Renaissance Head
- Cole Boat Heel
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulose Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
152 – 12″ Curly Maple Dobson Special Style 4 Banjo
This banjo has a powerful well rounded tone unique to the Dobson Special with a comfortable neck profile ideal for all hand sizes and comfort while playing all over the neck. The Dobson Special utilizes a Dobson tone ring mounted on a rolled brass ring to isolate the tone ring from the wooden rim giving it a unique and powerful Dobson sound with more balanced and a crisp overall tone. It’s simple but elegant inlays and overall design has a vintage inspired look while having modern playability and durability.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 12″ Curly Maple Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Seeders Tailpiece
- Sustainer Neck Attachment
- Violin Bridge
- Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- EVO Fretwire
- 1-5/16″ Black Tusq Nut
- Black Rim Binding
- Dark Reddish Brown Stain
- Gotoh Tuners
- Stearn Tannery Calfskin Head
- Cole Boat Heel
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulose Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
150 – 10-1/2″ Walnut Starry Night Fretless Banjo
This banjo was built as a companion to Seeders #082. It features a variation of the inlay design, slightly simplified, but using the stars on the fretboard as fret locations.
- 10-1/2″ Walnut Rim
- 25″ Scale Walnut Fretless Neck
- Rolled Brass Tone Ring
- Striped Ebony Fretboard and Peghead
- Seeders Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Sustainer Neck Brace
- Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Seeders Walnut Armrest
- Calfskin Head
- Aquila Nylgut Strings
- Gotoh Tuners
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Vintage Thin Satin Nitrocellulose Finish
- Published in Banjos
149 – 12″ Curly Maple 6 String Dobson Special Banjo
This banjo is essentially the standard Dobson Special model I make with an extra low string. A really fun banjo to play that has a really big deep and rich sound with the added low string bass and overtones.
- 26.25″ Scale Length
- 12″ Curly Maple Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Curly Maple 6 String Neck
- Richlite Details
- Hand Engraved Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Seeders Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders 6 String Tailpiece
- EVO Frets
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Flush Mount Truss Rod Cover
- Honey Maple Stain
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulose Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos
Vega Little Wonder 5 String Conversion
The Vega Instrument Company produced some of the best banjos of the early 20th century. This banjo started it’s life as a 4 string tenor. The Little Wonder was one of their lower end models but it was produced with the same attention to detail and high quality craftsmanship of their entire catalogue. These banjos make excellent 5 strings and have a classic old time sound. The Little Wonder is not as sought after as the coveted Tubaphones, Whyte Laydies, and Electric models but they stand their ground against some of the best antique banjos out there.
- 10-13/16″ Vega Little Wonder Rim
- 26″ Scale Length
- Original Calf Skin Head
- Vega Peghead with Tubaphone Style Inlay
- Abalone and Mother of Pearl Inlay
- Mahogany Neck With Maple Dowel Stick
- Ebony Fretboard, Peghead, and Heel Cap
- Rickard Cyclone Tuners
- Vintage Thin Satin Nitrocellulose Finish
- Published in Banjos
147 – 11″ Walnut Dobson Special Style 0 Banjo
This banjo has a powerful well rounded tone unique to the Dobson Special with a comfortable neck profile ideal for all hand sizes and comfort while playing all over the neck. The Dobson Special utilizes a Dobson tone ring mounted on a rolled brass ring to isolate the tone ring from the wooden rim giving it a unique and powerful Dobson sound with more balanced and a crisp overall tone. It’s simple but elegant inlays and overall design has a vintage inspired look while having modern playability and durability.
- 25.5″ Scale Length
- 11″ Walnut Rim
- Dobson Special Tone Ring
- Black Mother of Pearl Inlays
- Antiqued Brass Hardware
- Seeders Wide Notch Comfort Tension Hoop
- Seeders Curly Maple Armrest
- Seeders Tailpiece
- Violin Bridge
- Striped Ebony Fingerboard and Peghead
- EVO Fretwire
- 1-5/16″ Black Tusq Nut
- Black Rim Binding
- Golden Brown Stain
- Gotoh Tuners
- White Suede Head
- Cole Boat Heel
- Vintage Thin Nitrocellulous Satin Finish
- Published in Banjos