Gallery of Custom banjos

Below are some of my newer Custom banjos along with a few of my favorites from the last 20 years of banjo making. 

This 12" walnut banjo is one of only a few 6-string banjos that I've made, and it also holds the distinction of possessing one of the only heel carvings that I've done.  On top of this, it features a modified Cole Man-in-the-Moon inlay pattern, a long backstrap, fretboard binding, a wire arm rest, and a Seeders tailpiece.

The added 6th string gives this banjo a powerful low end but the Whyte Ladie tone ring and Renaissance head give it plenty of high end punch, leading to a surprisingly balanced tone.  We decided to keep the heel carving on the boat heel minimal which ended up adding a beautiful touch without being overpowering.  We modified the traditional Man-in-the-Moon inlay pattern in order to accommodate the added tuner in the center of the peghead - normally the moon and one shooting star are on the peghead.  After moving the moon to the scoop we replaced it with a couple of shooting stars.  The fretboard is bound in black binding with a small maple veneer on the inside which adds a cool little white line down each side of the fretboard - I have never done this before, but love the look of it.

On first glance this banjo seems fairly plain, but upon closer inspection it has numerous custom features, many of which were new and experimental. 

It's primary specs are that it is a 12" walnut with a rolled brass tone ring and a skin head.  It's most prominent feature, though is it's super deep (3-1/2") rim which give it a booming low end.  It's 1/4" brass tone ring sits in a groove on top of the rim which cut downs on sustain and adds to the banjos plunkyness.  Additionally, it has a smaller peghead than normal which further reduces sustain, and the peghead is set at an unusually steep 22 degree angle like some old Dobson banjos.  All of these features give this banjo a wonderful, deep, mellow tone, which is surprisingly punchy.

 Unlike other banjos that I have made which have either 18 or 26 hooks this one has only 14.  This was  done in order to reduce weight and mellow the tone slightly.  Since no suppliers offer 14 notch tension hoops I custom notched a blank tension hoop, which was kindly supplied by Rickard Banjos.  I added a large notch to the tension hoop at the scoop and lowered the hook to the left of the neck in order to allow more room for a clawhammer player's thumb.

Aesthetically, I stained the goat skin head with black tea which give the banjo an older vintage look, which I love.  I also added a thin coat of shellac to the top of the head in order to seal the skin and help reduce changes due to humidity.  The shellac also gives a slight shine to the head which give it a  beautiful lively feel.  

This banjo is one of the funnest banjos that I've made.  It's always a little odd when you start working on a Custom banjo with someone that you've never met before - that other person could have wildly different ideas about what looks and sounds good compared to yours.  When we started this project I assumed that I was working with one of my normal clients but soon discovered that this one had a crazy, slightly twisted, sense of humor, which l seemed to share.

After some fun brainstorming sessions (there were some even crazier ideas that we left on the table!) we came up with the headless chicken theme.  We decided that in order to keep it from being too gruesome we would do it in a Pop Art style.

In addition to the two headless chickens running up and down the fretboard complete with bright red blood spurting from their necks, there is a severed chicken head on the peghead and a chicken chopping stump on the heel.  I don't really remember anything else about this banjo, since really this one is all about the inlay!

I love the simplicity and sense of calm that this banjo possess.  It's a fully frettless 12" curly maple, with a goat skin head, and wood tone ring which give it a wonderful woody tone that projects well. 

It was made from one of the most highly figured pieces of maple that I've ever come across which the Dobson heel really showed off.  The inlay design was a fantastic collaboration in which the client gave me a rough idea and then gave me lots of freedom.  I struggled for days with how to get a aesthetically pleasing arrangement of leaves falling down the entire fretboard and then onto the scoop, when one night I had the simple idea to just have them float off the side of the fretboard.  This insight allowed the entire design to fall into place, and it remains one of my favorite inlay projects ever.

This banjo was made for my good friend Nancy who helped with the original Buckeye Banjos sticker design which has basically become my logo.   It has a very similar feel to Buckeye #218, the Falling Oak Leaves banjo.  Both inlay designs have a very tranquil, peaceful feel to them.

This inlay design was inspired by a Japanese illustration and depicts three crows flying with a fourth trying to decide if it should join them.  We decided to add a cute little opossum to  the heel, just because they are so cool.

The banjo itself is a 12" walnut with a wood tone ring and a goat skin head which give it a beautiful mellow tone.

This 11" curly maple banjo has a Whyte Laydie tone ring and Renaissance head which gave it a crisp, clear tone that projects wonderfully.  It's primary feature, however, is its Puget Sound inspired inlay design which showcases a large octopus on the peghead. 

This instrument was commissioned by a client in Seattle who originally wanted to ornament the banjo with inlays inspired by  Earnst Haeckel, a 19th century German naturalist known for his incredible illustrations.  Unfortunately, Haeckel was also a eugenicist, so, rather than make it all about him, we decided take a bit of inspiration from one of his octopus illustrations, but make the overall banjo a tribute to the Puget Sound.

The peghead features a Giant Pacific Octopus with four of its arms wrapped around the sides of the peghead and onto the backstrap.  The suckers were one of the hardest things I've ever engraved, simply because of the way hand gravers are made, which makes them much better for straight or slightly curved lines rather than tight circles...and there were a lot of those suckers!  

The other animals on the fretboard are all found in the Puget Sound, but rather than use the more commonly thought of charismatic mega-fauna like Orcas, and Bald Eagles we decided to use more under appreciated animals like Sea Anemones, Crabs, Sea Slugs, Barnacles and Sculpins...all invertebrates except for the Sculpin, which I wanted to include due to the fact that I was a fish biologist before becoming a banjo maker and I had never done a fish inlay.

This banjo is a 12" fully fretless maple banjo with a wood tone ring and a goat skin head.  This is another banjo that doesn't have a lot of inlay but that is full of interesting design choices and specialized custom elements due to the clients amazing ear and ability to know exactly what he was after tone-wise.   

The most prominent feature on this banjo is the inlayed Formica plate on the upper fingerboard which provides a crisper tone than wood - this white with gold fleck pattern was popular in the 60's and 70's, but has been discontinued.  It was used by Kyle Creed on the now famous fretless banjo he made for Fred Cockerham that now resides in the Smithsonian.  Today this pattern is extremely rare, but fortunately Riley Baugus was kind enough to share a  bit of his personal stash with me.

Other features include a slotted 5th string tuner positioned at the 6th fret position, extended brass scoop plate with serial number on the side, reddish stain, Dobson heel, thin rim, inlayed Buckeye in the peghead, and a hard rubber 5th string pip which creates a more muted tone than a traditional bone pip.