Make Your Own Banjo

 ... with Uncle Harry.

Some of you might remember my aborted attempts at making a cigar box ukulele last year. Well despite proving that I'm no carpenter, I did get the feel that, although very subtle and complicated, this whole making an instrument thing was possible. All I needed to do was bring in the professionals. So I went to see my uncle Harry - he's the man when it comes to making things.

Harry happened to have a piece of seasoned beech which was left over from making a table and was keen to have a go. So I bought a copy of 'make your own banjo' from Amazon he started carving the neck to the plans provided. Harry has the right attitude, don't rush, take your time and do it properly, all the attitudes that I lacked in my previous effort.



We've been using my Windsor as a template and reference when were the instructions in the book weren't that clear. I bought the 11" pot from Stew Mac which came with a pre routed brass tone ring. They were a special offer and despite having to pay import duty into the UK it saved a lot of trouble as this and the neck are most tricky parts of the instrument to make.



I've been picking up the other parts steadily from Ebay and Eagle Music and Brown Dog Banjos have been a good source of UK based suppliers.

Here's where it started to get really exciting I got a pre-fretted finger board from Stew Mac, but managed to get hold of the head and tension hoop in the UK and once the elements went together for a test run it started to look like a tasty banjo.

I need to pick up the hardware for fixing the dowel stick/perch pole and a tail piece but once I've got those we are going to assemble the body so we can work out exactly where to place the neck.

I'll keep you posted!