Building a Banjo

[danmosheim]

My son Will and I are building a banjo. He’s an excellent player and knows what makes a good banjo. I, on the other hand, know how to make things quickly and tend to forge ahead to ‘get things done’, so, it has fallen to Will to slow me down and educate me on the fine points of instrument making. It’s been a spare time project that happens mostly after work as our schedules allow. I’d say we’re about halfway through the first edition, thinking up jigs, trying stuff, and learning a lot as we go. We have gotten our parts and supplies as well as accurate fretboard layout measurements from Stewart MacDonald Guitar Supply. There is a lot of banjo building info online though the variety of styles and approaches to the problem are all different. I’m attempting to add to the online info by documenting our processes on two posts (so far) on our dorset custom furniture blog at the link below. Check them out if you're interested in instrument making (or jig building). More photos and information on the process there.
More to come as we progress …

-- dan,vermont, http://dorsetcustomfurniture.blogspot.com/