Merry Christmas from Comer Georgia!  You still have time to get yourself a new fretless banjo for Christmas.  And this one is a good one.  I think you'll like it.

This is Banjo no. 452, brand new and made by me, Richard K. Smith in Comer Georgia.  I built my first banjo in 1988, and now I've made over 450 of them.  That's a lot of banjos, and I've enjoyed building them all. This one's made with a mahogany neck, a black walnut top and back, a black walnut hoop, and a black walnut peghead veneer.  It has a bone nut, a hand made maple bridge and a goat skin head.  It is put together with brass screws.

 

The tuning pegs are ebony and it is strung with fishing line strings.  I like them better than Nylgut these days, because they do not break.  A spare set is included.  I do not recommend steel strings anymore.  They will work, but nylon strings seem to suit the instrument so much better, and I no longer think it is worth it to put the extra stress on the neck. 

 

The body is 10 inches it diameter.  The head is 6 inches in diameter.  The distance between the nut and the bridge is 26 1/4 Inches.  Unlike most old-time banjos of this sort, there is a 2 degree angle between the neck and the body, where most are flat.  This angle puts the right amount of pressure on the bridge to hold it against the head and help transmit the sound better and truer.  You can see this in one of the pictures above. The head is not adjustable, as you would expect in a historic reproduction of this type, but it should stay tight for the life of the instrument.  I take pictures of every banjo a build, because no two are alike.  The grain of wood is never the same twice.

I have a little web page now.  There are more pictures and a little video tour of my workshop.

http://home.windstream.net/rsmith72/

To hear an excelent performance on one of my banjo, check out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEg2cs698Oc&feature=youtu.be

and another great video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIMFavAoXFk&feature=youtu.be 

Wonderful playing by Davide Naccarati from Italy!  It truly is a small world these days.  If you look around Youtube you'll find even more folks playing them.  And all of them much better at it than me.

 

This is a challenging instrument to play, and perhaps not for beginners, but it is a piece of history you can play and enjoy.  I've made hundreds of these things, and enjoy sending them all over the world.  Check out what others say in the profile above.  Good luck, and keep on playin'! 

 

Richard K. Smith