New distressed grain measure banjo

Built as a complement to the grain measure I made earlier this year for the Museum of Making Music, this banjo is made out of the bottom half of the same grain measure, with an ash neck, hand-made pegs, and a goatskin head.

New double-headed gourd banjo

Built around a large bottle gourd. Cherry neck with rosewood peghead overlay.

Banjo at the Museum of Making Music exhibit

Photo from the airstreamlife blog of the exhibition with the banjo I made for the exhibition on the pedestal in the center.

Simple gourd

Click here to see a high resolution image of this banjo that's larger than the real thing.

Just completed a new banjo for an exhibit at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. Built around an authentic, 19th-century grain measure, it features an ash neck, hand-turned pegs, and an extensively distressed finish the simulate 170 years of patina.

      

New cherry, ebony, and maple burl steel-string

Just finished up this custom banjo for a customer in New York. It's built around a 12" three-ply cherry rim and features a two-piece cherry neck, simple brass tone ring, ebony fingerboard and rim cap, maple burl headstock and heel overlays, along with mother of pearl inlays. It sounds wonderful, and plays great too.

In addition to banjo making, my dogs bring me great joy. Sadly Tempo, one of my two beloved greyhounds (pictured above) died recently. Only 6 years old and barely a year off the track, he was diagnosed with an incurable form of bone cancer in March of this year. I spent the past six months doing everything I could to help him, but he died in September. This year, therefore, has been very quiet where banjos are concerned. Spending so much time and energy, both physically and emotionally, on caring for my dying dog left me too busy to work on banjos when I wanted to work, and too uninspired to work on them when I had time.

Greyhounds are odd animals, and many of them can not live solitary lives after their days at the track are over. Having grown accustomed to the rigorously structured life of the kennels, where they spend 23 hours per day in a cage, they are never away from other dogs until they retire. So I immediately got another greyhound to keep my remaining dog company. Unfortunately, just this week, that new greyhound sustained a freak eye injury that will require surgery. Added to the cost of care for my dog Tempo (pictured above), the amount of money becomes staggering. In order to help pay off the sizable debt that I have recently incurred as a result, I will soon embark on the creation of a series of gourd banjos. Small, punchy, and built around 10" canteen gourds, they will be fun instruments that sound wonderful. So if you're in the market for a gourd banjo, now is the time to contact me. Each instrument will be in the $500-$600 range.

Had a chance to pay a visit to this famous all-scrimshaw banjo at the New Bedford Whaling Museum this weekend. What an odd beauty. . .

Paul's gourd banjo

Steel-strung

Here is a recently completed banjo