The Luthier Community

After a nearly 35 year hiatus due to a sonic allergy, I have begun to play banjo again. The impetus was hearing Tony Ellis and his wonderful melodic tunes. It is very strange to see how and what comes back. First were chord forms to my surprise.

Anyway I still have an aversion to the loudness of the instrument in any but performance situations. In addition I leave for Mexico in a month and want to continue to practice while I'm there. So I decided to make a silent instrument which could be disassembled.

I used maple from the Capital City Grange floor which I salvaged.

First I glued together strips as in the mandolin I'm making, then cut a slot for carbon rods (don't think I will need a truss rod due to the low tension) and then flattened the fingerboard side.



I'm going to have this headless so I also cut a slot for the 5th string to come out at the head end and it comes out near the 5th fret.



Made an aluminum headpiece to attach the strings



Using a Martin guitar fingerboard reject I got years ago which is a shorter scale than the typical banjo so the tension will be lower and also it saved me some work making a new fingerboard.



I then constructed an armrest and leg rest from laminated maple to be attached with hex screws. Fingerboard is not yet glued on. In this picture I am using Steinberger type tuners which I eventually decided against-- they just didn't work well enough. Once everything was set up I cut the banjo in half (insert joke).



After cutting in half I hot glued rails to the sides for stability and then drilled holes for hex bolts.



Finally put a neck plate on and some cheepo tuners I had laying around.





And here it is finished and strung up.



I am thrilled with it as I can practice whenever and wherever I want and I can put it in my carry-on luggage!!

MikeZ

Cool project Mike. When you say, you cut the neck in half, do you mean it folds up for transport? If so can you show a pic of that mechanism when you have a chance? If it doesn't fold I think I got it. I just got introduced to an outfit that makes a fold up banjo, http://www.sloanbanjos.com/, there is another that makes, I think it is called a Transjo. Both interesting concepts. Something simple and inexpensive like yours fills that gap for practice in a motel room or after the kids and wife are asleep...

No jokes from me, think I've heard most of them. Nice job.

OK, the joint is under the plate, I get it, dauh on my part.

That is a fantastic project. I've been lurking around on the forum for the past few days and you guys with your builds amaze me. Really nice job.

Terry

Thanks Terry and welcome. Brian, as you suspect the joint is under the plate-- sorry-it really isn't clear from the photos. Took a look at the Sloan banjo--same concept but that one would make noise. I suppose I could put a piezo pickup on mine if I really wanted some sound...maybe at some point.

Mike

You're still a wizard, Mike!

E

I have had a piece of Claro walnut for around 5 years and just got around to using some of it. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of wood I have had the opportunity to work with. Decided to make a second quiet banjo out of this wood. Pleased with the outcome.







Recently bought a 70's Epiphone EB98 for a good price on ebay and will be using this walnut for a new neck. I will be documenting this restoration/alteration in a separate post.

MikeZ