My wooden-rim banjos are made for playing contemporary "Old Time" stringband music, with aesthetic elements of Victorian-era banjos. They draw from a wide range of mid- to late-19th century instruments, from the early industrial instruments of Dobson with patinated brass hardware, to the highly ornate, nickel plated and mother of pearl inlaid instruments of makers like Fairbanks and Cole.
However, necks are strengthened with a 2-way adjustable truss rod to allow for steel strings and the action is a low 1/8”-5/32” at the 12th fret. They can be a regular 25.5 inch scale length, or a shorter 23.5 inch, sometimes preferable for players with smaller hands. Necks are 1.25 inch wide at the nut and can have a scoop or thumbscoop for frailing over the neck. Rims are steam bent, 2-ply and available in 10.5, 11 and 12 inches. A wide array of hardware is available, ask for anything you don’t see here.These specifications are all adjustable on request, as is the design inspiration.
I have worked with world renown banjo maker Kevin Enoch since 2004, collaborating on the design of his esteemed Dobson line, and creating much of the design and inlay on his most ornate banjos. We received a 2007 Master/Apprentice grant from the Maryland Traditional Arts Council so I could learn engraving from Kevin.
Cost & Design
I have spent decades studying historic banjos and is happy to work with any early designs or collaborate on completely new design concepts beyond what you see here. A basic banjo that just captures the tone and playability you’re looking for is an option, as is a deep well of design options from historical sources. One of these Old Time banjos can be a simple straightforward purchase, or a deeply collaborative process.
The base price for custom banjos is $3,075 which includes the following elements:
Walnut or figured maple neck, with front peghead overlay and simple pearl-inlaid star
Fretted fingerboard (torrefied maple or Richlite ebony) with simple pearl dot position markers
Figured maple rim, with Dobson, Little Wonder, wood, or no tone ring and goat skin or synthetic head
Paddle peghead
Basic brass or nickel hardware, Gotoh geared tuners, No-Knot tailpiece, adjustable truss rod
Please contact me about custom orders, I'm happy to answer any questions you have, figure out what tone you want from a banjo, and work on custom design elements.
For all custom orders, I ask for a $300 non-refundable deposit, 1/2 of the total estimated cost of the banjo when I begin building, and the remainder upon completion.
See examples of my custom open-back banjos designed for Old Time Stringband music below.
EXAMPLES of CUSTOM BANJOS
Early 1900s Catalog Banjo
When making this banjo for poet and musician Doug Van Gundy, we asked: what banjo could have been delivered to his hometown of Elkins, West Virginia in the early 20th century? Two banjos ordered at the same time in 1903 from the same catalog could end up being wildly different from each other, so we imagined this one as a banjo where everything added up just right. The piece of wood was nice and curly, the hand-applied finish a litt more careful, the inlay a little sharper; made as if the employee at the Bronx, New York Buckbee Banjo Factory was trying to become employee of the month.
When an example of one of these banjos came through Enoch Banjos, I traced the peghead, waiting to recreate it on a banjo like this. I had to modify it a bit for geared tuners. I also used Rocktite, an engineered wood, instead of ebony, which is becoming increasingly rare while also being over-harvested. I used hardware modeled on historic examples made by Brooks Masten. The Dobson tone ring on this banjo would have been out of date by 1900 and a catalog banjo from this era would likely not have had a tone ring at all. The Dobson has good attack and responsiveness, while still having a full textured tone and bottom end.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Modified "Diuguid" Banjo
My friend Kevin Chesser saw the images of the 1840s Duiguid Banjo recreation and wanted something with a similar aesthetic but set up for Old Time Stringband music, rather than mid 19th century music. This meant higher pitch and string tension, and with this in mind, we added a truss rod, a Dobson tone ring, and simplified 5th string arrangement. I used a heavier 2-ply rim (rather than the 1-ply rim that was common between the 1840s and 1860s). The banjo is fully fretted with black Mother of Pearl position markers and black horn nut. I kept the old-style hardware made by Brooks Masten, but added a metal tailpiece and then patinated all the hardware black. In order to keep the older look, I used geared PegHeads tuners. I added a thin black veneer under the peghead overlay and fingerboard, and made the rim cap out of Birdseye maple.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Elderly Collection of Open-Back Banjos
These banjos, based on designs from the 1880s New York school of banjo, are made exclusively for Elderly Instruments and can be found on their website here. They feature a Cubly-style peghead with a J. French-inspired metal inlay with engraving inspired by Icilio Consalvi and Kevin Enoch. The necks are figured maple with a torrefied maple fingerboard and peghead overlays, with a black veneer between the neck and the overlays. They can be made with 11 or 12 inch pots with figure maple rims and torrefied maple rim-caps, hand-patinated hardware, skin or synthetic heads, and wire arm-rest.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Romance Era Guitar-Inspired Banjo
Inspired by James Ashborn's banjos and guitars from the 1830s, this custom half-fretless banjo features a figured maple neck, torrefied maple fingerboard with half flush frets, slotted peghead with geared tuners, torrefied maple peghead overlays, figured maple rim, Dobson tone ring, hand-riveted tension hoop, and hand-patinated hardware.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Romance Era Guitar-Inspired Banjo
The client was inspired by the banjo above. He opted for black overlays/ fingerboard/ rimcap instead of the baked maple. He also wanted a 12” rim and an ebony tone ring. Finally he wanted two custom inlays. The symbolism, the Egyptian goddess Ma’at and a triangle containing flames, were very important to him and we spent a lot of time exchanging images before we agreed on a solution we were both happy with. Historical hardware by Brooks Masten, custom tuners by Rubner and hand riveted tension hoop by me.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Fairbanks Fern Inspired Banjo
Modeled on the designs of William A. Cole's 1890s banjos, this instrument has the highly-ornate inlays of the Boston banjo makers but designed with a lower action and steel strings for contemporary five-string players. These banjos can have 10.5, 11 or 12 inch pots; with any rim/ tone ring combination available including Electric Prototype, Bacon reproduction, Whyte Laydie, Tubaphone, Dobson; and a standard 25.5 inch scale length, or a shorter 23.5 inch.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Cole Eclipse Inspired Banjo
Modeled on the designs of William A. Cole's 1890s banjos, this instrument has the highly-ornate inlays of the Boston banjo makers but designed with a lower action and steel strings for contemporary five-string players. These banjos can have 10.5, 11 or 12 inch pots; with any rim/ tone ring combination available including Electric Prototype, Bacon reproduction, Whyte Laydie, Tubaphone, Dobson; and a standard 25.5 inch scale length, or a shorter 23.5 inch.
Click on any image above to enlarge.
Custom 6-String with Vintage Bacon FF Professional Pot
Using a vintage pot, this custom 6-string banjo includes fingerboard inlays inspired by the designs of William Morris and peghead inlays with the Vega deluxe banjo pattern and designed engravings modeled after Icilio Consalvi's work. The figured maple neck includes black veneers and backstrap.