Banjo #333

Banjo #333 is pretty much a milestone banjo. Made for my machinist friend Craig Harstad, who's the person who made my banjo hardware from 2005-2015. For the past two years he has been teaching me to make the banjo hardware we offer. This banjo was a trade with him for a bunch of tooling he made for me and for helping me set up a few pieces of heavy equipment here in the shop. They don't make people like Craig anymore and I'm very thankful for his generosity.

The banjo is an 11" 24L model with a silverspun curly maple neck and a Dobson tone ring. Craig turned the ball end shoes out of solid nickel silver. My son Aubrey and I made the rest of the brass hardware. I used a few different patinas on the brass to get less of a gold tint to the overall look of the nickel and brass together. 

The neck is curly Claro walnut with a Lyon and Healy style peghead. The inlay is white mother of pearl and abalone and was cut by Depaule supply who are now located here in Portland. The tone of this banjo is deep, rich and clear.  This banjo headed to Forest Grove, Oregon.