Done! (pretty much)

Well, that's pretty much that. The fifth string is buzzing a lot, so I'll have to make my own seat for it, probably out of wood. Currently it's resting in a slotted screw, too much room for it to rattle around. Otherwise it's done!

Just waiting for the final coat of sealant to dry and I can string up the banjo again and plaaaaay. Wasn't sure about the stain at first, on account of the extreme contrast of light (pre-stain) and dark (post-stain). But having sat with it for a few days, I think it was a really great idea. The darkness brings out the calfskin head, which to me now looks like a full moon.

Almost Done!

The banjo is almost complete! I still plan on staining and sealing it, but couldn't resist stringing it up and seeing how it sounds and feels. It's amazing!! The sound is much louder than I anticipated, even with gut strings and the calfskin head. I recorded Cluck Old Hen and Texas, a little rough as I'm still getting used to the fretless concept. Luckily I've been playing a flush fret banjo for a little while, so it's not completely mysterious. I'll probably stain it tonight, then seal it tomorrow, after which I'll post some more pictures and maybe some more recordings.

A lot of progress on the mountain banjo. I ran into some issues with the first pot I had made, which was pecan. Long story short, I had to make a new pot, this time out of birch plywood, and though the pecan looked more interesting, the birch plywood is much better to work with and I'm really happy with it. I decided to add a frailing scoop, which I'm pretty excited about. I went ahead and made my own nut out of scrap maple from the neck. For the metal ring inside of the pot I cut down a giant can of tomato sauce. Last night we installed the calfskin head, which was a pretty interesting process! Currently the head is drying, I should be able to take the clamps off tonight around 10 or so, and then I'm pretty sure there's no way I'll be able to resist putting the tailpiece on and stringing it up! Gina helped SO much, and took some awesome pictures too!