Official Luthiers Forum!

This is my entry, and my first real build. (I built a cookie tin banjo once, and I have retored a few instruments)

My goal is to build a presentation grade minstrel banjo at the lowest cost possible. I am going to use all recycled materials. I have an old used tunable frame drum to use as a pot (drum), a 4"x4" piece of some mystery softwood from the dump for the neck (will be strung with nylon), various used violin friction pegs, some copper foil for fingerboard plates in the scoop, and from the nut to where the seventh fret would be (it will be fretless). How much has it cost me so far? $0. Everything I found, or had sitting around.

I have a friend with big tools, ie. bandsaw, that I will probably use for some of the big cutting. I will do everything else by hand.

I look forward to documenting this build, and I think this first build contest is a great idea.

_________________
Small minds discuss people,
Average minds discuss events,
And great minds discuss ideas.
-Elenor Roosevelt

Never heard of a Minstrel Banjo before, but I'm looking forward to seeing one in the next few months...welcome to the game

Thanks!
Minstrels were popular after the civil war and before the Victorian age. They usually had long scale, small thin rims, friction pegs, and were always fretless. Many of the tunings used were low, and they were finger picked, without any particular stroke.

_________________
Small minds discuss people,
Average minds discuss events,
And great minds discuss ideas.
-Elenor Roosevelt

Cool cool! I'll definitely be watching this one with interest.

This is the neck blank marked up for cutting. He headstock is a sideways scroll remnicsent of Boucher style minstrel banjos.

_________________
Small minds discuss people,
Average minds discuss events,
And great minds discuss ideas.
-Elenor Roosevelt

Is that a knot going right through where the headstock transitions into the neck? If so I'd flip the profile and slide it down a bit so the knot is in your cutoff.

oops. I have already cut the blank. It turns out that that knot was really shallow. I think it is plenty strong.
I also did a rough shaping of the neck with files. I haven't sanded yet. On the headstock I am inlaying short lengths of solder. The fifth string protrusion will be solid, with a routed out top loading hole. There is a inked vine coming down from the fifth peg.

_________________
Small minds discuss people,
Average minds discuss events,
And great minds discuss ideas.
-Elenor Roosevelt