Select Page

Steam Bending the Rim Strips

The rim is made from 3 pieces of maple, each about 1/4in thick and 3in wide.  Each piece needs to be steam bent to form a circle about 12in in diameter.  I used an electric water heater element as a heat source to create the steam.  I fashioned a little boiler using...

Peghead Inlay

I started work on some mother of pearl inlay for the peghead.  Later, I will cut some inlay for spots along the fretboard.  I designed the peghead inlay on my computer and printed it out, then glued that to a piece of mother of pearl. The inlay is cut with a saw...

Back to Work

Well, it’s been nearly a year since my last post.  I have not been able to work on my banjo very much during that time and only made real progress in the last month.  I’ll make a few posts today to get up to speed. I have done some shaping of the neck and...

Banjo maker video

Jason and Pharis Romero make some beautiful banjos at their company, J. Romero Banjo Co. Check out this great video by Matt...

Cutting the peghead shape

I have been looking forward to this step for a while.  I traced my template for the peghead design onto the veneer side.  The circles are where the tuners will eventually be installed.   The cuts to shape the peghead are made on the bandsaw.  It is traditional to make...

Adjusting the peghead thickness

The tuners I purchased are made to work with a peghead thickness between 7/16in and 3/4in.  I decided to finalize my peghead thickness at 5/8in.  I ran the peghead through the bandsaw to take off about 1/8in from the back side.  I then sanded everything smooth.  Below...