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Homemade banjo

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Banjo type guitar I made from an aluminum pot......I live in Costa Rica and am very limited on tools and supplies.......I only used hand tools (hand saw, coping saw, files, etc.) and an cordless drill........The neck is made from an old piece of almond wood.......Very straight grained and very hard.......I overlayed the headstock with purple heart wood (donated by a Costa Rican friend) and also made the fret board from purple heart.......The nut and bridge are made from the old handles.......I added a piezoelectric pickup for the heck of it........the frets, tuners, and pup I ordered on ebay........It sounds very much like a banjo.......I would have a hard time making an instructable for this as at the time I was building it I didn't take enough detail photos..........

13 comments

Sep 28, 2010. 8:05 AMBryan Smith says:

Sweet build! I like the two tone fret board.

Aug 9, 2010. 2:50 PMBanjolinMan says:

Awesome job, busupholstery! Bravo! I've been gathering some cookware for a metal resonator (Dobro Type) Tenor instrument. I'll do some instructables of the work. Many great insights and ideas from your instructable

Aug 5, 2010. 10:00 AMftworavens1 says:

how did you figure out the layout fo the fretts?i know there is a mathmatical formula for this, and i thought maybe you had it .i have been looking for it.so if you or any one has it could you send it to me

Aug 9, 2010. 2:47 PMBanjolinMan says:

Go to MIMF www.mimf.com Musical Instrument Makers Forum There are other locations for fret calculators on the net, just goggle it.

May 1, 2010. 7:58 AMJoeduke545 says:

Hey im going to try and make a banjo is there any tips you could give me

114

Apr 27, 2010. 8:13 PM

l8nite says:

thats realy a pretty instrument...well done ! On this years final episode of TopGear (BBC) the star in a cheap car was Seasick Steve, they showed one of his guitar/banjos made from 2 hubcaps from a Morris Minor, he apparently plays a lot of homemade/odd instruments and has become a big hit in europe http://www.seasicksteve.com/

Apr 26, 2010. 6:39 PMkjeff3000 says:

It's really beautiful. I'd love to hear it.

Apr 27, 2010. 2:51 AM

busupholstery (author) says:

Thanks

Apr 17, 2010. 11:54 AMdiscontinuuity says:

Nice! I'm partway through my cookie tin banjo project. Can you include a sound file? Also, what did you use for the bridge?

Apr 18, 2010. 5:29 PM

busupholstery (author) says:

Thanks.......I made a bridge from the lid handle........If I can figure out to leave a sound file I will......

Apr 18, 2010. 6:44 PMdiscontinuuity says:

If you have an mp3 or wav recording, you can add it to your instructable the same way you would add an image. I'm not sure if this works with a slideshow. Or you can put a video on YouTube and embed it in the page.

Also, how did you make the frets?

Apr 19, 2010. 3:32 AM

busupholstery (author) says:

I will try.........I ordered the fret material from Stew Mac.......very cheap