Evo Lutherie

This tenor banjolele was built in 2019 as a gift for my friend Tom Aust, who managed my Carpet One flooring store for years. The steam-bent rim and neck are cherry with bubinga accents. Tom was raised in Indianapolis, and a big Indy 500 fan, hence the checkered flag fret markers. Creating these inlays was my introduction to the classical method of building rosettes from veneers. I glued up layers of black and white veneers, then sliced them vertically and staggered the slices to form a checkerboard pattern in the cross section.