Evo Lutherie

Playing a 22 lb. Banjo can be hard on your back, so I wanted to try building a real, bluegrass banjo with an 8 inch banjolele-sized rim. It has a 20 inch scale fretboard, and I am still experimenting with different strings so I can use the standard open G tuning that I am most used to.

The theme of these inlays comes from my love of Zymurgy, the science/craft of brewing beer, another hobby for 40 years. The shell, brass and recon stone inlays are of a hops vine, barley stalks, beer stein and bottle.

The rim is constructed from layers of steam-bent Canarywood, with Wenge accents. The neck is also Canarywood and Wenge, and has an adjustable truss rod. I could not find an 8 inch tone ring, so I built a jig to bend a length of 1/4 inch brass rod into a circle. Then I brazed it closed, and mounted it on the rim, instead of using just the wooden rim, like my banjoleles.