My Life With Banjos....

A Fielding banjo collaboration project with Will Fielding (banjo), Michelle Holzapfel (heel carving), and I (pearl engraving). 

A Fielding banjo collaboration project with Will Fielding (banjo), Michelle Holzapfel (heel carving), and I (pearl engraving). 

Will and I came up with these inlays for my old friend Bob Buckingham.  I started playing old time music with Bob after meeting him in 1975 or so.  At that time he played a neat little Washburn banjo which I always liked.  Fast forward about 36 years later and I did this engraving on this neat walnut 25" scale 12" rim with a Rickard Whyte Laydie ring.  This is an awesome scale and tone ring combination for those who haven't played one......

Another collaboration with Vermont builder friend Will Fielding.  Don't know who owns this one...  I have always enjoyed seeing Will's take on things, this is an unusual and neat peghead design.

A mahogany reproduction neck built by Will Fielding for NY player Marc Horowitz.  I did the engraving and heel carving on this banjo.

A Fielding peghead inlay I engraved for another friend, Kansas Mark Johnson.  My son Russ and I used to run into Mark at banjo get togethers all over the place (Maryland Banjo Academy, Banjo Camp North, Clifftop, etc).  Mark is a great clawhammer player, I've provided a link to his new web site, check out his music!  Its another 12" Rickard Whyte Laydie ringed banjo, I'm just saying...

This is Froggy Bottom's frog peghead inlay.  The idea for first engraving it came from Kate Spencer for her Maple Leaf Music 40th Froggy dreadnought guitar.  She wanted the inlays to reflect her years building Arthur E. Smith banjos so I worked on trying to turn the frog into a Fairbanks kind of design...

Here are the third and fifth inlays on Reed's banjo.  This thing was a gift and labor of love for our friend Reed.  The whole project was a combination of building and restoration but I loved working on it for him and am tickled he is playing it now.  I took liberties as usual with the original inlay engraving designs.