Appalachian mountain banjo

​

Mountain banjo made with an oak pot and a maple neck. Ive had an idea how to try to make this banjo a bit louder. They have a very unique sound which i didn't want to loose by making a larger skin area so my plan was to release the tension pot. I make the pot out of aluminium which is lightweight and rings beautifully but on this model I had the aluminium sitting on some dome headed tacks so as to avoided dampening the vibrations. It certain ly seems to works and its the loudest mountain banjo ive made yet.

 

All of my mountain banjos have been built using the Stanley Hicks instructions in Foxfire 3, but with some modifications to geometry in order to improve playability and tone.