Hi every one..Let me introduce myself...

I am Smitty Smith the maker and builder of the Smitty Smithtone Banjo's....I have owned a couple Gibson banjo's,Fender,Silvertone and Epiphone....but always ended up trading them off or selling them ....I would quit picking a yr. or two start back quit again you know how it is ..So I eventually ended up with out a banjo ha!!!!! So I decided to try and make me one. I practised on a 2x4, cut it out and shaped a neck  from it ...Turned out pretty good so I thought I could probably do this ...My dad and I went up into the Hills here in eastern Ky. where I live and found a maple tree that had fallen down and we sawed it up into 32 inch lengths and I had it cut at a saw mill into 2 inch strips and it turned out to be curly maple...So I made me a neck out of it...cut my pearl I had found on ebay, put it in a finger board I had got from 1st Quality Music. Then I got me some old maple barn boards and made me a block rim from them ...Took a lot of fiquring but I got'er done ha!!!!! .Then I oder'd the tonering V20-Kulesh and all the other hardware .Got a Cox resonator and stained it and the neck and then lacqured it and been pickin it ever since...That is how I started making banjo,s just thought I would share this with ya ...You just never know what u are capable of doing unless you give it a try ...We are all blessed with many hidden talents....Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope it will encourage someone.....Smitty