Hi Deborah

I keep reading rave reviews of banjos made by Jim Heasell. It looks as though he makes a fretless 'mountain' banjo in your price range. His site has many testimonials to the quality of his work, but I've yet to see or play one myself.
Here's a link slimjimbanjos.co.uk/

Good luck in finding what you need.

Thanks v much for the suggestion :)

There are a small but active group of specialist banjo makers here that make fine banjos. Impartiality means I’m not going to put one above another when all those that I know are highly skilled and dependable and could make you an excellent fretless banjo.

My post is just in relation to cost. It is perfectly possible to find a decent, used fretted banjo and have a luthier convert to fretless or flush fret for less money. Also if you have a spare banjo no doubt one of the above mentioned makers could make a new fretless neck for it. That might come in at less than £800. I had a U.K. maker build me a custom fretless neck with a copper finger plate. That cost me £600 about 6 years ago.

Also please don’t dismiss steel strings on a fretless. I play various fretless and flush fret banjos and my go-to fretless for clawhammer is a black walnut, 12" rim, steel strung with a skin head. Nylon strings on that banjo are too much in the same tonal direction as the other build and set up elements. Let the banjo tell you which strings to use.

Thanks for this. It hadn't occurred to me to convert a used banjo into a fretless or flush one. Duh! Definitely worth considering, thanks.

On strings, I thought there might be an issue with steel ones damaging the wooden neck. I might have read this somewhere. Not sure, but happy to go with what sounds best on the banjo, if no harm will be done.

Thanks again :)

If you want to try something different with one of these you can keep £200 in your pocket.

quote:

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Originally posted by Debbers

Thanks for this. It hadn't occurred to me to convert a used banjo into a fretless or flush one. Duh! Definitely worth considering, thanks.

On strings, I thought there might be an issue with steel ones damaging the wooden neck. I might have read this somewhere. Not sure, but happy to go with what sounds best on the banjo, if no harm will be done.

Thanks again :)

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The fingerboard will be of a hardwood that can withstand the wear and tear e.g. ebony or rosewood.  I've always used steel on my MT Black walnut 12" fretless and the fingerboard shows  no marks at all. Mac said he used a super hard (black) paper composite for the fingerboard  that is used for kitchen worktops. Kind've in the local tradition of the Formica that Kyle Creed used.

If a luthier converts a fretted neck and you opt for flush frets, the fret slots exposed after pulling the fret wire are simply inlaid with a suitable wood and sanded. Often sycamore looks nice for flush fret conversion.

A 'mountain banjo' may be priced lower but IMO it's tiny head area doesn't give you the full fretless banjo experience and tone. I have one somewhere and it's really more of a novelty.

Thanks again. Very helpful.

Inclined to agree about mountain banjos. I have a beauty, but it's not a go-to or one that I'd gig with. Hence my search.

With your budget in mind I'd suggest looking into Flatfoot Johnny Dellar's tackhead banjos. His website says they start at £750 and they're fine looking and sounding.

Thanks Mark. Useful to know. I'll look those up.

homemade…..here’s the measurements and a sound sample from my “novelty”