G’day. I think the last time I posted was No5 so it’s been a couple of years. This one is No10 and it’s a bit different so I thought I’d put it up. It’s my first longneck. It’s Tassie Blackwood with jarrah trim & striped ebony fretboard. Dobson tonering and a fairly short scale of 30 3/16”. Scale length was decided by the lump of fiddle back Blackwood I had on hand but I like it and I don’t think I’d go longer. Very happy with the tone although I think I might make a hawk tail type tailpiece for it to replace the Presto. My last banjo was a standard Blackwood Dobson with a homemade hawk tail and I think I slightly prefer it. The inspiration to build this one was our singer who has a bit of a liking for singing in E
Lovely work Dean, I like the peghead inlays. I started working with Blackwood, but sadly turned out to be seriously allergic to it, purged it from my shop. Then I stupidly decided to use it for the fingerboard on my latest - managed to finish it, but was back on my steroid inhaler.
I like comparing notes with other builders here in Oz. Do you ever go to any of the festivals? I'll be at Mountaingrass; Send me a DM.
G’day John. Thanks. Bad news about the allergy. I’ve used it on my last two builds and haven’t had an issue so far. I like the stuff a lot. I recently got a router adapter for my dremel knockoff and got some single fluted 1mm carbide slot drills & that combination makes inlaying so easy. I can’t believe I wasted so much time doing it with crap gear in the past. My last 3 builds have had nautical themed inlays.
As for festivals, I don’t really go anywhere apart from the odd local folk festival. I might head down to St.Albans next year. Not sure where mountaingrass is. I’ll look it up. If ever you’re up Newcastle NSW way, give me a call on +61405485746
Very nice. Thanks for posting.
Thanks Tom
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