This is my thirteenth cello banjo, and my first made from African mahogany. It has a rosewood fretboard and peghead overlay. The scale length is 29 inches and the rim diameter is 16 inches. The nut width is 1-3/8" and there is a two way truss rod in the neck. The head is a Remo Renaissance which the fine folks at Smakula Fretted Instruments kindly ordered for me. This banjo is set up with steel strings, the gauges are .020w, .042w, .036w, .026w .022w. I can put monofilament nylon strings on the banjo for the same price. It has Gotoh raw brass tuners, and Corian nut and pip. The pot has 34 brackets. I made the brass Van Eps style tension hoop and the dowel stick yoke. The tailpiece, head, and tuners came from Smakula Fretted Instruments, and the rest of the hardware came from Ode Banjo Parts. This banjo weighs 6 pounds 12 ounces and is about 41" in overall length.
To see a video of this banjo please follow the link below. I don’t have much idea of how the cello banjo is supposed to be played, but I hope the sound may come through anyway. I also have a video on my YouTube channel of banjo #294 which was a cello banjo of the same size, but with nylon strings, if you’d like to compare the two string types’ sounds.
youtu.be/6INnf2NIKB8
