In my old wooden cabin up in the hills of south east London I make banjos, canjos, cigarbox guitars and other things that go twang. Every instrument is fully hand made in the traditional way with a minimal use of power tools and usually using reclaimed timber (that way i can use exotic hard woods and sleep well at night). So if you are interested in buying a high quality unique instrument keep checking here or contact me if you would like to commission something. flatfootjohnny@hotmail.com
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Grain measure banjo - ready for the East Anglian Bluegrass festival
Heres my latest banjo. A "grain measure" banjo with fully hand made head-tensioning hardware, Ash neck, Victorian sieve pot, calf skin vellum, hand turned oak tuning pegs, ebony nut, Sapelle tailpiece. Put together temporarily so that i can take it to EABG fest at the weekend. When i get back it will be french polished and generally tarted up. As of writing this post the strings have only been on for an hour, so still need to settle in... but it sounds great - deep and surprisingly loud.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
head skin fitting
Here's a pic of the skin, still wet, fitted to the banjo pot. Next time i'll leave more around the edges... a lot easier to tighten.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Stall at the Deadbeats Frenzy
Some pics of my 1st stall at this years Deadbeats Frenzy.
Dan (Union Canal String Band) on bass.
Angus + Wilma
Dan (Union Canal String Band) on bass.
Angus + Wilma
Monday, 6 June 2011
Tackhead banjo progress
Heres the neck fitted to my latest tackhead grain measure banjo.
and here it is after the heads been tacked on.
and here it is after the heads been tacked on.
Sunday, 5 June 2011
tensioning hardware
Tensioning brackets under construction
Soldered together
tapping the hook nut threads
Trial fitting onto pot
Soldered together
tapping the hook nut threads
Trial fitting onto pot
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