Custom Banjos

Although these are new instruments, the object is to produce playabilty, stability and yet strive for power combined with a rich old type of sound. This means that both both excellent and proper materials must be used, necks must be joined tightly to the rim, and a more radical neck rake angle be used. Then, at the end, setup and correct choice of a custom bridge must work together with the natural resonance of the rim to bring out the best possible tonality in the banjo.

Banjos: Fretless and Fretted

1. Fred Cockerham Style – After taking care of Fred Cockerham's fretless banjo for years, I came to know it closely. This essentially duplicates Fred's fretless banjo, now in the Smithsonian, originally made by Kyle Creed. We internally bevel an 11" rim and use a flat brass tone ring to give a powerful yet rich tone. Each banjo is individually crafted, with many options available:

• A plain ebony fingerboard OR
• Formica covered fingerboard (black or white) OR
• a ultramodern super-durable Corian fingerboard (for info*, see #2 blue corian banjo below).
• Geared tuners in a slotted peghead OR
• straight geared tuners in a solid head.
• Plain maple OR
• a flame maple neck.
• White plastic OR
• New "Renaissance" transluscent plastic OR
• a pre-mounted skin head
• Simple maple rim OR
• The rim end-capped in wood with/without binding

Here are some comments from customers of the Cockerham fretless banjo:

"Hi Ray,
Just a testimonial note, from the UK, to let you know how pleased I am with the Cockerham fretless banjo. I've had it for 6 months or so now, and play it almost every day. It is a gorgeous banjo with a lovely sound and is an absolute joy to play." Colin C., U.K.

"The banjo arrived safely. Boy, what piece! Set-up is perfect; sounds great. Love that smooth fingerboard. Can't put it down Ray. I Love this banjo. I can't thank you enough for designing and building this instrument. Thanks for this beauty. Now, all I have to do is go to the jam that Tom Sauber started on Wednesday nights at a local club. Maybe I'll break it out next week. I tried your bridge out on another banjo, and loved it. Do you sell them?" Larry K., California

2. Custom 11" Blue Corian fretted Banjo A powerful banjo with a blue Corian fingerboard (*Corian is a material created by blending 1/3 acrylic resin to 2/3 natural minerals together with natural pigments. Aircraft windows use acrylic because of its strength, resistance to extreme weather conditions and resistance to UV). The neck is made of highly figured flame maple with a Corian "T-bar" tightly embedded inside to prevent warpage. The rim, similar to the Cockerham fretless rim, is 3/4" maple bottom-capped in beautiful burl wood. Peghead is veneered with a lovely design using blue Corian and cream-color cellulose. Special Introductory Price: $1675.

3. Ramsey "Woody" : A 12" maple rim custom banjo from luthier Mike Ramsey. Two piece flame maple neck finished in flame-orange color with ebony heel cap. All five-star geared tuners. Ebony fingerboard with engraved inlays in acorns, oak leaves, oak tree in ebony veneer peghead. Sound is very punchy, woody-mellow and can take a clawhammer hand wallop. $1250.

4. Johanes Bonefaas Fretless Banjo : Bonefaas put over 2,500 hours of research into making this banjo a great sounding replica of an H.C. Dobson banjo, as played by his hero Ritchie Stearns of the Horseflies. A hand made brass-clad rim and tone ring using the old pipefitters technique of pressure expanding a maple wood rim inside gives the powerful tone. Notice the pick-up ready fixture in the rim. Renaissance head, custom bridge. Indonesian macassar ebony fingerboard, walnut neck, sharp angled peghead to bear on string pressure. A very serious banjo able to penetrate through many instruments. Bonefaas' current prices on this banjo are $3000+. French oil finish, 24" scale. $2,500.

4. COMING SPRING-SUMMER 2006: Custom 12" rim banjos using tubaphone and whyte laydie tone rings. Designed to be among the ultimate powerhouse banjos, they will feature some of our best ideas along with lovely pearl designs. Look for them to be featured on this page at that point.