Buzzard Mountain Blog

The inspiration for the Road Kill, custom banjo BM09003 has been sent on it way to its new home. I hope the new owner gets many years of enjoyment out of it. In honor of shipping it off I took a few minuets and recorded a bit to share how wonderful this banjo sounds. With the Bubinga wood tone ring and Fiberskyn head this beauty has a wonderful, warm tone. The standard model will be nearly Identical to this one, with just a simpler head stock profile and will sell for $800.



My playing is a bit off on this, I was rushing too much to get it to the post office that day, but I think it gives you a good idea to how it sounds. Maybe I can get the new owner to send me a file or two once he gets it in his hands.
BM09003_Sound.mp3

I have finished up another banjo project I would like to share, this one was dubbed "The Bluegrass Machine". This banjo features a Tony Pass Lost timber rim and Huber flat top tone ring. The neck and resonator are made from beautiful curly maple and stained with a vintage hand rubbed sunburst then finished with a Hard Oil. It has a custom pearl inlay design with a 5th fret star and a star and wings at the 12th fret. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the curly maple stained this way has a ton of depth to it and looks like it breaths as you move your eyes across it.







Here is quick sound sample, although I don't play 3 finger style I think it's a good representation of how this baby sounds.
BluegrassMachine_Sound.mp3

This banjo was a blast to design and build! The BM09003 features a simple design with a Bubinga Wood tone ring and rim cap, elegant Dobson style heal and clean rosewood fingerboard and headstock overlay. The Bubinga tone ring gives this banjo a wonderful, rich voice. This banjo has inspired me to create a Banjo on a Budget model, that I have dubbed the "Road Kill". The budget model will have a standard headstock shape vs. this traditional one, but be identical otherwise and will sell for $800. If your interested in such a banjo please contact me.

BM09003 Front


BM09003 Side


BM09003 Back


BM09003 Pot


It's hard to see in the pictures, but the Bubinga has a 3 dimensional iridescent quality about it that is just striking!

Well I have finished up the S6 Prototype and I thought I would share some pictures before I ship it off to Pat & Patrick. This 6 String banjo has a wonderful voice! The Cocobolo Rosewood tone ring on a Mahogany rim with the Fiberskyn head gives it a wonderfully balanced tone. The Rim, Neck and Rim Cap are all Mahogany and the rim features a Herringbone inlay!

S6 Front


S6 Side View


S6 Back


S6 Pot Close up


I can't wait for Pat & Patrick to get this in there hands!

Well the owner of the BM09-002 Custom Banjo sent me 3 sound files again. This time the first time through on the song he is playing the banjo setup with a Fiberskyn Head, then the second time through with a Renaissance Head. The songs go from one version right into the next so that you can really hear the difference, and only thing that is different is the heads, everything else is exactly the same. Thanks to Pat for these!



His banjo is tuned to gCGCD.

Arkansas Traveler Fiberskyn vs. Renaissance Heads
ArkansasTrvlrFibervsRen.mp3

Soldiers Joy Fiberskyn vs. Renaissance Heads
SoldiersJoyFibervsRen.mp3

Country Blues Fiberskyn vs. Renaissance Heads
CountryBluesFibervsRen.mp3

I am currently working on a custom banjo for a client that I designed around his budget, my goal was to create a great banjo that will last for years and years, sound great and be affordable to us working class folks. I am planning on making this type of banjo a standard offering at Buzzard Mountain. It should retail for about $800 and be about the best banjo available in that price range. It will have the following features:
- 2 Ply Hard Maple Rim
- Bubinga Wood Tone Ring
- Bubinga Rim Overlay
- Standard square headstock profile with Rosewood overlay (The custom I am currently working on has a upgraded headstock profile)
- Rosewood finger board
- White Side dots
- Grooved Tension hoop with 14 brackets & shoes
- Fyberskin, Amber or Frosted head.
- Dobson style heel
- Bone nut & 5th Pip
- Planetary tuners with ebony knobs

Here are a couple of photos of the custom version I am working on now:

Here is the rim, it has been turned and the holes are drilled and it just needs to be sanded and finished.


Here is the neck blank in my jig getting the finger board glued on.


This banjo is turning out great! I will keep some progress photos going here. If your interested in one of these please contact me at the link above. I am still trying to think up a good name for the standard model, not sure yet but I am leaning towards the Buzzard Mountain "Road Kill" Banjo.

I am also working on the S6 Guitar banjo prototype, here is a sneak peek at what its shaping up to be.

A lot is going on here at Buzzard Mountain HQ. I am currently working on several banjos including the Somerset S6 Six String Banjo prototype which should be ready in a week or so. I am also working on a budget model banjo that I plan on making a standard offering at Buzzard Mountain, more to come later on that later.

Pat the Loafer has had a chance to get acquainted with his new banjo the BM09002 and was kind enough to send me some sound files of him playing it. I put the sound files in with some pictures and made a video slide show.



I am also attaching the 3 songs separately for everyone to listen too. Pat is playing in gCGCD tuning for these.
Arkansas Traveler
BM09002ArkansasTraveler.mp3
Soldier's Joy
BM09002SoldiersJoy.mp3

BM090023.mp3

Well I'm back from the Folk Musicians Retreat in Crisfield and let me tell you I had a great time! Thanks to Pat, Patrick, Miss Trudy and all who helped bring us together. It was a wonderful experience and I got to meet a lot of nice people.
Here is a picture of me that Patrick took during a workshop on playing the fiddle. My brother saw it and said "Hey, there is a picture of you playing the fiddle up" to which I replied "Correction, that is a picture of me HOLDING the fiddle".


Thanks to Chris Via for trying to show me a few things on the fiddle, hopefully by next year I will be able to squeak out a tune or two on it.

For those of you who don't know, Chris hosts the Henry Reed Memorial Fiddlers Convention the second week in June. I am planning on attending as I can't think of a better way to spend my time, other then building instruments! My buddy Pat the Loafer is going to be bringing some recording equipment as well and we will be getting some recordings down of some of the old timers. Hopefully we can get a few people to tell us a story and play a song or two.