Buzzard Mountain Blog

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!

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

The second custom banjo to leave my shop this year is completed and will be on its way to Maryland next week with me as I travel to the Folk Musicians Retreat. Its owner Pat the Loafer will be giving me a place to sleep the day before the retreat and we will be hanging out and making some music on his new banjo prior to the Retreat.

Pat wanted a curly maple banjo similar to the BM09001 I built for myself earlier this year. We worked closely together on the custom inlay design of this banjo and it turned out awesome! It features a Cocobolo Tone ring and appointments, curly maple pot and neck, Buzzard Mountain Traditional headstock design and a frailing scoop.

Here are a few photos for Pat to drool over as he too has to wait until next week to get this beauty in his hands.

Well folks the S3-002 is done and on its way to Pat & Patrick for their inspection and final setup. I thought I would post a few glamor shots for everyone to see. This one turned out great and plays like a dream! I hope that it finds its way safely to its new owner!

I finished up the Somerset S7 Banjo Ukulele prototype today and I must say, this little thing is fun! I am going to live with it for a few days to test it out, I know it will torture Patrick but here are a few photos for your viewing pleasure.







In other news here are a few construction photos of the BM09002 custom banjo.

Here is an image after the cocobolo strip and curly maple cap have been glued up.


This is the tone ring getting ready to be glued to the rim.


One can never have enough clamps!


And here is the rim after being turned and rough sanded.




Until Next time.

Well now that my Internet connection is back again I can post some updates on the things I've been working on this last week.

I've been finishing up the Prototype for the S7 Somerset Banjo Ukulele and I think this thing is turning out great! I have finished the Rim and the neck is nearly complete, it just needs a few more coats of finish on it, I can hardly wait to get it together and hear what this beauty is going to sound like!

Here are some images of the S7:
First up is some pics of the S7 Rim in my Jig for drilling the holes. This jig is attached to my drill press and helps insure that all the holes are perpendicular and in line.





Here is a shot of the finished rim before the hardware had been installed:



This is the neck and rim together, the neck just needs a few more coats of finish and the rim is done!




Next, I've been finishing up the S3-002 for a lucky customer. The rim is ready to go and the neck just needs a few more coats of finish as well.









Well thats it for now, it was busy week and this week is turning out to be just as busy! Thanks to all of you out there who are supporting the Somerset Team and me!

It's been a beautiful weekend here in the sunny south, the temperature has been around 80F with a nice cool breeze blowing and the sun a shinnin'. I have spend\t most of the last few days turning rims for the various Somerset Banjos. I thought I would share a few more photos of this work.

This is a rough S1 rim blank attached to my lathe.


This view is after it has been turned to the rough outside diameter and the tone ring has been fitted.


The last view is after I flip the rim over and cut it to length and radius off the bottom.


Here is a view of all the rims I've been working on these last few days: 2 S1 Walnut rims, 1 S3 rim with Cocobolo Tone Ring and the S7 Prototype rim.


All of these rims are ready for the holes to be drilled, which is what I will be working on come Monday morning.

Lastly, I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the Buzzard Mountain Mascot. Now, I know most of you probably assume that it is a trained Buzzard, but all of my efforts to catch and tame one have failed. So instead I have a Samson!



You can find more pics of Samson at my old Flickr Stream.

Things have been crazy busy around Buzzard Mountain HQ these last couple of weeks, so I thought it was time to post an update on a few of the projects I am currently working through.

First up is a sneak peek at the Somerset S7 Ukulele Prototype.

This is a shot of my Lathe set-up I use for turning the rims, in this case it's the rim for the S7. My set up is based in part on the lathes shown at Hickler Banjo.







Here is the nearly finished S7 neck blank.





I have also been working on a Somerset S3 Banjo as well. Here is the nearly finished neck.



In addition to all of that, I've been working on the BM09002 custom banjo. Here is the curly maple neck with Cocobolo stripe and custom headstock design.







And lastly I've finally have the fretboard and flush frets installed on "The Snooks" gourd banjo. The flush frets are inlaid Mahogany to match the neck wood.





Thats it for now folks, look for more info on all of these projects in the days and weeks to come.

Well what I have here is my first completed banjo of the new year Model # BM09001, and I couldn't be happier! I built this dream machine for myself as a birthday present, I just turned 35 on Sat. Jan 10th and I thought I deserved a new frailing machine. This banjo looks and plays wonderfully!

Here are just a few of the features I built into this banjo:

• 11" Curly Maple rim with a Cocobolo Rosewood tone ring and strip


• 3 piece Curly Maple and Cocobolo neck


• Custom Headstock and Pearl Inlay in ebony overlay & fingerboard


Here are some Images:





I'm really pleased with the way this build turned out and I hope it's a sign of things to come for Buzzard Mountain Instruments in 2009!

I will post more later, some sound files or a video but for now I need to go play this thing!