Fretless Mountain Banjo 1776-2026 commemoration, new, made in West Virginia!!

I finished this one June 24, 2026. This one is special because I did a USA 250 years decorative carving on the top. I used only a pencil to free hand it on and used a special carving knife that I bought in Germany to carve the letters in a technique called Kerbschnitzen. No laser carving here! It took a few extra hours but love the end result. The neck is a good solid maple and the body is some kind of quartersawn tone wood that was inside an old house that was built by one of my ancestors John Collins and a John Lynch who was a Confederate veteran. John Collins died an old man in the 1930’s. His father was Marsh and his father was William and William’s father was George Collins and George’s father was John who was an Irish immigrant that came to America in the 1740’s. It is recorded that John hosted George Washington for a night in his home when Washington was a young land surveyor. John’s son George would go on to be a soldier in the Continental army. I have no way of knowing if the John who built the house with the wood I got from it knew that story or not but this is the last piece of quartersawn wood I got from there and I think it does add to the overall sound with the light gauge ball end steel strings. If John did know the story I figure he’d love seeing a part of his house used for a banjo that has our 250th commemoration as a country on it. 

This instrument measures 36” long, 11” wide, 2 1/4” side height and a comfortable 24 1-2” from nut to bridge in the photos. The solid ebony violin pegs are set into holes reamed with two violin reamers with one special made for the 5th peg. The reamers cut the same size diameter and taper as the pegs so the more you press the pegs in the tighter they get. Historically they often drilled straight holes and the carved pegs were round and straight like dowel pins yet they still managed to make them work so you are fortunate indeed to get a more sophisticated set up that they would loved to have had over 100 years ago. I do my best to keep the designs historically correct and use hand tools that have been antiques in my family for a long time that is more like what you would see at Colonial Williamsburg. It does take me a lot longer to make them like this but the shape, feel and sound really speak for themselves. I will include a set of guidelines with this that explains more. The little dowel peg that the 5th string rides in is solid ebony for durability it was simply the carved down tip I cut from the 5th peg so nothing goes to waste. I did do my V neck design profile on this which is a very old style and as far as I know I’m the only one making them like this today but they feel very comfortable in the hand. I draw inspiration and designs from the old Stanley hicks family that you see in the foxfire book and old YouTube clips. I do have a YouTube channel that is a mix of banjo sound samples and a Russian blue cat of mine and the new black kitten. You can find my channel by searching Osage Orange banjo and you should see a video of a bright yellow mountain banjo. I don’t think anyone else has made a mountain banjo from Osage orange that I have been able to see but unfortunately no one seemed to really care how rare or special it was so I had to lower the price of the two I made to sell them and they were so hard to make and Osage so expensive and hard on my tools that I don’t make them out of that anymore. This 250 year banjo is definitely a rarity and I doubt I make another one and if I do it will be different. I also build flintlock muskets in my free time so I have been doing this for over 20 years. It seems like it taking me longer to make a banjo these days and materials keep going up. I do make each box one at a time and use a couple different bubblewraps and styrofoam peanuts to make sure they arrive safely to you then I ship with reverb safe shipping so we are both fully covered. I’m running out of things to say so if you have any questions let me know & thank you!