The All English banjo will be loosely based around the design of the ‘Bluestem Working persons 11″ Slot Head Open Back Banjo’ though with a few ideas of my own thrown in along the way. The key two differences being I am planning on using a wooden tone ring rather than the specified brass one and I am also going to increase the scale length to 25.5″.

Materials

• Rim – Block construction English Sycamore
• Tone ring – Laburnum
• Neck – Two piece laminated Sycamore with black veneer central laminate
• Fingerboard – Bog Oak
• Head stock overlay – Laburnum
• Tension hoop / shoes / tension hooks  – Raw Brass

Not having any previous experience of either playing or building a banjo, this will very much be an experimental build allowing me to play with ideas and perfect the design. As the All English Banjo is an experimental build, I will also be making most of the metal hardware in house, this will include tension ring, shoes, and tail piece.