It's hard to really tell you what the sound of a banjo is because
there's nothing else it sounds like a banjo.
It's a percussive sound because it's made out of a drum
with strings vibrating on it.
You pick it and you can strum it
so basically the banjo is a a drum
that somebody put a neck on.
I was a bluegrass musician in 1971.
I was still in the Navy for my last year and
I decided I'm gonna build a banjo from scratch
and I think I did it and sort of about 7,000 other people at least.
The very first couple of banjos I made entirely by myself
and then I decided I need help.
I mean I really rely on good craftsmen
and I've been very happy with the people that have worked
for me over the last 41 years.
A couple pull out back there. Oh I haven't even started on these yet. Yeah I do.
People like Tony Ellis make my banjo special because they've got the best sound out of it.
So back in the mountains where I grew up Silva, North Carolina
you didn't have much in the way of entertainment.
People made their own entertainment.
I like the sound of a trumpet and so I studied the horn in school
and they wanted me to play Sousa marches all the time
and I didn't like that stuff.
I wanted to play something had a melody to it and so it was pretty you know
and had some soul to it not just beating in vain and marching
so I heard Earl Scruggs on the radio one day and I heard that banjo and I thought
that's what I want to do so I got rid of my trumpet
and then never turned back.
Grains in the resonite are very nice. Yeah they stand out against
the one piece back a lot better than the two-piece. A lot more difficult...
Geoff Stelling's banjo has clarity, it has tone, it has power,
it can be gentile and soft and sweet at the same time.
The banjo was one of the most ornamented instruments. It's probably
because of the old Dixieland bands where they actually put lights
inside the banjo to shine through the head
and they had flashy music and flashy people
so the banjo became a really flashy instrument.
Cutting the inlay out with the jeweler saw.
The material is several different kinds but mainly shell
abalone, white mother-of-pearl, gold mother-of-pearl.
Takes a lot of time, you have to go slow.
Pieces can break if you're not taking your time.
I'll take the bird off of here and trim up the excess glue.
I'll have to place it center of the resonator and get my measurements.
We hold it down very carefully as we trace around it
and then we'll take a Dremel tool with a router base on it
and set our depth very specifically to the thickness of the inlay
and we'll cut out a pocket.
I use an exacto knife to trim up any corners or sharp angles.
The resonator is made out of basically molded plywood
a quarter inch thick and it resonates the sound upward and outward
through the top of the banjo.
I'm putting the pot together of the banjo
and the parts are, this is called the rim.
This is the the guts of the banjo. This is where the sound comes out of and this is
old wood that was reclaimed from the Great Lakes.
Once they dried it out we get a real you know real resonant wood
and this is called the flange and this is what will connect the banjo
to the resonator. It'll sit right inside the lip.
The tone ring it has a beveled edge that fits right up on the top of the rim
and you get full contact around the rim.
The head fairly inexpensive and you can replace them pretty easily.
This is the tension hoop on top and it has grooves cut out.
These J-hooks connect the flange to the tension hoop.
Tension hoop, head, tone ring, rim, flange.
It's a sandwich of metal and wood.
From the fretboard and the neck sound travels around the rim,
through the head, comes back from the resonator
and it all works together in making the banjo sound like it does.
When I get a banjo from the guy that puts it together
I have to look if the neck angle is correct
because you have to have a certain amount of bow in the neck for the strings to vibrate.
The bridge position has to be to within a thousandth of an inch
and the string height has to be correct to be playable.
All that has to be perfect to make the banjo sound the way I like it.
Polish it all up and then I pack it.
I'm the last person to see every banjo.
I ship it. I'm the shipping clerk.
it's a good one.