Appalachian mountain banjo, Fretless, new, walnut, made in West Virginia!

I finished this one today September 11, 2026 and of course my spoiled 6 month old kitten had to come over and inspect my work Haha! She just got spayed last Wednesday so she is still a little sore. This banjo measures 10” wide, 2” side height, 35” overall length and I have the bridge 24” from the nut in the photos. This is a really nice banjo and it’s rare I manage to get any walnut because it’s so expensive. This one has the traditional round neck profile on the back and feels really nice and is quartersawn as well for extra strength & that matters a lot and cost more to by the wood. The solid ebony violin pegs are set into holes made with two violin peg reamers with one special made for the 5th peg. The reamers cut the same taper and thickness as the peg so you get the best friction fit that increases the more you press in just like on a violin. I like the action on this one and the Aquila 1b super nylgut strings give it a great old time sound. It will take the nylgut strings about two weeks to stretch and settle in but I have already brought them up to standard tuning 3 times so that will help a lot. As long as you keep them clean they will last longer than the steel strings do. The top and bottom have some great looking walnut grain as well. I tried to capture it in the photos but it looks better in person. I make these as close as I can to what you see in the foxfire book and the old makers like Stanley Hicks father and family along with Frank Proffit and guys like Leonard Glenn. There was some mountain banjo making happening in West Virginia historically but most of what you see is in the mountains in North Carolina. I like the North Carolina design a lot better because it doesn’t feel too exotic compared to modern banjos and not hard to learn just practice and get a feel for it. There was a time when there was no fretted banjos and southerners rejected fretted banjos at first because they claimed it interfered with their style of playing too much and if you get one of these you will understand what they were talking about. Frets to me are like prison bars because they do restrict a banjo and the player more than you realize. Owning one of these would become a family heirloom and something to pass on in your family and I hope you do. I will include a set of guidelines that have some interesting things amongst all my rambling. Don’t be afraid to get one of my banjos with violin pegs because they are easy to tune once you get the hang of it and it looks really good around your friends or on stage. When you get one of these banjos you are doing your part to help keep the Appalachian mountain folk traditions alive at a time they are fading so fast in a time of data centers and a changing world. I do take shipping serious because I want to do all I can to make sure it arrives safely even though I insure it with reverb safe shipping which 100% protects both of us and for me to make a custom box and use styrofoam peanuts and two kinds of bubblewrap cost me about $50 in materials with my time being for free. I been making these off an on for over 20 years just one at a time in a very small shop. I have a basic pattern but my process is so full of hand tools and different things I read into the wood that there are differences in each one I make. I did give in and use a jointer planer on top of the neck so I’m sure you get as flat a surface as possible. I got 4 walnut banjos made, I just listed the only 11” one on here and this is the 10” wide one and the other two will be 9 1/2” that I probably put on late tonight or tomorrow. Usually I do have a little back angle going on with my necks and people love that too. I do thank you for reading all of this and don’t hesitate to ask me any questions & I sure do look forward to doing business with you more than once as I love making more repeat customers!