This banjo was my first banjo project. It is made from a single plank of wormy chestnut salvaged from a renovation project of my old farm house 25 years ago, and the fingerboard and laminates are black locust from the trimmings pile at a black locust sawmill just up the road. It was a lesson for me in many ways; planning, patience, and precision. When it came to carving the neck and finishing the headstock, I discovered that the worm boring damage was much more severe at that end of the plank, leaving only enough wood for an exceptionally slender headstock. I could have worked around the blackened nail holes in the pot that used to be the homes for hand forged square nails. But I like the visual reminder of history, life, and afterlife of this Chestnut tree.
I still enjoy playing this sweet little banjo, and it is a comforting reminder to me of how far my banjos have come.
