About Us

For over 30 years I’ve been creating custom furniture and wooden objects at my
workshop in Barren County Kentucky.

I am fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful tone woods and a long tradition of instrument making in The Bluegrass State. Inspired by those who came before me, I set out to make banjos that are beautiful, sustainable, and a joy to play.

Banjo making can be addictive–by the time I strung up my second banjo, I was hooked. My first builds were mountain-style, with ideas and inspiration coming mostly from the popular Foxfire book series documenting the vanishing Appalachian Mountain culture. Almost entirely made of wood, with tack-head style pots, fretless necks and nylon strings, they were a good place for me to get started. While I still enjoy making them and love their utter simplicity and old-time plunky sound, I turned toward more refined banjos from the late 19th to early 20th century by great makers such as Fairbanks, Dobson, SS Stewart, and others.

These are classic old-time open-back banjos with full presence and a big round, warm tone. This style features laminated bent wood rims, metal hardware for head adjustment, steel strings, fretted fingerboards, and of course, the lovely details and classic lines.

The result is my current standard banjo–the open-back SB-100. Banjos offer almost endless opportunities for tonal and aesthetic variety. Ten and twelve inch rim options will be coming soon, as well as a fretless model. A resonator banjo for 3-finger, bluegrass-style playing is also in the works.

I appreciate you dropping in and I hope you’ll be back to see what’s new from the shop.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to order a custom banjo or see what I have in stock.

Thanks!
Danny