Check out the links below to see some of my past creations. Contact me through the form at the bottom of the page or at 

. You can also check out some of my instruments at 

I recently put some music out into the world, a first for me as far as writing goes. Sharing is caring. I occasionally post similar things to 

Chris Witulski

 String Instruments

Continuing with the experimenting that comes from building two banjos at once, these very similar instruments have proven to be a real pleasure to play.

Build #13 is a long neck banjo. The full standard scale long neck can get to the 32 inch range, which is something of a beast. So this is just over 30 inches. I set it up so that when playing with a capo at the third fret (playing in G), it comes out to a 25 1/2 inch instrument. This short scale matches my Telecaster Thinline build and is growing in popularity for open backs right now. Build #14 is a standard 26 3/8 scale. Here are some of the features (they're pretty much all the same):

Mahogany neck with a bocote fretboard, peghead, and heel cap. There's an ipe and maple accent under the bocote throughout, it makes for a really nice subtle-yet-fancy stripe. Both have truss rods and a truss rod cover made from the overlay wood, so it blends right in. These have bone nuts and fifth string pips.

An 11 inch block rim from cherry and maple. Something else snuck in there, too, but I didn't notice until later. So there are a few mystery blocks. It's a bit softer, which you can see on the inside where I hand sand, but they blend right in.

Both rims feature an ipe cap, or a "wooden tone ring." Ipe is a very hard wood and as a result, these have a great warm tone to them. There is a matching rim cap of ipe, maple, and bocote.

These have brass Gotah tuners. All of the hardware is brass and handmade in Ashville, North Carolina by the Balsam Banjo Works folks. There are grooved tension rings, 10 hooks, and Balsam's Hawkeye tailpiece. The heads are Remo Renaissance heads with the Balsam/Pigsah logo, since that's where I got them.

The long neck has railroad spikes (fifth string capos) at all of the useful spots: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11. This makes for easy playing in singing and banjo keys.

#14 (the standard scale) does have something of a blemish. I got some tear out at the neck joint on the inside of the rim. You can see it in the last photo. I was considering some coverup options to hide it, but decided not to. It's handmade and I'm not a factory. Such is life.

(Photos of this one have a Pigsah Eclipse bridge, but after some more tweaking, I swapped out one that I made myself.)

A long neck and its little sibling

Making two instruments from the same materials at once turned out to be fascinating. These are both gourd banjos with similarly-sized gourds, scale lengths, and most everything else. They both have flush frets (so they are fret, but have white markers for the fret locations). Both feature brass position markers, friction tuners, Nulgut strings, and goat skin heads stained with coffee.

The differences come down to the gourds: #11 (the one with the "snake head" shaped peg head) has a shorter bridge and thicker walls on the gourd while #12 (the "paddle" head) has a thinner walled gourd. I also pulled the skin down around the flower-shaped sound hole on that one.

To me, #11 is punchy in a way that sounds, well, like a banjo. It would cut through a crowd. #12 is warmer in a way that is more what I expected from a gourd instrument. Here are improvised samples and photos of each.

These are both available through Small Box Music in Maumee. (They ship directly through their website and also have a store on Reverb.)

Two gourd banjos

When teaching banjo history as a way to discuss race in America in my classes at Bowling Green State University, I have had the opportunity to bring them to the arts area and build banjos from scratch. 

To make this work, I prepared two guides. One was for a few students who were working independently, another was adapted for a larger class. I share them here with the hopes that (1) you might make some banjos and (2) you'd let me know how it goes!

I do some things differently now than what these guides share, but they will get you up and running.

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

I'm not a percussionist, but I've always thought that a cajon would be useful. This is basically a box with a snare pushing against the front on the inside. I made this with mitered corners for clean lines and used a hole saw that I had to get the sound hole shape, which is flower-like. I have not tried putting a finish on it, but I may. It sounds and plays great.

Cajon

Since you only need so many banjos, it was time to try a guitar. Learning frets, electronics, binding, and many other new skills made for a great challenge and, to be honest, I'm shocked with how good the instrument feels.

This Telecaster Thinline-style guitar is cherry with a curly maple top. The neck is the opposite, curly maple with a cherry fret board. The pick guard is cherry and the body has a walnut double binding. The pickups are  Fender Noiseless Gen 4. There are some minor cosmetic warts that I have solutions for and I can't wait to build another.

The electric comes in about halfway through this tune.

The Tele Thinline

If getting into fretless banjos is what started me on this path, interest in gourd instruments has kept me going. I've used these as a way to try different variations for things like the fifth peg and the tailpiece. This one is maple and hickory, both local, with violin pegs. I recently gave it a new body, tailpiece, "moon" style bridge, and a bone nut. It's a slick instrument with a great low tone for the small gourd size.

Gourd banjos

While trying to make the build process more efficient for a class I was teaching, I decided to try some attractive new wood. I had never worked with figured maple before, but I have been enjoying the scraps ever since (as is obvious from the Thinline Telecaster copy from late 2023). This one features canarywood on the fingerboard, peghead cover, rim cap, and tailpiece.

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

This is another of my favorites. It feels great, with a nice thin neck and the low "Classic banjo" Aquila Nylgut strings. The head is stained goat skin. The body and neck are cherry and ipe. There's an ipe integrated tone ring and an ipe stripe down the neck.

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

The design on this one came out of my desire for something other than (1) the old double ogee and (2) the plain-ish fifth string peg that looks a bit like an ear. I was playing some sketches on a large sheet of paper and landed on the long arc that extends from the fifth string peg, across the neck, and finishes as part of the scoop. This is also the first time I played with a stained hide head and decorative lamination. The rim is a cherry block rim with an ipe rim cap to match the neck.

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

These two tackhead fretless banjos had ambrosia maple necks, bent ash for the body, and a really nice purpleheart that I used for the fingerboards, pegheads, and other bits. The deep scoop goes almost through to the heel, giving these a striking look. They have stylized "classic banjo" headstocks with friction pegs and the double ogee on the neck marks important positions. I made a matching bridge with the purpleheart and used the Aquila red series to complete the look.

One of these was a retirement gift to my dad (who doesn't play, but is starting to).

Chris Witulski
String Instruments

Some recent builds

A long neck and its little sibling

A long neck and its little sibling

Two gourd banjos

Two gourd banjos

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

Cajon

Cajon

The Tele Thinline

The Tele Thinline

Gourd banjos

Gourd banjos

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

Classic tackhead banjo with a double ogee

Classic tackhead banjo with a double ogee