Banjos, at least decent quality closed-back banjos, are expensive. Even folks who take the initiative to buy the parts from Stewart MacDonald and build their own find that banjo construction is an expensive proposition. Virginia luthier John Calkin has been experimenting with non-conventional designs to make banjos from inexpensive, readily available materials. Like two by fours.

He’s documented his efforts in an interesting page on his website, called Banjo Craziness. He notes that his designs are more appropriate for old-timey frailing rather than bluegrass, and he makes this hilarious (though likely controversial) observation:

[B]luegrass sucks. Bill Monroe should have been a priest or a welder or a pimp, anything other than the father of the hideous noise called bluegrass. Bluegrass is a well-spring of Southern sentimentality, morbid lyricism, cornball humor, and poor writing. Hardcore ‘grassers lament that there are no good new bluegrass songs, but I maintain that there are no good old ones, either. The real irony is that some of the hottest pickers in folk music play bluegrass.

Read the full series here:

http://www.jcalkinguitars.com/banjo_craziness.htm

I wrote earlier about how impressed I was with Keith Cary’s Commodium, a resonator mandolin made from a stainless steel bedpan and other recycled materials. I’ve put in an order to buy one. As one might expect, Keith has a backlog of requests for his instruments. At present, I’m fifth in line for the commode, as it were.

The instrument will likely use the neck profile from my old F-2, as that’s my favorite mandolin neck. The scale length will be slightly longer, closer to my A50. I look forward to playing it.

For more information on Keith and his instruments, visit his web site.

Here’s a very clever bit of instrument construction that reminds me of Paul’s SuitBass: the Commodium, a mandolin constructed from a recycled stainless steel bedpan. It’s the work of California-based luthier Keith Cary.

There are a lot of clever details here. The tailpiece, for example, is made from a recycled fork. The instrument top is made from a Reverware pot lid. The source materials, Cary writes on his website, make for a mandolin that is exceptionally loud and directional. I may have to get one.

To learn more about the commodium, visit his website:

http://www.keithcary.com/commodium

Previous SuitBass posts:
The SuitBass, part III: the SuitBass is good for the environment.
The SuitBass, part II
Paul’s new SuitBass

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