A bit of my Brother's Craftsmanship

[Del the cat]

My brother stopped overnight with us and brought along his new banjo.
He'd made the banjo neck over over 35 years ago from some Walnut he cut from a tree over the back of our parent's house. He made the fret board of Ebony and inlaid it with Mother of Pearl.
It was made it to fit his steel bodied banjo, but never used it to replace the regular one.
Eventually he decided to have a wooden body made for a different sound and got Slim Jim Banjos to make one for him.
They did a great job and the banjo really looks to be of a piece. The body is Cherry with an Ebony rim round the back, it's beautifully finished with some lovely detail like the curved bridge. The guy who made the body said the inlay on the neck is the best he's ever seen.
It was great to see him and after an Indian meal and a pint I even had a sing with him, belting out Those Old Cotton Fields Back Home Home like we did in the pubs many years ago... almost brought a tear to the eye 
Del

[osage outlaw]

That looks very nice!

[BowEd]

Lovely work!!!Just wish I knew how to play one.....lol.

[Pappy]

Very nice, talent must run in your family.
 Pappy

[bjrogg]

That is a beautiful banjo Del. I just love the sound of a banjo in the hands of someone who really knows how to play it. My cousin plays guitar and has a banjo. Several years ago without even knowing we ended up at the same campground up north. He brought his banjo in case someone played it. He doesn't. The people that owned the campground had intertainment planed for the evening but the couple who were supposed to provide it had to cancel last minute. The owner asked my cousin to play and he did. The next night we were all sitting around the campfire playing guitar and singing when this couple stopped to listen to us. We invited them over. Turns out they were the couple who were supposed to provide the intertainment. Also turned out he was a really fantastic banjo player who played with some really big name country singers. My cousin still gets together with him from time to time and we always talk about that camping trip. Strange how so many coincidences came together.
Bjrogg

[PEARL DRUMS]

That is gorgeous and I bet it sounds just as good as it looks. I love a banjo.

[Marc St Louis]

Very nice indeed

[Hawkdancer]

That is a very nice banjo!  Excellent work.
Hawkdancer

[PEARL DRUMS]

I like the rawhide head and the fact you can still see where they scraped it. Very cool.

[upstatenybowyer]

OMG that thing is beautiful! Fine craftsmanship must run in the family. 

[chamookman]

WOW  ! Beautiful  - Bob.

[Stoner]

All I can say is WOW! Fantastic Craftsmanship. John

[Badger]

   Is he a pro at this or was it a one time thing? beautiful job!

[Del the cat]

   Is he a pro at this or was it a one time thing? beautiful job!

He taught himself to play when he was about 16, he's always had great craft skills and was a taxidermist for the Natural History Museum and onetime Chairman of the guild of Taxidermists.
He made the neck when he worked for them as he had access to fancy materials. The reinforcing inside the neck is a deep T section of carbon fibre laid up directly into the neck, and that was when carbon fibre was a relatively new stuff.
He's done engraving for Holland and Holland gun makers, and also done leather work for Rolls Royce.
He taught me how to do inlay and helped me with loads of stuff, even taught me to swim and dive. Proper older brother 
Here's a pic of some of his engraving, it illustrates some pointers on a grouse moor, taken from a photo he took of his friends dogs so that he could engrave the friends gun with a pic of his actual dogs.
Sorry the pic is poor quality, but it's behind glass on my wall
Del

[DC]

Yikes! That's amazing.