I really like an excuse to use these dot markers. Tahitian black pearl set into sterling silver, on this ebony fingerboard, really stand out. Little touches make all the difference to an instrument when it all comes together.
This banjo was built with a three part maple/wenge/maple neck. It gives it a lot of stability but also some really nice clean cut lines. This birdseye maple is, and was, notoriously difficult to carve. But the results in the end were well worth it.
Not quite the bank holiday weekend off, but it has meant I’ve had time to catch up on the website. I had a lot of fun building this lacewood 10 string Cittern, set up in open G. It’s not a wood that I’ve used frequently for Citterns, but I’m really pleased with the results. In sound, it has something akin to mahogany, as well as a little maple there as well. Either way, it has a really eye catching figuring.
This build had a bit of a silver theme: with an ebony and sterling silver rosette, with a handmade nickel-plated tail piece (it’s a pet peeve of mine when tailpieces don’t match other hardware).
To help deal with the tension of 10 strings, the Cittern has carbon fibre neck reinforcements and double-walled sides to give it a little extra punch.
