The "Practice Anywhere" Banjo

The "Practice Anywhere" Banjo

For years I have played the five string banjo and for years I have been limited in my practice time. The last thing that my family wants to hear at night is my loud banjo with the same songs being played over and over. The banjo is a beautiful instrument, but will not fit just anywhere.

Among the songs that I frequently practice is "Foggy Mountain Special" or otherwise known as "Banjo Boogie". I found myself spending a lot of time in one area of the neck trying to get the notes smooth. This song is not so easily done. Practice time was what I needed, but I could not carry my Gibson just anywhere nor did I want everyone to hear me practice. I looked at the part that I was really using and the idea hit me; I only need the middle section to practice this song. Quickly to the drawing board I went. It wasn't long before the details were worked out and it was a working instrument.

In working out the design, I played it everywhere that I went; on the way to town with the family, while sitting in the passenger seat, on my lunch break at work, in the living room while we watched a family movie, and so on. It was perfect to be able to practice where ever I went and it was not too loud. Its sound is about 1/4 as loud as that of a regular banjo. In effect, the little banjo now allows me to practice more often in places that I couldn't before, at a volume level friendly to other people's ears.

The "Practice anywhere banjo" will never replace the standard banjo, but it will make a nice tool for practice. I built one for a friend and he had me to add an electric pickup to it. We were surprised at the sound that came from it. It was a banjo with a little bit of electric guitar sounds. We saw potential in its ability to expand out into a style of music all its own.

Many times a banjo player might add a capo on the fifth fret to play a song in C while using the G chord arrangements. This is the principle in the short neck. This banjo is tuned to the open C chord just as a full size banjo would be played with a capo on the fifth fret.

The picture the the right shows a comparison to a full size instrument. The little banjo is the same size for the part that it duplicates.

A Banjo

The part that you really need!

The parts that you don't need.

The construction of the unit: The body is a solid block of Brazilian cherry with an rosewood fingerboard. The nut is made of bone, and the bridge is maple lined with ebony. The top screw tuners are stainless steel as well as the lower fine tuner bracket. The fine tuners are E string adjusters for a fiddle. The sound is like a solid body electric guitar unplugged.

The bridge is compensated to help hold the notes in tune as the instrument is played. Read about bridges here. The end bracket has an extra hole at the end for the possibility if a strap button.
The unit is designed with screws for tuners at the top of the neck; these tuners hold the note close, and the fine tuners at the bottom are accessible for quick, easy tuning. The fifth string has the HO scale rail road spikes on the fifth and seventh fret. This allows the fifth string to be tuned as it is normally.