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In the mid 1970’s, high school students interviewed several banjo makers in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, took some pictures, made some measurements and drawings and published them in Foxfire 3, one of a series of popular folk life publications at the time. Two of these banjo makers made fretless banjos out of wood (cherry, walnut, or maple were the favorites), groundhog skin stretched on a stove pipe and musical wire or gut string-materials easily available to those mountain craftsmen.
Keith Young fretless Appalachian banjos are inspired by those drawings in Foxfire 3. A few changes have been made to make them more playable. Instead of groundhog skin (or sometimes cat skin) stretched over a stovepipe, a modern 6 inch Remo drum head is modified to fit in the banjo. It has a synthetic skin that looks real and is unaffected by humidity or dryness. The head is pre-tuned which means that you never have to adjust the tightness of the head. It will not stretch and will always sound the same. I make them both ways, the skin head for those who want the authentic reproduction, and synthetic head who want a more trouble free banjo experience.
The tuners are historically tapered wooden pegs in a tapered hole (similar to a fiddle). They are like a wedge, you need to push in as you turn so it will stay when you reach the desired pitch. The 1:1 ratio of the wooden pegs require a degree of skill or patience that is not required by the 4:1 geared tuning machines (shown at right). A 4:1 ratio means you have to turn the knob 4 times to turn the shank, on which the string is attached, once. I make them both ways: wooden pegs for the old look, geared tuners for ease of tuning.
If you do not already play the banjo, you may want to do like beginning fiddlers do. Place a thin strip of masking tape on some key positions. You can remove the tape at any time you feel comfortable without them. The screw used for the nut of the fifth string is the location of the fifth fret. You can also put some semi-permanent markers on the edge of the fingerboard-a dot of Elmers glue. It turns colorless after it dries. You can pop them off without marring the finish. Dots at 2, 7 and 9 are useful to me. You can also knot a length of monofiliment fishing line around the neck at the appropriate places to act as frets. You can learn to tie a fret knot by going to: www.mugwumps.com/FretKnot.html.