beginnings ...

[Paul Neher]

Work progresses on my minstrel banjo. My friend James Moffet made me a body out of Ash (I think). It's kind of out-of-round, so I decided instead of a hoop, I would make it a tackhead. I found a beautiful piece of poplar for the neck, got it all planed, marked, and my friend Shane is rough cutting it for me. Talked with a VIOLIN maker here in Fort Wayne. he said for $25 he would carve my tuning pegs and ream the holes for them so they would be good fits, imperative to friction tuners working easily.

Last night I met with my good friend Dean barber for my first instruction in the old CLAWHAMMER style. Dean's a good teacher, so hopefully with practice i will make some progress.