Fear not, banjo, as you stroll through the valley of mandos...

**Jake Wildwood** · Oct-01-2011, 8:09pm

Built this from a Gold Tone neck and a bass drum I had hanging around. Not a mandolin, but it -does- eat them for breakfast... heh heh...

Blog post here.

**crazymandolinist** · Oct-01-2011, 9:33pm

Wow that looks odd, even for a banjo

Why do you have the tailpiece so close to the bridge?

**Paul Busman** · Oct-02-2011, 6:19am

I like it!

**Ivan Kelsall** · Oct-02-2011, 6:38am

Well, you've got an instrument that you 'can kick & pick' at the the same time. Seriously - a really good effort. I suspect that the closeness of the t/piece to the bridge comes from the use of existing parts. As the rim is very high,placing the t/piece there would result in virtually no (if any), back pressure on the bridge,& a higher bridge to create back pressure, would result in an action that would have scared even Bill Monroe,
Ivan

**crazymandolinist** · Oct-02-2011, 2:17pm

Come to think of it it may also have something to do with string length. Jake's a pretty resourceful guy, so I'm sure whatever the reason this is a great solution to it.

**Jake Wildwood** · Oct-02-2011, 6:06pm

Originally Posted by crazymandolinist

Come to think of it it may also have something to do with string length.

Ding! $20 flatwound electric bass strings or $100+ (for junky) small-size upright strings. Case closed. :D

This thing is a funky monster, really not a great looking instrument, but it does the job I want it to, and you can play it in your lap with the rim hanging over your knee. This is a work in progress at the moment but despite its bare-bones build it's actually very stable, which surprised the heck out of me!

My next project will be a tricone resonator bass... with three 11" resonators. MWAHAHA.

Can you tell our little jam group is getting louder? We really need an instrument like this to keep us all together lately.

**crazymandolinist** · Oct-02-2011, 6:38pm

Sound clip please! I should have known from the tuners it was a bass! Never clicked. Also didn't see the link right away. This thing just got more awesomer.

**JEStanek** · Oct-02-2011, 7:09pm

I really want to hear this in action.

Jamie

**Charles E.** · Oct-02-2011, 7:55pm

Jake, that is wonderful! But, no resonator?

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