Wednesday, November 18, 2015

World Series Champs 2015 Banjo

So barely two weeks ago the Kansas City Royals won the World Series and I got this cool T-Shirt.


Now barely two weeks later, I finished making this cool banjo. As much as I like the shirt, it ain't a banjo




KC logo made from various dyed veneers inlaid in the headstock. The truss rod cover is home plate, of course.

The back of the neck is painted like a baseball bat.


I didn't want it to be "over the top" but then I did this on the banjo head and made a tailpiece cover look like a baseball mitt, so...ok...over the top.






Here it is ready to play





Monday, November 9, 2015

World Series Champs Banjo

So one week ago this happened, and if you live in Kansas City it's kind of a big thing.

So now a week later, we're still reveling in it and I like my commemorative T-shirt just fine, but I think a commemorative banjo is just a bit more special, so that's what I did.

I waited until the final game was over to start it because I didn't want to jinx it and every fan knows that one little thing by one fan can affect the outcome of the game. The game went 12 innings so needless to say it was quite late when I started. I couldn't sleep after a victory like that anyway, so might as well start on a banjo.

 I cut the logo out of different color wood veneers using a laser cutter. Ok, I just took the magic out of that part. I'll try to make up for it later.

 Using a jeweler's saw, I cut 21 letters out of a material called reconstituted stone. It's got a marble look to it, and I thought it would look cool in larger pieces like this.



I used a wood called Purple Heart for the fingerboard. It's the closest thing to blue. I used my Dremel tool with the router base to inlay the letters into the wood.

 I wanted to add some sparkle to the banjo so I found some old drum wrap material and laminated it to a piece of maple. I cut it in strips and sanded it to thickness and used it to trim the neck and resonator.

  Just a little bling. I don't want to overdo it.

I painted a baseball on the head. Ok, so I just overdid it.


 I used a blue dye to stain the neck, rim and resonator.

I masked the color at the top of the neck to resemble a baseball bat.


 Here we are a week after our world series victory. I'll put the clearcoats on it now and we got a World Series banjo!