This banjo is very similar to banjo #46 which I built almost two years ago but with some different materials.  The basic idea is that the banjo can be set up as a 5+1 or “lojo” which is tuned like a standard 5 string but with an extra low G added below the low D in open G tuning.  The high G string runs through a stainless steel tunnel from the 5th fret and emerges under the nut, through the peghead overlay.  This string can be removed and replaced with a .046″ string which runs over the nut in the usual way to tune EADGBE like a guitar.  I wanted to make one originally to see if it would work, and it sat around for over a year before Steve Jones came to see it and bought it.  He is a very skilled banjo player and has graciously offered to let me link to his videos he has made with #46 so that you can hear what this style of banjo can sound like in the hands of a real musician.

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/videos.asp?id=34514#comments

Banjo #100 is made from walnut with a 12″ pot and 25.5″ scale length.  It has an ebony fretboard with a 12″ radius and EVO fret wire.  There is a two way truss rod in the neck which is accessed from the heel and the tuners are Golden Age from Stew-Mac in a relic brass finish.  The pot has a solid brass flange and a dowel stick yoke and Van Eps style tension hoop which I made.  The hooks and nuts come from Balsam Banjo Works, the tailpiece comes from Rickard Banjos and the Renaissance head comes from Smakula Fretted Instruments.  The Romero style armrest is optional, I will sell the banjo without it for $35 less.  The nut is Corian and the banjo has a Tru Oil finish.  I will be happy to include a .046″ string with the banjo if you’d like one, just let me know.  I can add 5th string spikes for $5 each.  I will post links to a new video I tried to make of this banjo and an old video of #46 being played as a guitar-banjo.