I am currently scheduling custom builds for January 2023. Custom designs take more time to figure out and build, so I have been thinking about having separate prices for custom work for some time. A banjo that is a stock design I make but with a different combination of woods or a different tone ring than I happen to have in stock at the moment will be priced as a stock banjo at a $1050 base price for a 12″, for instance.
Base price for a custom banjo for 2023 is $1150 for a 12” block rim pot with 18 brackets and a Van Eps style tension hoop, a two or three layer neck, cherry, plain maple or ash wood with jatoba, hickory or hop-hornbeam fretboard. Each inch added or subtracted from the pot size affects the base price by $25. Each bracket added or removed is $4, so for example a 10″ banjo with 12 brackets has a base price of $1076. I have built banjos with pot sizes from 8″ to 16″. Feel free to send me an email for a quote, as I know my system can be confusing.
Other specs included in the base price are:
Any scale length
Any nut width
Tru Oil finish
Gotoh brass or nickel tuners
Scoop or full fretboard
Two way truss rod
Paddle or figure-8 shaped headstock
Corian nut
Brass or nickel-plated hardware
Dowel stick neck
No-Knot tailpiece
Nickel-silver fretwire
Vega or Dobson style heel
Wood tone ring profile in top of rim
Renaissance head— Fiberskyn and top frosted also the same price
Brass fretboard dots
Options include:
Left handed neck—no charge
Walnut, mahogany or curly maple +$30
Ebony fretboard +$30
Rosewood,pau ferro or Blackwood Tek fretboard +$20
Persimmon, zebrawood, or granadillo fretboard +$10
Other woods please inquire
Rocklite Ebano or Sundari fretboard +$35
Bound fretboard +$30
Radiused fretboard +$30
Either side or front fretboard dots are included, to have both costs $10 extra
Wood fretboard dots made from any wood I have on hand, +$10
Pearl dots + cost from supplier
Tunneled 5th string +$30
Fretless -$20
EVO fretwire +$10
Another simple headstock shape +$10
Complicated headstock shape +$20
Slot head +$20
Bone nut and pip +$10
Other tuners and tailpieces—you pay whatever the price difference is from what I normally use.
Armrest +$30-35 depending on wood, for more information please see Parts page
Round brass tone hoop +$25
Rectangular brass tone hoop +$50
Brass Electric/Whyte Laydie style tone ring +$90
Other metal tone rings and hoops: you pay the cost of the part from your preferred supplier.
5th string spikes +$5 a spike
Internal resonator +$100
Aged brass hardware +$40 (this includes all of the pot hardware and the peghead tuners, the 5th string tuners can’t be aged due to the plating)
Simple pre-cut inlays (stars, coins, etc) +$10 to install, plus cost of inlay
Large complex inlay is $30 an hour to install. I don’t cut my own inlay so you’d have to order what you want and have it sent to me. I don’t start work on the neck until the inlay has arrived, as sometimes it can be backordered for months.
I have Superior bump cases that fit 11″ and 12″ banjos with a range of standard scale lengths for $175. I don’t have cases to fit A scale and C scale banjos or other rim sizes yet.
Please send an email if you’d like to get a quote on a custom banjo or to discuss the design you have in mind.