Workshops List

Banjo Making - Gourd or Tackhead

March 20 - 25, 2011

In this intense and popular class, you will make your very own banjo – either Gourd or Tack Head style. You’ll leave the class with a unique, beautiful and playable banjo. The class often includes jam sessions and many late nights.

This Ozark Folk School class is taught by well-known (and loved) banjo maker, Jeff Menzies, from Toronto, Canada. Jeff will teach you how to make a banjo that sounds as beautiful at it looks. You’ll come out of the class with a beautiful banjo that you made yourself.

All the materials are supplied in the class, so you don’t have to worry about finding anything. Just spend a week in the Ozark mountains getting energized and making your own special, unique banjo. This is an intense class. It starts at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, March 20 and class members will often sand and jam well into the night.

Jeff is quick to note that playability is a major design element and that he teaches students to make banjos that are made to be played. The final day of the class is devoted to learning to play and work with your new instrument.

Registration deadline for this class is February 12. Please specify Gourd or Tackhead on your registration.

Minimum 12/Maximum 14.
Total class cost - $600.00 (does not include meals and lodging)

A non-refundable registration fee of $75 is required when you sign up. The remaining $525 is due to your instructor at the beginning of class. Jeff prefers cash due to exchange rate issues.

The materials you will need to make your banjo will be provided by the instructor.

Materials

Gourd (kettle gourd)-Incl.
Wood (walnut)-Incl.
Head (goat skin)-Incl.
Strings (Aquila)-Incl.
Ebony Violin Pegs-Incl.
Tail Gut-Incl.
Upholstery Tacks-Incl.
Bridge Wood (maple)-Incl.
Nut material (ebony)-Incl.
Tru Oil Finish-Incl.
Supplies (sand paper, tools)-Incl.


Feel free to bring any extra hand tools or other materials you may want to use.

The materials for the tack head banjo are similar and the cost is the same.

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Instructor: Jeff Menzies

Jeff’s introduction into banjo making evolved from a desire to learn more about the instrument and its history, and also one of necessity. His interest for the banjo developed while in art school, where as a sculptor he already had a foundation in making objects using various materials. Not able to purchase the banjo he wished for at the time, he began making his first banjo. After he graduated from art school and was practicing as a sculptor he continued to explore banjo-building techniques with an emphasis on Vega/Fairbanks banjos. He has made banjos for a number of performing artists, including Mary Z. Cox and John Balch. Jeff has taught aspiring banjo makers in the United States and Canada. www.jeffreymenzies.com www.menziesinstruments.com