Customer Reviews

Constructing a 5-String Banjo: A Complete Technical Guide

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Every prospective banjo builder should have this book. It is thorough and exhaustive. If you have the proper tools and are willing to take your time, you can build a perfectly good banjo with the information in this book.

Roger shows the prospective builder how to construct almost every major part of the instrument, from the rim to the neck to the resonator. Fortunately for the tyro, it is not necessary to go quite this far in the building process. It is now very easy to obtain semi-finished parts from many sources, so you don't have to slot your own fretboard or bend your own rim, unless you really like to get down to the most basic type of building.

This book has been out for fifteen years now, and some of the suppliers in his list have gone out of business. So the list should probably be updated.

If you do an internet search for banjo parts, you will be able to buy almost everything you need in semi finished form to construct a great banjo, using this book as a guide along the way.

Roger covers everything you need to know about building a bluegrass banjo. He does an excellent job of describing the tasks and the sequence that they should be done. Building a banjo is a lot like swimming; easier for an expert to describe than for the novice to execute. However, with Rogers step by step method, you will have to work hard at screwing up. This book will save you hours of aggrivation and frustration. Well worth the money. The book contains excellent photos to assist the builder.

I am an advanced woodworker and know what I am looking at in regard to how-to wood working books. This book is so definitive and complete that it is the standard I will use for other books of its kind. Although it is a technical book there is also bits of supporting theory about the "why" of the "how-to". Although there were some things I know little about, such as inlaying work, I found myself inspired to get into areas that before I would avoid. Great book, Roger.

Very detailed instructions for each part in a chapter for each part. Full size plans in a fold-out section. Mr Siminoff knows his stuff and suggests various approaches depending upon your skills or facilities.

If you're even just a little bit handy then you should be able to make a worthwhile instrument from this book.

While this is a good book and will teach you many things about wood selection and how to cut, what materials to select, how to stain and with what-basically it takes you from the lumbar yard for selection of raw materials to the back porch and pickin your newly constructed banjo there are some well known errors in the book-particularly with the proper length of the fretboard for correct intonation. overall this is a very good book and if you keep a keen eye open for the inconsistancies you will build a killer banjo (or at least a killer kit banjo)

I have been using this book to build a banjo, and it is definitely worth it if you are thinking of building your own banjo. While some of the material may be dated, the concepts are still the same, and in more detail than the descriptions in the "Firefox" books. It also goes into different rim construction methods, so depending on your tools, workshop setup, or skill level, you can find a construction method for you. I wish some of the pictures were bigger, and some of the detailed explanations could be a little more in depth, but for the price, you can't beat it. Definitely would recommend it to anyone thinking about building their own banjo.

Hi,
It's great. More than I expected. It really offers a working guide to building a banjo. The only trouble I have is to follow the american system of diameters. I recon some use of the metric system would do the book no harm. By

A very useful and thorough book. The author goes into some length describing some facets of construction that could have been done a lot easier with a diagrammed photograph. For instance, two paragraphs clumsily written to describe how deep to make the groove for the tone ring. One drawing, or an annotated photo would have done the job far better.

The color photos for tinting are very useful as well as the blueprint like fold outs at the end of the book.

The plastic ringed type binding is a bit amateurish but it does help the book lay flat on a work bench. The book was written in the 80's so could use an updating with internet links, etc for buying parts.

This guide is aimed at people with a fair degree of woodworking skills. It covers the high points and provides very good pictures and advice. Although plans for building a banjo are included, none of the more useful jigs are drawn up - consistent with the aim of the book, but holding it back from be excellent and most thorough. Bottom line? Worth every penny.