Groundhog Skin Banjo

Well I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it. I sure was surprised this year on my birthday by this wish coming true!

This is one beauty of a banjo. I thank my lucky stars that my friends Ken and John and Tom all played their part in helping make this banjo come to life. If you are curious on a bit more background you can read this earlier post. Also the groundhog skin does have special significance to me because my birthday is on Groundhog Day and also it is a traditional material in making old time banjos.

This shows the open back of the banjo which absolutely helps create a beautiful soft sound. Also for wood enthusiasts it's perhaps a better detail of this unique maple wood which apparently is the trifecta of visual interest. Some of the sources of the coloration aren't the nicest sounding things but they sure leave pretty markings. The spalted areas or the dark black irregular lines are from decay from moisture and rot. This piece is also curly maple which you can see in the more subtle wavy horizontal lines. And it is also a piece of ambrosia maple which is detected by the very pretty purple lines that run vertically. This comes from worm holes, initially. After the hole is formed, ambrosia beetles are able to bore in and create even more fungus know as ambrosia. It is very rare to find all three types (spalted, curly and ambrosia) in the same piece of maple.

The spine is covered with a thin piece of purple heart wood with a thin line of maple running down the center. I'm still pinching myself because I can hardly believe it's real.