The Newest Hendricks Hand-Crafted Banjo

Here are photos of a newly completed Hendricks Banjo built for Ken. It is a model II with, as you can see, many additional decorative extras!

Ken’s banjo features the Hendricks leaf inlay pattern cut from pale red abalone. The name "hendricks" is in individual letters cut from mother of pearl, as are the small diamonds between the leaves in the fingerboard inlays. The heel of the neck and back of the peghead are hand carved. The fingerboard top and along all bindings are edged with select red abalone trim bound on both edges with delicate ebony/holly/ebony purfling. The metal parts are hand engraved and nickel plated. And, of course Ken wanted Mother of Pearl buttons on the tuning pegs.

This banjo is built from some very nice curly maple. The resonator back is turned from a solid piece of curly maple. The curly maple was stained in a light sunburst stain with Ken present so it was colored just the way he wanted.

Besides being an incredible joy to play and hear, this banjo is truly a spectacular work of art.

Please enjoy these photos! CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO SEE A FULL-SIZE IMAGE.