Check out the links below to see some of my past creations. Contact me through the form at the bottom of the page or at 

Chris Witulski

Banjos and things

These two were both commissions. One is heading to Detroit, the other to Kentucky. I'll be sad to see them go. They're both 12 inch Dobsons out of mahogany and wenge. At least I'll get to see one of them each month at the Toledo old time jam!

A new pair of open back siblings

I recently received two commissions that became banjo numbers 22 and 23. While I was at it—and since I recently sold my keeper—I made this one for myself. I had never worked birdseye maple before and I'm really happy with how it came out. The cherry accents and the wenge fingerboard, heel cap, peghead overlay, and rim cap came out looking great! This one is a bit punchy because of the 11 inch and slightly thicker rim. My hope was to get a good one for a jam, and I think this will do the trick.

#21! Birdseye maple and wenge

The latest build (#20!) is a gourd banjo made from curly maple. The fretboard, peghead overlay, and backstrap are from this really nice piece of figured walnut. I'm thrilled with how it came out, the wood just looks so nice! Hopefully it comes through in the photos.

Build #20! A gourd banjo with some gourd-geous woods

This summer (2025), I finally gave up on finding a mandolin that I enjoyed playing and decided to try my hand at building one. I based it off of the Gibson F5 copy described in Roger Siminoff's book on building a bluegrass mandolin. The back, sides, and neck are from wood that I had around. The bloodwood fretboard and accents gave a nice color and I really love the quilted Sitka spruce that I got from 

. (I also ordered a piece of cedar for an archtop, a project that I'll hopefully get into before too long.)

The carving and steam bending processes were new to me and while the bending led to some lessons learned—and some scars—I couldn't be happier with the instrument. It plays better than things I've found for thousands, but that's mostly because I'm not afraid to tweak the setup since it's mine.

A hand carved mandolin

This is one of a pair of my latest banjo builds. It has a sapele rim and a mahogany neck (you can't really tell the difference!) with a bocote fretboard and accents. The wood is largely leftovers from previous builds and some things that I picked up when Woodcraft went out of business up in Toledo.

There's a Dobson tone ring that, like the other hardware, is from the folks at Pisgah Banjo Company, which sounds great. I tried a few new things on this one that came out really well, especially the backstrap. It's a keeper, I think!

A mahogany and bocote Dobson

This is a newly finished long neck banjo made for a commission. It's body and neck are mahogany, with macacuba for a fretboard, peghead overlay, and rim cap. This one and #18 are my third and fourth open back builds. 

The the hardware for all of them comes from Balsam Banjo Works in Asheville, NC (the Pisgah Banjo Company folks). If you're interested in a custom instrument, let me know. I do this as a hobby, so not often, but interesting projects are always worth thinking about!

The newest long neck open back

As we roll into the fall season, I finished up two new gourd banjos. For #15, made of cherry and padauk with a pear wood accent, I tried a new scarf joint that I stole from guitar builders. The walnut instrument has a free-floating fifth string and "classic" strings that are tuned a fourth low (so open D instead of open G). Both have the rich and warm sound that makes these instruments fun to play.

As an aside, I recently put the same strings on my Gold Tone BC-350+ open back, only to find that it lacks the "something" that makes gourd instruments feel so full. I ended up swapping it back to steel strings, which was an easy choice now that these two are finished up.

Fall gourd season

It's been a good summer of taking time and playing banjo. These are some things I've been tooling around with. I'll likely come back to them to rework, add, or get rid of bits in the future, but I'm trying my best to share!

Short pieces for solo banjo

Continuing with the experimenting that comes from building two banjos at once, these very similar instruments have proven to be a real pleasure to play.

Build #13 is a long neck banjo. The full standard scale long neck can get to the 32 inch range, which is something of a beast. So this is just over 30 inches. I set it up so that when playing with a capo at the third fret (playing in G), it comes out to a 25 1/2 inch instrument. This short scale matches my Telecaster Thinline build and is growing in popularity for open backs right now. Build #14 is a standard 26 3/8 scale. Here are some of the features (they're pretty much all the same):

Mahogany neck with a bocote fretboard, peghead, and heel cap. There's an ipe and maple accent under the bocote throughout, it makes for a really nice subtle-yet-fancy stripe. Both have truss rods and a truss rod cover made from the overlay wood, so it blends right in. These have bone nuts and fifth string pips.

An 11 inch block rim from cherry and maple. Something else snuck in there, too, but I didn't notice until later. So there are a few mystery blocks. It's a bit softer, which you can see on the inside where I hand sand, but they blend right in.

Both rims feature an ipe cap, or a "wooden tone ring." Ipe is a very hard wood and as a result, these have a great warm tone to them. There is a matching rim cap of ipe, maple, and bocote.

These have brass Gotah tuners. All of the hardware is brass and handmade in Ashville, North Carolina by the Balsam Banjo Works folks. There are grooved tension rings, 10 hooks, and Balsam's Hawkeye tailpiece. The heads are Remo Renaissance heads with the Balsam/Pigsah logo, since that's where I got them.

The long neck has railroad spikes (fifth string capos) at all of the useful spots: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11. This makes for easy playing in singing and banjo keys.

#14 (the standard scale) does have something of a blemish. I got some tear out at the neck joint on the inside of the rim. You can see it in the last photo. I was considering some coverup options to hide it, but decided not to. It's handmade and I'm not a factory. Such is life.

(Photos of this one have a Pigsah Eclipse bridge, but after some more tweaking, I swapped out one that I made myself.)

A long neck and its little sibling

I often tell folks that being perfect isn't a prerequisite to making music, so I figured it's time to step out there and share things. I've never been a songwriter, but playing around on the porch and messing with the guitar I built not long ago has led to some ideas that I kinda like. Don't judge and forgive me if I come back and re-record these later when I can't stand them anymore!

Watching time go by

Making two instruments from the same materials at once turned out to be fascinating. These are both gourd banjos with similarly-sized gourds, scale lengths, and most everything else. They both have flush frets (so they are fret, but have white markers for the fret locations). Both feature brass position markers, friction tuners, Nulgut strings, and goat skin heads stained with coffee.

The differences come down to the gourds: #11 (the one with the "snake head" shaped peg head) has a shorter bridge and thicker walls on the gourd while #12 (the "paddle" head) has a thinner walled gourd. I also pulled the skin down around the flower-shaped sound hole on that one.

To me, #11 is punchy in a way that sounds, well, like a banjo. It would cut through a crowd. #12 is warmer in a way that is more what I expected from a gourd instrument. Here are improvised samples and photos of each.

Two gourd banjos

When teaching banjo history as a way to discuss race in America in my classes at Bowling Green State University, I have had the opportunity to bring them to the arts area and build banjos from scratch. 

To make this work, I prepared two guides. One was for a few students who were working independently, another was adapted for a larger class. I share them here with the hopes that (1) you might make some banjos and (2) you'd let me know how it goes!

I do some things differently now than what these guides share, but they will get you up and running.

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

I'm not a percussionist, but I've always thought that a cajon would be useful. This is basically a box with a snare pushing against the front on the inside. I made this with mitered corners for clean lines and used a hole saw that I had to get the sound hole shape, which is flower-like. I have not tried putting a finish on it, but I may. It sounds and plays great.

Cajon

Since you only need so many banjos, it was time to try a guitar. Learning frets, electronics, binding, and many other new skills made for a great challenge and, to be honest, I'm shocked with how good the instrument feels.

This Telecaster Thinline-style guitar is cherry with a curly maple top. The neck is the opposite, curly maple with a cherry fret board. The pick guard is cherry and the body has a walnut double binding. The pickups are  Fender Noiseless Gen 4. There are some minor cosmetic warts that I have solutions for and I can't wait to build another.

The electric comes in about halfway through this tune.

The Tele Thinline

If getting into fretless banjos is what started me on this path, interest in gourd instruments has kept me going. I've used these as a way to try different variations for things like the fifth peg and the tailpiece. This one is maple and hickory, both local, with violin pegs. I recently gave it a new body, tailpiece, "moon" style bridge, and a bone nut. It's a slick instrument with a great low tone for the small gourd size.

Gourd banjos

While trying to make the build process more efficient for a class I was teaching, I decided to try some attractive new wood. I had never worked with figured maple before, but I have been enjoying the scraps ever since (as is obvious from the Thinline Telecaster copy from late 2023). This one features canarywood on the fingerboard, peghead cover, rim cap, and tailpiece.

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

This is another of my favorites. It feels great, with a nice thin neck and the low "Classic banjo" Aquila Nylgut strings. The head is stained goat skin. The body and neck are cherry and ipe. There's an ipe integrated tone ring and an ipe stripe down the neck.

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

The design on this one came out of my desire for something other than (1) the old double ogee and (2) the plain-ish fifth string peg that looks a bit like an ear. I was playing some sketches on a large sheet of paper and landed on the long arc that extends from the fifth string peg, across the neck, and finishes as part of the scoop. This is also the first time I played with a stained hide head and decorative lamination. The rim is a cherry block rim with an ipe rim cap to match the neck.

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

These two tackhead fretless banjos had ambrosia maple necks, bent ash for the body, and a really nice purpleheart that I used for the fingerboards, pegheads, and other bits. The deep scoop goes almost through to the heel, giving these a striking look. They have stylized "classic banjo" headstocks with friction pegs and the double ogee on the neck marks important positions. I made a matching bridge with the purpleheart and used the Aquila red series to complete the look.

One of these was a retirement gift to my dad (who doesn't play, but is starting to).

Chris Witulski
Banjos and things

Some recent builds

A new pair of open back siblings

A new pair of open back siblings

#21! Birdseye maple and wenge

#21! Birdseye maple and wenge

Build #20! A gourd banjo with some gourd-geous woods

Build #20! A gourd banjo with some gourd-geous woods

A hand carved mandolin

A hand carved mandolin

A mahogany and bocote Dobson

A mahogany and bocote Dobson

The newest long neck open back

The newest long neck open back

Fall gourd season

Fall gourd season

Short pieces for solo banjo

Short pieces for solo banjo

A long neck and its little sibling

A long neck and its little sibling

Watching time go by

Watching time go by

Two gourd banjos

Two gourd banjos

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

Cajon

Cajon

The Tele Thinline

The Tele Thinline

Gourd banjos

Gourd banjos

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

Classic tackhead banjo with a double ogee

Classic tackhead banjo with a double ogee

Chris WitulskiBanjos and things

Some recent builds

A new pair of open back siblings

A new pair of open back siblings

#21! Birdseye maple and wenge

#21! Birdseye maple and wenge

Build #20! A gourd banjo with some gourd-geous woods

Build #20! A gourd banjo with some gourd-geous woods

A hand carved mandolin

A hand carved mandolin

A mahogany and bocote Dobson

A mahogany and bocote Dobson

The newest long neck open back

The newest long neck open back

Fall gourd season

Fall gourd season

Short pieces for solo banjo

Short pieces for solo banjo

A long neck and its little sibling

A long neck and its little sibling

Watching time go by

Watching time go by

Two gourd banjos

Two gourd banjos

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

How to build a (fretless tackhead or gourd) banjo

Cajon

Cajon

The Tele Thinline

The Tele Thinline

Gourd banjos

Gourd banjos

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

Curly maple and canarywood tackhead

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

Cherry and ipe classic banjo

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

Block rim tackhead with a swooped scoop

Classic tackhead banjo with a double ogee

Classic tackhead banjo with a double ogee

Chris Witulski
Banjos and things