2017 Marvin Walker Mustang Pony/Piccolo 5-String Banjo

Mr. Walker is one heck of a banjo-maker. The North Carolina resident made this banjo-uke-sized openback banjo for Mr. Rik Palieri (a customer of mine) and he brought it in for show-and-tell and it got just a hair of setup work at the same time.

It's an astonishing instrument and has a top-notch tone that's poppy, bright, but clucky enough to pass old-time-musician muster. It's roughly the size of an average banjo ukulele and has a 6-and-something-inch rim size and mandolin-style 13 7/8" scale length. The neck is old-fashioned in heft and medium in depth and width. The rim itself is a single piece of nickel-plated steel (or brass?) as far as I can tell, and all the hardware was made by Mr. Walker himself!

The story behind this is that Rik ordered a relatively plain incarnation of this instrument and the builder went wild and had an excellent on-the-house adventure with it via his profuse, western-oriented inlay work and deluxe, engraved appointments. It really is remarkable in person.

How about the cowboy hat on the armrest and the boots on the tail?

While it was here we adjusted the nut a bit (which gained a bit of damage via a smack-down with a guitar during one of its first gigs) and compensated the bridge. I think the strings are a tad heavy as they feel like 10s. I think 9s would be a slightly better fit at the scale and tension (it's an entire octave above regular 5-string banjo). We were all sitting-around the workshop (it was a crazily-busy day) chatting and cringing as I brought the strings back up to tension after adjusting the bridge.

The headstock veneer and fretboard are ebony, the nut is bone, and the neck is 5-piece with flamed maple as the big bits.

The cool strap was made by the builder as well.