This website is about current projects of R. Willy Banjo Works and Luthiery Services...but first a little about me (Steve Adkins)...

I collected guitars and banjos from 1966 to 2004 and then attended Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, AZ, graduating in Spring '04. Then I attended a 3-day banjo-building class at Anderson Banjos in Conneaut, Ohio (with "Bob" RN Anderson),  then I got a job at Saga Instruments in South San Francisco setting up Saga guitars and banjos where I had to learn set-up work at fast speed. In May '05 I attended a 5-day course at Custom Pearl Inlay in Malone, NY with pearl specialist of the Martin D-45 and D-41 guitars, David Nichols. I completed a pearl engraving class with Grit Laskin at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Indiana in Sept 07. I'm working on registering for a metal engraving class in Stockton, California.

I learned to play professionally by being a pit musician for 25 years in the South Bay area (SF); I have performed 400+ Broadway-style shows on bass, guitar, violin, and jazz banjo. I'm a former Peninsula Banjo Band President (1999, 2000). 

During my luthier training I also learned I could make professional leather guitar straps in a 40's/50's style tooled western-flora pattern. I realized that I was of a few in the leathercraft community who could correctly design and fabricate these fun products. I then joined the Silicon Valley LeatherCrafters Guild in Los Altos, CA, and graduated to Sheridan-style leathercarving.

Now, about the website for R. Willy banjos. I picked the name Rockabilly Willy as the business was originally going to be a pro guitar shop but due to high Silicon Valley overhead I decided to focus on small workshop banjo-building, guitar-building, steel-guitar repair, and guitar-strap making. I exhibit only at Texas Amigos' World Guitar Shows on the West Coast. Guitars now in process are the following:  D-18 clone dreadnaught, also a single cutaway 1P/U rockabilly guitar with 25" scale. I am also building 7 plectrum banjos and 2  5-string banjos right now (8/5/10). Here are the specifications of the banjos I'm building:

Necks: 2-piece Birdseye maple (or flame maple) with 1/16" black center accent stripe, Stew-Mac 2-way HotRod truss rod adjusts at the heel face, Black/Red/Black backstrap laminations like Vega; real ebony faceplate and heelplate. Some Vega Artist-style design features. Ebony 22-fret fingerboard, Gibson banjo scale. Large walnut burl inlay into the ebony headstock overlay.

Rims: Block-style construction made with TiteBond, Epoxy, and Gorilla glue, cocobolo and brass rolled ring, and nickel hardware (no coordinator rods), 11" diameter rim at 9/16" width.  The idea is to make a Vega-inspired instrument but with updated features to make it very desirable and rugged for aggressive and frequent orchestra playing. The wooden and brass tone-ring is the significant achievement, with the rest of the banjo somewhat traditional. Each tonering is made from rolled brass and cocobolo (or similar rosewood-type wood). I have turned the banjo rims on a Shop-Bot CNC machine.

Dowel Stick: tapered dowel stick made of figured maple to match neck and rim. Vintage style hardware.
Tailpiece: I'll be trying several different brands.
Bridge: I'll be trying many designs.      Nut: hand-cut bone or pearl 
Inlays: hand-cut white or gold pearl or gravlam. engraved-style in Vega Artist or AC Fairbanks motif. Headstock pearl shell inlay script reads "R. Willy / Santa Clara" inside a five-pointed 1" star. I'll be inlaying the "binding" strip into the front edges of the headstock...using gold or white gravlam.

What drives me:
Current electric guitar (Rockabilly or Jazz style), acoustic guitar (Dobro and lap-style), and jazz-banjo design. Guitar-strap design. I exhibit at California World Guitar Shows (The Texas Amigos) in San Rafael,CA. I'm a registered reseller so I can sell guitars and banjos in California and conform to Dept of Equalization standards. I'm a gear-head so I just got a BBE AcoustiMax (Acoustic Pre-amp), a BBE 31-band equalizer, and E-H Cathedral Digital Reverb. I have a Carter SD-10 Pro Steel guitar. I am also set-up to repair/upgrade pedal steel guitars.

More about banjos:

I use a Vega Artist-inspired (similar) headstock shape and use a combination of Vega/Fairbanks motifs with Laskin-style gravlam inlay Gibson-girl artwork. I also make my own block-style 9/16" X 11" rims using the same maple as the necks, and use a figured dowel-stick to match. I use cocobolo (or other accent wood) and brass rolled tonerings to get rich woody tone. 

Guitar/Banjo Straps; Leathercrafting

I've practiced advanced leather-tooling for 7 years, creating hand-tooled banjo and guitar strap designs. I use 100% cowhide Tandy leather with backing of responsibly-harvested buffalo or pigskin hide.  I'm a member of The Silicon Valley Leathercrafters Guild. They review and critique each guitar strap. I build straps in 1" to 3" widths, or any width, with classic 50's style leather-covered buckle designs. You can contact me here via email (see the email link on the homepage). I'm working on getting a sewing machine, too. (Ha!)  Thank you for visiting my website!

-Steve Adkins