Hookless Banjos

posted in: CMB news | 0

Over the years at CMB having built hundreds of banjos, I’ve developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with banjo hardware. Most modern banjos are constructed the same way they have been for the past 100+ years, and traditional banjo tensioning hardware is expensive, cumbersome, heavy, and uncomfortable for the player.

With this in mind, I wanted to develop another solution to traditional tensioning hardware, and after several years of working on designs I was finally able to come up with a method that is relatively easy to build, effective, and most importantly, good sounding. While there are other hookless banjos on the market, this design uses materials and construction methods that are only available directly from Cedar Mountain.

The CMB hookless rim design incorporates wood with upcycled resin tubing that was obtained from a decommissioned factory many years ago. It uses a 10″ head but can fit in a standard 11″ open-back case or gig bag. The result is a sleek, clean minimalist rim design that sounds great and is pleasing to the eye.

The hookless rim is now available as an option for the Jubilo model, or for a custom project. For any further info, feel free to email.

You can watch a video of the “Eclipse” hookless prototype HERE