Thanks for the e-mail Joe. I'm answering it only 3 years after you sent it. Must be getting more prompt in my old age.

The Proffitt banjo which can be seen being played by the maker in the photo on a CD of his work put out by Folk Legacy is my favorite instrument. (Get Folk Legacy's releases of Frank's work if you haven't already. They're extraordinary!)

The instrument languished around casa Paton (then in Vermont). A couple of tuning pegs were missing and the back had warped by the time I first saw it about a year after Frank's death. Sandy dug into his stock of treasures and found some unfitted pegs which Frank had carved and gave the instrument and pegs to me: the greatest gift I've ever received.

It's walnut and fairly crudely fashioned. It shows hand tool marks and may have been made without power tools. The original skin appeared to be possum and had been stained with the same brown wood stain as the wood. That head disintegrated long ago. I replaced it with goat skin and flattened the warped back at the same time. The original bridge was also hand made of the same wood. After it cracked I made a walnut replacement based on the original pattern.

The only modernization is a set of fine tuners which are walnut beads which slide on each string just above the tailpiece.
It's played often and love greatly.

THANK YOU SANDY!!!!!