How to Make a Plastic Bottle Banjo

The open-bottom sound-box banjo has been made from many things, from cookie tins to cigar boxes. Making a banjo from a plastic bottle works well because it's relatively easy to do and plastic bottles are easy to come by. A plastic bottle banjo is a very flexible instrument with different tuning and playing options.

Things You'll Need

• Strong, sharp scissors
• 1-gallon plastic bottle with a flat bottom
• 1 30-by-2-by-3/4-inch piece of wood for the fingerboard
• 2 tacks
• 2 small screw eyes
• 2 large screw eyes
• Nylon fishing line (at least 25 lb--the stronger the better)
• Pliers
• 1-by-1/2-by-1/3-inch piece of wood for the bridge
• Wood glue

Instructions

1. Cut the bottom portion off of a plastic bottle about 5 inches up from the bottom.

2. Make slots on opposite sides of the bottle bottom for the fingerboard to slide through. Make the slots as close to the bottle bottom as possible to ensure a tight fit.

3. Place two small screw eyes 3/4 of an inch apart on the shorter portion of the fingerboard to tie the strings.

4. Put the two larger screw eyes 5/8 of an inch from the edges of the opposite end of the fingerboard. For easier tuning, place one 1 inch from the end and the other 2 inches from the end.

5. Measure two nylon strings at least 4 inches longer than the fingerboard. Tie each string to a small screw eye and pull the string tight with pliers. Wrap the strings several times around the appropriate large screw eye and tie. The banjo is now ready to be tuned.

6. Use a pocketknife to make grooves on the small piece of wood that will make the bridge. The grooves should be 3/4 of an inch apart. Glue the bridge between the center of the plastic bottle and the small screw eyes.

Tips & Warnings

• To play your bottle banjo, hold it like a normal banjo, with the left hand holding the fingerboard and the right hand strumming the sound box.

• You can tune the bottle banjo as you like, but here are two ideas. Tune like a violin in fifths, or alternatively, tune like a dulcimer, with both strings tuned as the same note. You can play the tune of the song on one string and leave the second note open as a 'drone.'