My wife likes to sleep when I like to play my banjo so we came to a mutual agreement, I don't play the banjo then. But I got to thinking: "why don't I buy a mute?"
The problem is that most mutes don't suit Irish Tenor Banjo playing, they just get in the way. The "Best Banjo Mute" out there, the Fielding-Cutler, screws on the top of the bridge. Only the Gold Tone mute (get it at Elderly) is out of the way. So I decided to make my own.
It was not that hard. I used to use clothespins but this was more comfortable. I took a 5/8 inch hardwood dowel and flattened two sides 180 degrees from one another, cut a slot larger than the bridge thickness with my bandsaw, ground down the closed end on my belt sander in order to make it more comfortable to use and sanded it with 220 grit paper. I put a few very small strips of the the wooly side of Velcro self adhesive strips and it was ready to go. If you make the mute long enough to cover the whole bridge you can get a very quiet banjo. Touching the mute with your right hand lets the mute work even harder.
