This lesson on instrument making goes "old-school." How old? Well, banjos can be traced back at least five centuries. They've evolved quite a bit since originating in Africa, but this edition of Handmade Music focuses on the original style -- gourd banjos. First, host Jeff Wilson learns how to prepare a gourd from luthier Matt Morelock. Matt begins by cutting open the top and cleaning the inside with water. While the gourd dries, Matt cuts a neck from mahogany stock. The neck is comprised of several components including the fingerboard, peg head and spike. After careful measurement and shaping, Matt inserts the spike of the neck through the gourd. The taper of the spike creates a bond to hold the two components together. An oil finish is applied and gut strings are added. By show's end Matt Morelock is playing the gourd banjo and creating the kind of music heard centuries before. Part of the fun of creating a gourd banjo is the freedom to "veer off course" since design changes and artistic expression in carving are characteristic to the building of this instrument. No two gourd banjos are exactly alike, and minor variations don't adversely affect the sound. In this episode, we see evidence of that kind of freedom in Matt's work.