We're gonna make this a build contest, and let's just put a starting time frame of NINE months on it, from today's date, (Yes, we can and will tweak as necessary - The idea is to have fun and get some folks building!)
Here are the rules, such as they are:
Your entry can be any kind of stringed instrument you want - It must have strings and employ same for the majority of its sound production, but beyond that, the sky and your imagination are the limits!
There will be two divisions for your entries:
Home Grown Division:
Instruments in this category must be made from wood that was actually harvested within 100 miles of your shop,
(Or from species that are known to grow within that radius). In keeping with the spirit of the category, the rougher the condition of the wood you start with, the more we'll be impressed!
ALL of the wooden parts must meet this criterion to place a build in this category!
Midnight Recon Division:
Instruments in this category may be made from whatever you can scrounge!
The wood you choose MUST have spent part of its life as something else before you found it, scrounged it, and got fixin' to turn it into an instrument! Doesn't matter what it was, as long as it was something else; from an old pallet to Aunt Tillie's BRW piano, it's all good in th' 'hood
Within this category, you can use your best judgment when choosing the minor wood parts, (Blocks, bracing, etc), but try to keep those choices within the spirit of the category. Once again, the gnarlier and odder your original ingredients, the more wow factor you earn!Judging will be done by a method agreed upon by a majority of the entrants,
and will take into consideration the originality, musicality, and innovation of the instrument,
as well as how well the builder interpreted the spirit of the category they entered.
Prizes will be awarded by The Board, and will include wood and tools to be determined shortly.
So that's the basic idea. This can be both fun and enlightening... and...
There will be some fine instruments produces, trust me on that one
So, who's in?
Sign up Procedure:
1. Start a new thread within the Back Yard Builds forum,
2. Name it ____'s Back Yard Build.
3. Tell us which Division you wanna enter,
4. Give us basic spec's on what instrument you're gonna build
5. Give us any specific information that you've already got planned, (And if not don't worry, just do it later)
E
. Another idea that crossed my mind was to call some of the local tree surgeons to see if they could fix me up with something.
Would probably take some creative joining to get a good top out of it, but I definitely got the bracewood for the scrounge build, and the neck and tail blocks as well as the kerfing from the pallet. Might need to get a bit creative for the back and sides, but push come to shove and I have a great set of monkey pod sides that started out as a table. 
- Nehemiah