Walt Lysack is a fisheries biologist in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Walt has built a number of banjos including this gourd banjo. Walt notes that he "built the gourd banjo because I was interested in hearing the sound of early banjos and I am fascinated by gourds. Big gourds suitable for banjos do not grow in Manitoba so I have been "importing" them from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and from Mexico." He is working on two more gourd banjos: a tackhead and a "thong & sliders." Walt has played old-time music since 1974.