Our Engineered Rims are built by Bryan Sims to the specs developed by Doc Rae.

What our testing revealed is that not just any piece of wood is capable of delivering the rich tone and quick response associated with pre war banjos. Doc Rae discovered the properties that are required for a great rim, and we grade and process our wood with particular care to match his profile.

Bryan carefully picks through lumber to select only the pieces that fit our requirements, and even then, most of the pieces he chooses for rim plies do not make the cut. He says that this process generates a great deal of wasted wood, but that there is no other alternative to achieving the result we are after - rim after rim.

Our testing also identified specific methods for gluing the plies together that would consistently yield the best results, and Bryan follows them to a "t."

The completed rims are then further tested to ensure that they match the specs before they get the Truetone stamp.