AFTON Standing silently with a banjo in each hand, staring at a jaded U.S. patent examiner, Geoff Stelling knew he had something good.

He had been to Washington and been rejected twice before. But this time, Stelling's fingers slowly and skillfully plucked the strings of two banjos, first a store bought Gibson, then a simple model of his own design.

The clean, crisp sound of Stelling's banjo filled the patent building for several moments, drawing dozens from their offices. As his song faded, the patent examiner was silent for a moment before looking Stelling in the eye.

"I see what you mean," he said.

More than 33 years after Stelling's patent-winning performance, he is still creating high-quality banjos for musicians around the world. Banjo players and enthusiasts from almost every continent pay thousands of dollars for Stelling's unique design.

In 1974, inspired by the mechanics of an aircraft carrier's propeller, the former Navy officer, Vanderbilt University graduate and self-described "banjo-playing fanatic" discovered how to decrease space between the banjo's different layers of wood and metal. The result is a better flow of energy and a cleaner sound.

"When there's a gap, it's like putting a muffler in [the banjo]," he said.

Stelling, who was "politely asked to leave" the University of Virginia in 1963, studied French before joining the U.S. Navy.

When the Navy offered to pay for his schooling at Vanderbilt, Stelling chose a major in math and a minor in business.

Though they were interesting, he said, his chosen courses didn't prepare him for his eventual career nearly as much as his time in the armed services.

"The remarkable irony of the whole thing is . . . I quit taking a marketing course because the professor told me I wasn't any good at it," he said.

After receiving his patent and leaving the Navy, Stelling began touring with bluegrass bands and giving banjo lessons to get by. Shortly after making his first banjo, which he promptly gave away to one of his students in 1974, Stelling started his business, Stelling Banjo Works, in San Diego.

Between his shop, booming business, giving lessons, national touring and performing with the Hard Times Bluegrass Band, San Diego Grass and Eclectic and Pacifically Bluegrass, Stelling kept himself busy with banjos for a decade.

When he moved to Afton in 1984, the business came with him.

After 24 years, Stelling hasn't moved from his spot on Banjo Lane. His wife, Sherry, and his son, Jimmy, work alongside him in a shop littered with banjos in different stages of completion.

Customizable and handmade, Stelling's instruments sell for as much as $30,000 apiece, something that Stelling says is a result of giving his customers exactly what they ask for.

"You can make a real piece of art out of a banjo," he said.