I am even later this month, because of a delay in getting a part that was out of stock from the supplier. Since I wrote last I have made one custom banjo, #248, a tenor with a 3 play maple rim and a hickory fretboard that the customer brought to me. The rest of the banjo is red maple and walnut. The customer wanted a lighter and quieter banjo for camping and other occasions when a banjo with a Whyte Laydie type tone ring is a bit too loud.

I also made an unfinished neck and sent it to the customer to be finished and fitted, but unfortunately I guessed wrong about the dowel stick angle so the customer had to redo the dowel stick. This is the risk that is run by not sending the pot to have the neck fitted, but it is cheaper not to have to do the extra shipping. The customer had the skills to put in the new dowel stick I sent and get it at the proper angle, so it all ended well.

Banjos 249 and 250 were also built in February and are shown on the Banjos page. Now in March I am building 3 custom banjos and one stock, and have about half completed 3 more stock banjos. The custom banjos should be ready to ship later this week. I have two more custom banjo builds lined up for the spring, and may be able to fit in one more depending how things go. Once we get into April I will be gone about half the time, weather permitting, to work on the house and get it ready to move into later on. I went up there last Monday to get the permit for the workshop but the person I needed to see called in sick, so that is still pending. I also have recently found out that the person who has been saying for months that he will install a new electrical service is not going to, so I will have to do that myself. I was planning to do the wiring inside anyway, so this will be an opportunity to learn some new things about working with large wires. The electrical inspector has been very helpful in telling me what I need to know to put the service in correctly.

When I’m gone away I won’t be able to respond as quickly to emails as I normally try to, and I will only be able to ship banjos when I’m back here. I will do my best to keep things moving in an orderly way, but there will be some delays. I hope that by sometime in the summer things will settle down and I will be able to get back up to speed in the shop and on the customer service side of things.