June started off with a bicycle and paddle board trip to Cranberry Lake, which is pretty close by and is reportedly the third biggest lake in the Adirondacks. I’ll put in a link to the trip report in case anyone wants to see it.
Once I got back to work on the 5th the priority was to complete the bass that I started in the May shop news. I got it done by the middle of the month or thereabouts. It was quite an undertaking, but I’m glad I got the opportunity to try it out. Here are a few more in-progress pictures:
Here are some pictures of the completed bass, and a couple of links to short videos where I try to play it without knowing how:
Tonight just for fun I took some group pictures of the bass, the cello that my mother still plays that I made about 10 years ago, and the cherry fiddle I currently have in stock. The bass will be being picked up in a couple of weeks.
The other project this month was banjo #344. It’s the first resonator banjo I have made for a while. It’s also my first banjo made from birdseye maple, which the customer wanted. This banjo has one of the more unusual reasons for being made that I have experienced. The customer found an antique banjo made by a maker with his own last name, and said to his mother, whose maiden name was Hoyt, that it would be nice if there was a Hoyt banjo out there somewhere. Then he found me, and here we are. He wanted it to say Hoyt prominently on it, but wanted me to design the banjo, so I put the name at the 22nd fret and a sort of an H on the peghead. I hope it will prove to be suitable.
I got done with this banjo a day or two before the end of June and got started on a few custom projects. The first small batch is having the finish applied now. I may get some stock instruments done in July too, if all goes to plan, and I’m looking forward to more camping trips, weather and other things permitting.