April started off with Banjo #378, which was just the same as #375 except it had a slimmer neck from front to back to make it comfortable for the person who ordered it.
Banjos 379 to 382 are all stock banjos and are shown on the Banjos page. Banjo #383 is made from spalted beech with a Dobson heel, 12″ rim, WL/Electric tone ring, zebrawood fretboard and curly ash overlay. The customer wanted streaky wood and that was the best combination we could come up with that would be robust and also look interesting.
#384 was another thin rim Dobson tone ring walnut 12″ banjo, like #375 and 378. It is shown on the Banjos page. #385 was put together mostly from parts supplied by the customer and was shipped unfinished as the customer likes to do that part of the work. It has a 10″ pot and a short scale length, between what I call A scale and C scale. The customer requested the somewhat unusual bracket spacing on this one.
The last project for April was a cello banjo neck for an existing minstrel banjo pot that was sent to me by its owner. It was a little bit of an experiment but seems to work fine. I didn’t get it done and ready to ship till May 4th.
I was not as productive in April as I might have been, partly from sloth and partly because I have begun taking Basic Exterior Firefighting Operations training in Potsdam two nights a week. This will go on till July, and with the other training that happens locally it has taken some time. Another minor complication is that my beloved Chevy Bolt has decided it needs a new battery, under warranty, and the car has been sitting at a dealer since April 3 waiting for a battery to be provided. I was initially told it might be 12-14 weeks. In the meantime I am driving a rental car which is being largely paid for by GM, because no loaners were available from the dealer. This is very much a first world problem, but it has taken some time to sort things out. On the bright side the sinkhole which closed the highway to Potsdam has been repaired as of the end of April, so I now can get there in an hour instead of 90 minutes.
May is likely to be a slow month in the shop, but I will do the best I can to keep up with things. At present I am working on a neck and a whole banjo, and have another custom banjo to build later in the month. What else may be added to the agenda remains to be discovered, at least by me.