May was a busy month with all the trips to Potsdam for fire training, but I still got a few things done in the shop. I somehow failed to post the pictures of the cello banjo neck that I made for a customer’s existing minstrel banjo pot, though I mentioned the project at the end of last month’s Shop News. Here they are, finally:
Next came banjo #386, which was the first time I have ever used purpleheart. It has a cherry neck, and thin walnut rim with a Dobson tone ring.
Along with #386 I also made another neck for another old Vega pot someone sent to me. The coincidence level is going up with each one of these that I get asked to make this year, seemingly. I think this is number 5 since January, and usually I only do one or two of these in a year. This one is an A scale. The old head had a tear in it, but it was enough to make sure the neck was working while the customer decided what he wanted to replace it with.
The next thing was an all-mahogany plectrum guitar, with the body design taken from the Martin I-17 plan I use for parlor guitars and the neck made like a plectrum banjo. The top and back are both bookmatched from the same piece of wood. I made four slices on the bandsaw. I’d never heard of a plectrum guitar before, and had never made a guitar with a mahogany soundboard before, so it was a bit experimental. I made a short video of trying to play it a bit, to give an idea of the sound. I’d like to experiment with mahogany soundboards some more, one of these days.
Banjos 387 and 388 are both stock instruments, shown on the Banjos page. #389 was the last build for the month. It is a longneck 5 string with a tunneled 5th and wider nut so it could also be set up as a 5 string guitar-banjo, or something like that.
So far for June I have two custom builds scheduled, but they are both more toward the end of the month since that was what worked for the customers. I have a stock banjo to build now, and would like to make a fiddle or two, as I’m currently down to one. Training will continue through this month, so I’ll be out of the shop a bit more than normal again. I’ll be able to get my car back from the dealer with its new battery next week, according to what I have been told. I am looking forward to being able to tow the trailer again, as I am getting a little low on walnut and cherry that I buy locally.