October started off with a batch of 5 assorted 12″ banjos, from #409 to #413. They are all shown on the Banjos page. Next came a mixed batch containing a long neck banjo and two random necks. The long neck was #414, a 12″ walnut banjo with a 32″ scale length, ebony fretboard, and all 5 strings at full length. This was a combination that was new to me, though all of the elements were fairly familiar.
The first neck was another that was shipped unfinished to the customer, who likes to do his own finishing and does it very nicely. The curly maple neck with walnut trim has a 21″ scale length, and several details that are different from what I usually build. The customer supplied palemoon ebony for the overlay and the fretboard, and asked to have the peghead shape copied from the other neck he was replacing.
The other neck was a mahogany 5+1 A scale for a vintage pot. The customer asked if I had something that might match the pot wood, which turned out to be some kind of mahogany. Luckily the pallet of mahogany I bought last month at the door factory had a wide range of coloring, and with my mother’s help with color selection (as I am colorblind) I was able to use a piece that matched surprisingly well.
The big news for October was that it finally occurred to me to ask for help with my website problems on Banjo Hangout. I asked if anyone there was good at websites and would be interested in repairing my website in exchange for a banjo. Jon Lundbom (BigFiveChord on BHO) kindly offered to give it a try, and was able to not only fix the problems I was having, but redesigned the menus and some other ways the site is structured so that it is much better now than it ever was. He did a wonderful job, and the exchange of skills worked well, as I would infinitely rather build a banjo than try to wrestle with web design and figure out why things aren’t working how they used to or are supposed to.
November is starting off with two banjos, one stock and one custom, that should be done tomorrow or so. Then I will get back to work on the A style octave mandolin I began last month and set aside when the custom work came in.