I am scheduling custom work for 2022 on a list rather than on a monthly basis as before. I’ve bought a little house in the Adirondacks that needs a lot of work and will be going back and forth for a while, and eventually moving up there in the spring or the summer if all goes according to plan. I will also need to build a workshop up there before I will be able to move my equipment in and start work again. Because of this I don’t know how much shop time I’ll be able to get each month. If you’re interested in having a banjo built send me an email and I’ll put you on the list. I’ll work through the list in order as time allows. I’m sorry about the unclear time frames. I hope to be back to normal scheduling by later 2022 or in 2023.  

Base price for a custom banjo for 2022 is $1050 for a 12” block rim pot with 18 brackets and a Van Eps style tension hoop, a two or three layer neck, cherry, plain maple or ash wood with jatoba, hickory or hop-hornbeam fretboard.  Each inch added or subtracted from the pot size affects the base price by $25.  Each bracket added or removed is $4, so for example a 10″ banjo with 12 brackets has a base price of $976.   I have built banjos with pot sizes from 8 to 16″. Feel free to send me an email for a quote, I know my system can be confusing.

Other specs are:

Any scale length
Any nut width
Tru Oil finish
Gotoh brass or nickel tuners
Scoop or full fretboard
Two way truss rod
Paddle or figure-8 shaped headstock
Corian nut
Brass or nickel-plated hardware
Dowel stick neck
No-Knot tailpiece
Nickel-silver fretwire
Vega or Dobson style heel
Wood tone ring profile in top of rim
Renaissance head— Fiberskyn and top frosted also the same price
Brass fretboard dots

Options include:

Left handed neck—no charge

Walnut, mahogany or curly maple +$30

Ebony fretboard +$30

Rosewood or pau ferro fretboard +$20

Persimmon, zebrawood, or granadillo fretboard +$10

Other woods please inquire

Rocklite Ebano or Sundari fretboard +$35

Bound fretboard +$30

Radiused fretboard +$30

Either side or front fretboard dots are included, to have both costs $10 extra

Wood fretboard dots made from any wood I have on hand, +$10

Pearl dots + cost from supplier

Other pre-cut inlay shapes + $10 each to install plus cost from supplier

Tunneled 5th string +$30

Fretless -$20

EVO fretwire +$10

Another simple headstock shape +$10

Complicated headstock shape +$20

Slot head +$20

Bone nut and pip +$10

Other tuners and tailpieces—you pay whatever the price difference is from what I normally use.

Armrest +$30-35 depending on wood, for more information please see Parts page

Round brass tone hoop +$25

Rectangular brass tone hoop +$50

Brass Electric/Whyte Laydie style tone ring,(see banjo #59 for an example)+$90

Other metal tone rings and hoops: you pay the cost of the part from your preferred supplier.

5th string spikes +$5 a spike

Internal resonator +$100

Aged brass hardware +$40 (this includes all of the pot hardware and the peghead tuners, the 5th string tuners can’t be aged due to the plating)

I have Superior bump cases that fit 11″ and 12″  banjos with a range of standard scale lengths for $150.  I don’t have cases to fit A scale and C scale banjos or other rim sizes yet.

Please send an email if you’d like to get a quote on a custom banjo or to discuss the design you have in mind