December started off with a batch of 3 banjos. #361 was an 11″ cherry banjo with a Dobson tone ring and a slightly skinnier neck than I usually build. It was ordered with the measurements the customer thought would be most comfortable.
Banjos 362 and 363 were stock walnut 12″ with different tone rings. They are shown on the Banjos page.
Next came a couple of coincidentally similar custom projects. Banjo #364 was a custom 5 string tenor or melody banjo, which is a configuration I had not seen before. It has a cherry 10″ pot with a WL/Electric type tone ring, but the neck is unusual.
The last completed project for December had a sound box which was an 85% scale drawing of the L-0 template I used to make a mini version of the Benedetto style archtop guitar. It is a mini version of a mini version which is a weird idea, but it seemed to work and sounded surprisingly strong for being so small. It is a tenor guitar with a 5th string added, tuned FCGDA. I made a video to demonstrate the soundbox, though I don’t really know what to do when playing the neck on an instrument of this configuration.
I took a group picture to show the size differences. This is an example of the shrinkflation problem we have been hearing so much about, because you get less guitar for the same amount of money (and work, incidentally).
In the last week of December my sister was visiting from Massachusetts so I didn’t get a lot done. I am a little way into making an A style octave mandolin, and almost done with another 12″ walnut banjo and a fretless walnut custom neck. The rest of January will be largely taken up with banjos and parts that have been ordered, and February is pretty full now too with an octave mandolin and four banjos on the agenda. This will be a good time of year to be busy in the shop, as there is not a lot that I want to do outside at this time of year, and no gardening at all.