July started with a batch of banjos. #463 was a curly maple 12″ with aged brass hardware.
#464 was an 11″ walnut tenor banjo.
Banjo #465 is a stock cherry 12″ and is shown on the Banjos page. The next batch started with #466, a cherry tenor with a jatoba fretboard.
Banjo #467 was a curly maple A scale with persimmon fretboard and trim and cherry dots. This is at least the second banjo I have built for someone who ordered the banjo with a particular number when it came around because that number had significance for them.
Then there was a neck with 5 full length strings and an unusual profile with a flat back, made to fit an old ODE pot from the days of yore, or thereabouts.
Banjo #468 is a stock 12″ mahogany banjo and is shown on the Banjos page. I’ve got another custom guitar and a banjo and a neck to build in August, and will have to see what else may come along.
I have just started Interior Firefighting Operations training two nights a week, so that will take somewhat of a bite out of my time for the next 7 weeks. On July 29 I won a bid at the Franklin County tax auction for a 1.35 acre piece of vacant land in Tupper Lake, about 5 miles from here but over the county line. I have entered into a contract, but it is subject to the approval of the county legislature on the 20th of August. If everything comes together I hope to hire someone to dig for and install the foundations for the house and the workshop in the spring, and then do the rest of the work myself. This will also cut into my shop time starting next spring. I hope to be ready to move there sometime in 2028, if all goes well. This lot will provide more space for gardening, and I’ve always hoped to be able to build a house someday, so I’m looking forward to this process, though it will be a bit of a heavy lift to get everything done.