November was fairly productive this year, but I was gone for 5 days around Thanksgiving to visit my sister in Massachusetts and help her move into a cute but tired old cabin at Gould Farm, where she lives and works. The maintenance team did some work on the cabin late this fall after it became empty, and more will be done in the spring. Joanna is pleased to be in her own building so she can go to bed early without being woken up by housemates, as she has to get up at 5:15 some days for her work.
November began with two banjos. #415 was a cherry 12″ with a Dobson heel, ordered by a customer.
#416 was another 12″ walnut banjo with a Whyte Laydie/Electric tone ring, which has since been sold. It is shown on the Banjos page. Next came a walnut octave mandolin, #17, which I had begun in October but only just, and a walnut mandocello,#3. Both of those are shown on the Mandolins page. Lastly there was a dulcimer(#54) which was kind of an afterthought, as I had a little extra time before the wind conditions were right for finishing. I haven’t had a dulcimer, an A style octave mandolin, or a mandocello in stock for months, so I’m glad to have caught up a bit on them.
December has begun with a batch of three custom banjos which are nearing completion, and next I am scheduled to build a thing with an octave mandolin body and a 5+1 banjo neck, with nylon strings. This is extremely experimental, and it will be interesting to see what the harvest will be. Then I hope to make a batch of four or five stock banjos before Christmas when my sister will be coming to visit us here and I’ll be in the shop less.