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An April banjo and the shell of a new workshop
April was a mildly frantic month, but fairly productive overall. I only made one custom banjo, #258. It is made from red maple stained black with Fiebing’s Leather Dye. I didn’t have very good results with the dye on this wood, it came out somewhat uneven or blotchy even after 3 coats, and the grain
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March banjos and the start of the new time split
I’ve finally caught up with myself and am writing more or less contemporaneously again, so that’s a relief. March was a moderately month in the shop. By some freak of coincidence the three banjos I had on the agenda all had persimmon fretboards. Banjo #251 is a walnut 12″ fretless Ab scale with curly maple
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February banjos
I am even later this month, because of a delay in getting a part that was out of stock from the supplier. Since I wrote last I have made one custom banjo, #248, a tenor with a 3 ply maple rim and a hickory fretboard that the customer brought to me. The rest of the
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January banjos and necks, and a surprise bus
I’m a little out of sync with the calendar again, but I’m hoping to catch up next month. January started out with a batch of 3 stock banjos, #241-243. They are of course shown on the Banjos page. Then came banjo #244, a mahogany slot head with ebony trim throughout and a veneered rim. I
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December banjos and an archtop guitar
December started with a stock banjo, #235, which is shown on the Banjos page. Next came #236, a custom walnut 11″ banjo with a Dobson tone ring. This banjo also has some precut inlays which the customer sent for me to install. #237 was a walnut fretless A scale banjo with a zebrawood fingerboard. Banjos
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November banjos and other things
November started with the completion of banjo #230, a 12″ mahogany 5+1 with a lot of inlay chosen by the customer. This banjo had been on hold since late September pending arrival of some of the inlays from overseas. The next thing on the agenda was a scheitholt, a sort of ancestor of the mountain
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September and October banjos and a house
Having failed to post a September report during October I figured I’d better get going somewhat promptly now that it’s November. In late September I bid on a house in the scenic town of Piercefield, NY, population about 300, in an online tax auction. In mid-October the deed was recorded and I was allowed to
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August banjos and necks
My first project in August was carried over from the last few days of July. I made two left handed necks for one customer, to fit a couple of nice old pots. Then it was time for a batch of 4 banjos. Banjo #223 was a bit of a departure from the usual sequence of
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July-an octave mandolin and not much else
I realized today that I had failed to post an update on July instruments. The only instrument I actually made in July was an octave mandolin, shown on the Mandolins page. Early in the month I was finishing off some June instruments for a few days, then at the end of the month I began
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June banjos and a neck
I meant to write a June report a couple of weeks ago, but July has been busier than I expected out of the shop and I lost track of it. My first completed instrument in June was banjo #220, a curly maple 12″ tenor with a Whyte Laydie tone ring. The customer gave me a