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May banjos and an octave mandolin
I was late getting my May banjos set up, since I started more than I had time to complete during the month. I think June 8 was when the last one got done. June is a 3-1/2 banjo month this year, so I should be able to get done on time even though I started
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April banjos
My first completed banjo in April was a custom 8″ cherry banjo with an 18″ scale length neck. It’s always fun to make mini banjos, and this is as small of a 5 string as I have made. #208 was a custom walnut 11″ banjo which involved the first inlay I have ever cut out.
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March banjos and necks
March started off with two custom banjos. #201 was an ash 11″ with cherry trim, a hop-hornbeam fretboard, a paddle peghead and a Dobson heel. Banjo #202 was a 10″ walnut C scale with aged brass hardware. This is the first banjo I have made with a brass plate in the scoop. The plate is
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February banjos
February was a busy month in the shop, and I was able to get quite a lot of time in the shop to get it all done. My first completed project was banjo #193, an ash 12″ with a kind of archtop tone ring system consisting of an 11″ brass ring mounted in a rabbet
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January banjos and a nameless oddity
January was a busy month in the shop, and I was able to get more time than usual away from my ‘day job’. The first banjo completed was #186, a 12″ walnut banjo pretty similar to #180 but with a streaky ebony fretboard. Next came #187, a mahogany 12″ with a 1/4″ brass tone hoop
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December banjos and an archtop guitar
I am three weeks late in posting this update about December, but that’s life sometimes. I started off the month with a batch of 5 banjos. #181 was the only custom build, a Boucher-styled design with some more modern elements. This was also my first foray into making hooks and shoes, which were fun to
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November banjos, dulcimers and a fiddle
My first project in November was a pair of cherry dulcimers. #50 is shown on the Dulcimers page at the regular price and #51 is a second, due to the neck being slightly off center on the sound box. This does not affect the playability, it is just a cosmetic flaw. #51 is available for
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October banjos and a dulcimer
October was a 6 banjo month with had three stock banjos and three custom banjos to build. #170 was an 11″ curly maple banjo with a Silver Bell tone ring from Bill Rickard. The customer asked for aged hardware, and to have the banjo sent unfinished so he could do that part himself. Banjo #171
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September banjos and necks
The first job I completed in September was one I had begun toward the end of August but failed to finish on time. It’s a curly maple neck for a vintage pot. Next came a custom banjo. #168 is my first semi-fretless with a brass plate instead of a wooden one in the fretless portion
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August banjos and an octave mandolin
August was a good month, though it got a little frantic as it tends to do with things coming in from the garden. My first project for the month was to put the finish on the octave mandolin and set it up, I’ve been working on it a little at a time for the last