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July banjos
This was the busiest July I’ve ever had in the shop, with 6 banjos and a neck on the agenda. The first one was #158, a walnut 12″ with a Dobson tone ring and John Balch head from Balsam Banjo Works and a radiused fretboard. Next was #159, a curly maple and hickory banjo uke
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June banjos
My first project in June was a batch of 12″ stock banjos to replace what had been bought in May. Banjos 153, 154 and 155 are all shown on the Banjos page. Banjo #156 was my only custom banjo in June, it is a walnut 12″ with just a few differences from what I normally
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May banjos
I made 5 banjos in May, the first one to be completed was #148. It is a 12″ banjo with a wood tone ring, made from a variety of woods. Next came #149, a walnut banjo with a Tubaphone tone ring and a bracket band. The customer did all the inlay work and drew the
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April banjos and a guitar
Banjo #145 was my first completed instrument in April. It is a C scale made from cherry with somewhat wavy grain, not tight enough to be called curly. The other two April banjos are #146 and #147, both 12″, curly maple and cherry respectively. They are both shown on the Banjos page. My last project
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March banjos and a fiddle, and a new situation
This past month has been unusual. We have not yet been directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but it is changing how we do a lot of things. I work alone when building instruments, and the workshop is here at the farm where I live, so my ability to work has not been affected by
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February banjos and guitars
February is a short month, and it was a busy one in the shop for me this year. I worked on all 5 instruments concomitantly and put the finish on them all on the same day, while I had the wood stove going in the winter finishing room. The first one I got set up
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January banjos and dulcimers
My first job in January was to make a banjo pot and fit it to a neck I had made for someone last year. He supplied the hardware and I made the rim and put it all together. Then came a batch of 5 banjos. Banjo #134 was a walnut 10″ A scale slot head.
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December instruments
December started off with two 12″ walnut in-stock banjos, 130 and 131. 131 is shown on the Banjos page, 130 doesn’t appear there because a customer asked for first refusal on my next walnut 12″, so I made two and posted the one he didn’t buy. My next project was a rim and neck to
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November banjos and a fiddle
This month has been busy in the shop, but for the first time in a while I haven’t had any custom instruments to build, so I’ve had a chance to make some instruments to restock. Banjos 125-128 are shown on the Banjos page, and fiddle #23 is on the Fiddles page. Banjo #129 is the
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October instruments
At the beginning of October I put the finishing touches on a couple of mandolins that I was building to have in stock. They are now on the Mandolins page. Banjo #124 is my first longneck banjo, and the first with a bracket band. It also has a Whyte Laydie type tone ring so it