Been finishing up Davy's Cherry banjo and Andrew's 'Kibbo Kift' Walnut banjo this week, both banjos have an awesome sound but I still have a day or 2 of tinkering to coax the best possible tone out of them. The audio files don't really do them justice, I was struggling to play with a finger pick after sanding half my claw nail off a week or so ago!!
​Some really nice personal touches on both banjos, I'm really chuffed with how the hiker turned out on Andrew's banjo and the Cherry blossom on Davy's.
​Check out Andrew's great band www.hatstandmedicineband.com/ 

Should have Tom's 'Dobson' banjo complete next week, along with the stock Maple banjo, so keep an eye out for those :)

12" Cherry block rim
Integral Rosewood tone ring
Fibreskyn head
Cherry neck
Ebony 25.5" scale fingerboard
​GHS Americana medium strings

12" Black Walnut block rim
​Brass round rod/Dobson combo tone ring
Goat skin head
Black Walnut neck
Ebony 25.5" scale fingerboard
​GHS Americana medium strings

Finished carving the next batch of necks, installed frets and inlay, a little bit of engraving left to do and lots and lots of sanding/scraping! Rims are also waiting to be sanded, hopefully have at least 2 banjos ready for oiling by the end of next week.
Top to bottom: Stock flamed Maple, Tom's, Andrew's, Davy's.

I've recently started uploading more frequent workshop pics on my instagram page, it's a lot quicker and easier for me to keep customers up to date on progress. Follow on there if you are interested, I'll probably post a few 'how I do it' videos at some point!
www.instagram.com/ballardbanjers/ 

Finished Bob's 6-stringer this week, this one has been well over a year in the making! Turned out super sweet, I'm having a lot of fun playing it, think my next banjo will be something very similar ;)

12" Black Walnut block rim
Ziricote integral tonering and rim cap
1-piece Black Walnut neck
Ziricote 25.5" scale fingerboard with thumb scoop and Brass plate 
Maple pin stripes
Ziricote peghead overlay and heel cap
Goat skin head
Ziricote/Maple/Ebony tailpiece
Nylon strings
Maple bridge
​Walnut armrest

Here we go again, another fun filled year making banjos :) Huge thanks to all my customers for keeping me going!
Plenty of cool banjos lined up so far, I still have 3 or 4 spaces left this year if you fancy ordering a new toy for delivery before next Christmas.
Prices will remain the same until April, but unfortunately there will be a slight increase at the start of the new tax year, to cover the ever increasing cost of materials, so contact me before then if you are contemplating ordering. 

Spent the first half of the week getting Bob's banjo ready for oiling, should be ready for assembly by the end of next week.
Yesterday and this morning I got stuck into cutting inlay for the next few banjos, a few more bits to cut, some filing and they should be ready to inset next week.

A quick update, before I put my feet up for the rest of the year!

Bob's 6- string, semi-fretless, Ziricote banjo is gonna be cool, it should be the first to roll of the bench early next year, closely followed by the other 4.
Just need to install the frets, carve the neck, scrape/sand,oil and stretch a goat skin on - simple!

Davy's Cherry banjo is also looking cool, I managed to glue the Ebony rear peghead veneer on and shape the head. Most of the fingerboard inlay is done, 1 star is missing from the scoop(I somehow lost it when inlaying the others!), just need to inlay a moon and star in the peghead, Cherry blossom on the heel and then get the frets in. 

Some tricky inlay still to cut for Andrew's banjo. This one is going to be armed with a brass rod/Dobson tone ring combo, also with a goat skin, it should sound pretty sweet.

On the right, is Tom's Walnut 'Dobson', this one will have some nice inlay in the scoop.
The left banjo is the 'stock', flamed Maple I've been working on for a while. Rosewood tone ring, Ebony rim cap, it will be a slotted peghead and a 25.5" scale length. It will be for sale in a couple of months!

Not quite sure what happened to this week, I can't figure out how I managed to get so little done!
Still, I managed to profile neck necks, install side dots, glue on heel caps and shape 3 of the pegheads, I need to glue the rear overlay on Davy's before shaping.
I need to pull my finger out next week, as it will be the last full week before the kids finish school for the holidays and bedlam descends! The plan is to cut the heel fits, get the other 2 pegheads finished, scoopy scoop, glue dowel sticks and get the rims ready for final sanding.

The next batch are coming along nicely. Fingerboards are slotted, shaped and glued to necks, as are peghead overlays. Should be able to get down to business next week, shaping the various peghead designs, cutting heel to pot fits etc. Gonna be lots of cool stuff going on with these banjos once completed!

Bob's Minstrel banjo is finally finished and rumbling like thunder, its siblings have been put to one side until next year.

​12" 1 piece, bent Ash rim(stained)
Goat skin head(stained)
Maple bridge
Ash neck(stained)
27" scale length
Walnut fingerboard
Minstrel nylon strings
Ebony tailpiece with inlaid Mother of Pearl star
Ebony friction pegs
Brass hardware

The next 5 open back rims, turned down to size with rim caps and and tone rings.  Just need to shape the Rosewood and Ziricote tone ring edges, cut the ledges for the 2 Dobsons and drill the shoe holes. I'll get to work on the the necks later next week, slotting fingerboards, installing rods etc.

Since I'm well on track with commissions, I've spent the last few weeks flitting between jobs, getting various bits and bobs glued and roughed out as well as making new jigs and templates to make life a little easier!
I'll be focusing on Bob's minstrel banjo next week, hopefully I can get the carving, sanding and staining done before the end of the week.

Neck blanks and 12" rims glued, planed and roughed out for Davy, Bob, Tom and Andrew. Cut and planed this lovely Ziricote yesterday, ready for Bob's cool semi-fretless openback, which I'll be finishing early next year.

Left pic is Sam's minstrel and a stock minstrel. The right pic will be a stock banjo I've been slowly working on for the past 6 months. It's a flamed Maple neck with Ebony 25.5" scale fingerboard and a 12" 3 ply flamed Maple rim, which will be Ebony capped. The Maple will be stained to bring out the flames, not sure which tone ring I'll be using, possibly a simple brass rod or a rolled brass.
If you're interested in either the stock minstrel or the Maple, give me a shout :)

I've been hobbling around the workshop this week, after dropping a 3" thick plank of Ash on my foot and fracturing my little toe! Even more annoying was breaking my perfectly manicured clawhammer nail off at the same time, I'm now having to resort to using a home made plastic pick :(

I did however, finish off Joseph's lovely little mountain banjo, which I'm very pleased with. I'll be shipping this one off to Denver, Colorado next week.
Since my camcorder has packed in, I thought I'd try out the video function on my cheapo phone, not too bad! I also recorded a better quality audio file on my zoom H2N, check 'em out :)

Black Walnut neck with Ebony fingerboard and peghead overlay
Black Walnut pot with Ash/Maple tonering and calfskin head
NylonClifford Essex 'Classic' strings

Made a start roughing out a few minstrel necks, I'll be getting the steamer going next week to bend the rims. Two of these are commissions, but I'm hoping to make a spare one at the same time.
My son and I have managed to get a bit more done on his banjo (he certainly looks the part, in his dungarees and check shirt!!), he was hammering in the frets last night while I cut out the rather cool looking wolf on the back of the pot. We may have it complete before the end of the year!