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! 

Corentin's Cherry banjo turned out sweet, the mother of pearl Raven looks great set in the bookmatched Rosewood peghead, and you can't beat a Cherry/Walnut combo! I'll be shipping it off to Belgium next week.
11" Cherry rim with Integral Rosewood/Brass rod tone ring.
Renaissance head
​Cherry neck with 26 3/16" scale Ebony fingerboard

Also finished the 'Suffolk Slugger' this week, this thing seriously kicks ass!
Once I started carving and sanding, I realised that the wood I originally had down as Lignum Vitae is actually something quite different. The rim and neck are totally different, neither of which I'd come across before. I've narrowed the rim wood down to African Greenheart, it is heavy enough to sink like a stone in a bucket of water when I tested a small piece, and of all the species of wood that don't float, African Greenheart is the only one that matches grain pattern and colour.
The neck is a bit more tricky to identify, after consulting several knowledgeable minds and lots of research, the best bet is Ceylon Satinwood!
Anyhow, it both looks and sounds awesome, and is now on the 'banjos in stock' page with full specs, price and sound files. Unfortunately I can't ship this one outside of Europe, due to the Rosewood.

Made a little progress with Joseph's mountain banjo, still need to make a tone ring and carve the neck, the plan is to have it ready for oiling by the end of next week.

The end is in sight for Corentin's Cherry 'Raven' banjo, just need to carve the neck profile and do lots of sanding before applying a finish later next week.

Made a good start on Joseph's Walnut mountain banjo, pot is pretty much ready for sanding. I'll glue the fingerboard and peghead overlay next week so it is ready to work on after Corentin's banjo is finished.

Just listed these two beauts on the 'banjos in stock' page, with lots more photos and prices. 

In between a few general luthiery jobs that have come into the shop the last two weeks, I've been getting on with Corentin's Cherry 'Raven' banjo, everything is glued except the heel cap and dowel stick.
I'm also trying to get the 'Ashborn' and a stock Cherry banjo finished before the kids finish school for Summer and all hell breaks loose!
I've had a lot of interest in the 'Ashborn' but no takers, the general feedback was that the friction pegs and lack of scoop were putting people off. So, I've cut an 'arc' shaped scoop leaving 17 playable frets, drilled for Gotoh tuners and added an Ebony rim cap. I'll be stretching a goat skin on it and initially stringing it up with steels.
The Cherry banjo has been sitting in a box 90% finished for the last 2-3 years, it was abandoned when I started carving the neck and discovered a knot that I had missed when gluing up, the customer didn't like it so I made a new one. The knot is just a visual thing, personally I think it looks pretty cool, the neck has remained perfectly stable over the years so it will make a nice banjo and will be priced very reasonably. It has a 12" Cherry block rim with Ebony cap and brass rod tone ring, neck is 2-piece Cherry, Ebony fingerboard, 26 3/16" scale, curvy scoop with 19 frets on the 1st string. 
They will both end up on the 'banjos in stock' page at some point next month.
I have a run of Minstrel and Mountain banjo orders after these 3 are finished, which will be a nice change!

11" flamed Maple rim
Tubaphone tone ring
Goat skin head
Flamed Maple neck
24.75" scale radiused fingerboard
Evo gold fretwire
Rocklite rim cap, peghead overlay, fingerboard and heel cap
Grover sta-tite tuners
​'Buckeye' tailpiece
​Cherry bridge
​Nickel hardware

11" Ash block rim
1-Piece Ash neck
Goat skin head
Ebony violin pegs
Ebony tail piece
​Maple bridge

11" 2-ply bent Cherry rim
Round rod tone ring
Renaissance head
Walnut neck
24.75" scale Ebony fingerboard
Ebony peghead overlay with inlaid Brass Raven
Walnut rim and heel caps
Gotoh 5th tuner, Ebony violin tuners
Nylon strings
​Raw Brass hardware

Finished sanding all the rims today and stained Rainier's ready for oiling, radiused Tom's fingerboard, fretted, slotted peghead and made a start on carving the neck. Should be able to start oiling both banjos next week.
Since I had a customer drop out last week, I decided to do a little more work on a banjo I started last summer. I've changed the specs so many times but finally settled on one of my 2 layer Cherry rims, brass rod tone ring, Walnut neck, 24.75" scale and went for a super cool brass Raven inlaid in the peghead. Being a Norse mythology buff, I originally wanted both of Odin's Raven's, Hugin and Munin, after cutting out a different design I decided it looked too crowded so just went for one Raven. I  will be inlaying a Raven into Corentin's banjo in a couple of months, so I guess this one is Hugin and Corentin will have Munin!

I took on an apprentice a few weeks back, my 6 year old son was off school with chicken pox, he wasn't too spotty, still full of beans and keen to help out in the workshop. He's been crazing me to build him a banjo for months, so I got him to draw some designs and helped him get started ona mountain banjo. He insisted on a battle axe peghead and the inlay has gone from pirates to skulls to vikings, he has now settled on a skeleton viking! He gets bored easily so not sure when we'll get it finished but I'm letting him do as much of the work as possible.

Just been left up 'shit creek' by a customer who thoughtfully let me know he could no longer afford the banjo he commissioned 3-4 weeks  prior to the finish date! 
I'll be putting this on the back burner for the time being so I can concentrate on banjos for paying customers, unless someone would like to take over the commission. The 1st two photos show  where it's at, the last photo shows  what it will end up looking like, except with Ebony instead of Rosewood and 18 hooks instead of 10. There is also the chance to add things like a scoop, fingerboard markers, geared tuners etc. If anyone is interested give me a shout, it can be completed within 4 weeks.

Should Have Rainier's tackhead ready for oiling by the end of next week, Tom's Tubaphone shouldn't be too far behind.