All my banjos are intended to be one of a kind and tailor made to the individual customer, when taking a commission we can talk about the aesthetics and tonal qualities of different woods, the different attributes of tone rings, rim size, scale lengths, fretwire gauge etc, with the aim of making an instrument that suits your playing and sounds the way you want.
We can discuss this via email or if you're able to, it's always nice, and I think often very helpful, for people to drop in to the workshop, have a cuppa, play some banjos, have a chat about what they want from the instrument and if you would like have a look through the wood room to pick out your fingerboard yourself.
My standard scale length these days is 25.4" (645mm) with a nut width of 32mm or 33mm, although I can do any that is requested. The string spacing at the bridge is 11.5mm which is a bit wider than a factory instrument and in my opinion makes for much easier playing, especially for clawhammer.
The inlay work I do is for the most part designed with the customer, it varies in whether it starts from a photo, a piece of jewelry or just an idea that I then draw up, but each one is individual to its banjo and I don't do exact reproductions of past designs.
The Prices for imported American and Canadian parts are adjusted to cover postage, import fees and import taxes.
All woods are to the best of my ability sourced from responsible sources, most of theExotic hardwoods such as rosewood and ebony that I use often come from Madinter whose company mission statement can be seen here corporate.madinter.com/about-us. Occasionally I'm able to source woods such as burls direct from a tree surgeon friend.