What a busy new year! I began a large custom commission batch, and as I was attempting to work on those, new orders kept coming in! Its fantastic, but it’s also overwhelming! Banjos that once had been a “luthiers choice” banjo, were “undone” to be made into a custom order. There was a lot of undoing, which is very inefficient, but necessary at the time. While working on these banjos, I am also busy keeping up with all the general Luthier work I also get in. We had just one customer bring in 20 bows at once to be re-haired, and another with 10 bows, and add to that the garden work, yardwork, construction work, and there’s just not enough days in a week!
So I am finding myself coming to a temporary solution. I am going to begin opening and closing the custom order window beginning now. So as of right now, the custom order window is closed.
Hello everyone, I hope you all have been making it through this strange time in human history. I have been juggling work from shop reorganizing to luthier repair work to banjo building, all with lots of personal construction projects, so as usual, the builds are not going as fast as planned and I find spring at my doorstep with 10 banjos a little more than half finished. But work is progressing steadily!
Part of the progression of work is a new banjo ordering system! I began building a new “Build-A-Banjo Tool” back in November. It’s been a lot of work and I’m sure once you all try it out, I will find a bug or two I missed. However, I’ve tested the new ordering tool as much as I can on my own.
So today I am happy to introduce the new Snowbird Banjo Company “Build-A-Banjo Tool” to help you figure out what kind of banjo you want in a custom build! This tool will give you a step by step journey into building a banjo, start to finish, and at the end, it will give you an “estimated” cost. Now remember, this is an estimated cost, as part of the process, you can use the Build-A-Banjo Tool to list the items and then we will confirm this order in a proof. If you have some customized inlay designs, following the 30% of the estimate down payment, I will get started designing your inlay and we can modify it as much as you would like until its just right. Then, I will create a build packet with final pricing that you can sign off on, then I’ll get to work building your custom banjo.
I have been really anticipating this release as so much time is often involved of communicating what something looks like or what options are available. This new tool puts an image in front of you so you know what the feature is ahead of time and how it will effect the cost. Then the communication can be focused on fine tuning the details.
So, check it out, if you’re interested in a build, fill it out and let me know if anything is missing that should be included!
What a crazy ride we’ve had this year, and it only looks to be getting crazier. We are thankful to have our musical instruments to bring enjoyment at home and to offer some escape from the chaos.
