Snowbird Banjo Co. “Little Birdie”

Little Birdie:

The Little Birdie model is an 11 or 12 inch wood tone ring old time, open back, banjo with a 25 1/2″ scale length.

The name “Little Birdie” hearkens to the Snowbird name and the trademark snowy “Owl” that Jeremy designed to have a feel of a Gryphon on the old Vega banjos. Little Birdie is also the name of a song with the words “Little birdie, little birdie, come and sing to me your song” and we just think that is a perfect portrayal of our banjos.

Our goal in giving the model name is to have one banjo configuration that is easily and quickly reproducible and can be economically priced so we can get these banjos to folks seeking a banjo who are just starting out or who just like the sound of the “woody” banjo.

The configuration:

Neck: Five piece laminated pinstriped walnut neck, abalone fret dots, and no inlay on the head-stock. Ebony Fretboard and head-stock face-plate. Nickel 5 Star planetary tuners with ebony keys.

Rim: Block style walnut rim (although steam bent rims are being planned later), with pin-striping and ebony rim cap as well as an ebony tone ring. The rim head will consist of a Elite fiber skin head with nickel plated tension hoop, shoes, and hooks. A brass acid etched and aged company label with serial number is affixed inside the rim.

Finish: Aniline Dye stain with General Finishes sealer and clear coat.

Inlay: None. Inlay can be added later for additional cost.

The Sound:

Here is Snowdrop played with no sock or muffle.

https://youtu.be/coU1Z5UEkWI

***Please see our Banjo Cases to purchase a case. For the safety of the banjo in shipping, we require a hard-shell case to be purchased with the banjo. ***

Banjo comes with a Certificate of Authenticity showing warranty information and care instructions.

Shop and Banjo Update

It’s been right at a year since the last update, and as time has gone along, I have considered making more posts to relay the progress of the company. Having the time to write has been the primary deterrent so far.

On January 12, 2018, Snowbird Banjo Company, LLC was officially incorporated the establish the company a little more. While the banjo production has been slow due to shop work as well as many other responsibilities that have taken my time, work on the infrastructure has continued. We have even issued a new logo to further direct the feel and goals of the business. While these do very little to make banjos, they do help to sell the instruments once the production has begun.

Work on the shop has continued with plywood going up on all but one wall, and sheetrock covering the plywood. The lighting is wired up, though the runs do not go to a live electric panel just yet. We’re going to have to run a new electric run to our service pole due to the wiring being too light a gauge for a 200 amp service. It’s a long story, but it involves just trying to get out of the RV and at the time, the available funds were not there. It’s very apparent that it is needed now.

 

As of this writing, I have made progress on two banjos. One to sell, and one to use as my personal banjo. These banjos have taken quite a long time and I have no idea how much time has been invested in these due to moving to Alaska and back. I’ve been working on these two on and off for about 4 years. HA! Thankfully, I’m getting organized and settled enough to knock these two out. I have 5 more necks ready to be started after these two. The rims will have to be worked on as they were turned on a failing lathe. That lathe has been replaced with a new grizzly lathe. I still have yet to set up my cross table and boring rig to turn the rims, but I’ll tackle that job on the next banjos. For now, the banjos I am trying to complete are finished beyond the lathe turning step.

Thank you for hang on with us through this ride of roller coaster and moving here and there. The wandering is finally coming to a close.

Ozark Songbird is Re-branding!

***Editor Note: The below publishing is a migrated post from the Ozark Songbird Banjo website. We have since moved back to the Ozarks. Please see most recent post ***

After some time considering whether I should change the name of Ozark Songbird Banjo Co, I finally came to the conclusion, yes, I am going to change it.

Many of you know that I have moved to Alaska. I am on a hiatus of sorts right now with banjo building because all of my shop equipment is still located in Missouri. It is my goal to retrieve the equipment next spring and begin the long process of developing a new shop. Read more… “Ozark Songbird is Re-branding!”