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Tim's banjo came out well. It sounds excellent - a nice, crisp tone that retains a good degree of thumpiness due to the small f-shaped sound holes. I cut the hell out of my thumb while cutting out the tailpiece, which wasn't great. I have to take the strings off and contour the fingerboard to simulate a little up-bow, due to the fact that the fourth string is buzzing when it's hit hard, but that's not a major operation, and always has to be done - I just thought I'd try to see if i could get away without having to do it. The answer is no. In any event, I'm really happy with the way the oak neck looks, and will definitely be making more oak-necked gourd banjos in the future. So, I'll wrap this one up in the next couple of days, ship it out, and start on the next banjo order. I've been asked to make a giant, fourteen inch tackhead with a short-scale neck and paduak fingerboard. It should be pretty sweet.

Here are a few photos of the banjo that I just finished. Official, high-resolution gallery shots will be up later in the week.