The last several weeks have been spent in Vermont, working with Will Fielding, and then back in my shop, doing some significant retooling for some new kinds of projects. I've been doing tons of brass casting for new hardware, and a lot of planning in general. There will be many new and exciting projects in the coming year.

I recently completed a project built around a bottle gourd, which I cut shallow to allow for a double-headed design. This was a custom order for a musician who wanted a banjo with a very specific, unusual look, and suggested the idea of a double-headed pear-shaped banjo.