Hey all, first time posting, long time reader. I am working on my 13th banjo, and they are really piling up. I have some early builds that are hobbyist quality, some are oak/poplar/fir. I played each one extensively fir a time and then moved on. have given away a couple, but don’t actually know that many people. What became of you guys’ early works? Try to sell, donation, bon fire?
I sold some, donated a few, and the rest I used for parts to build better instruments.
Kept the first one, for years after that I was working "at the factory" doing my part making banjos with someone else' name on them, so they were sold to dealers.
I cobbled together one, rim here , neck from there, wasn’t a real build lorenof assembly and set up and finish
Sold it, made some bucks but wish I had kept
Spent a lot of time building a block rim, got a score at an estate sale on all sorts off wood working machines, and after a few mishaps, and one bad one I got lucky with sold it all and didn’t go back
I’m not a woodworker and things could have turned bad due to my inexperience
The first one was stolen in a house robbery. A few I still have. Some I have given away and others I have sold.
Schools or other children's orgs are always a good bet. Especially if they're playable. We run an "instrument petting zoo" in my community and kids can handle, play, experience instruments at any age without fear of breaking things. It really works and the kids love it.
I have quite a few put back or on display in my music room. Some get recycled. My stuff is mostly oddball folk builds. Some get re-homed over time. I'm not really comfortable with my stuff being out in the world when it was just an experimental slap together.
I once ran across one of my cigar box guitars (that I had donated for a fundraiser) hanging in a vendor mall with a price tag of about 3x what I would have been probably asked when it was new. Someone had put way too heavy strings on it and wound the tuners backwards and stripped one. It made me uncomfortable for it to be hanging there like that with my label on it, but not uncomfortable enough to lay out the cash.
The mall was a hour and a half from home. A couple of weeks later I was in the area and walked in with parts and tools lol. It was gone.
Edited by - steveh_2o on 05/14/2025 06:23:56
quote:
Originally posted by steveh_2oI have quite a few put back or on display in my music room. Some get recycled. My stuff is mostly oddball folk builds. Some get re-homed over time. I'm not really comfortable with my stuff being out in the world when it was just an experimental slap together.
I once ran across one of my cigar box guitars (that I had donated for a fundraiser) hanging in a vendor mall with a price tag of about 3x what I would have been probably asked when it was new. Someone had put way too heavy strings on it and wound the tuners backwards and stripped one. It made me uncomfortable for it to be hanging there like that with my label on it, but not uncomfortable enough to lay out the cash.
The mall was a hour and a half from home. A couple of weeks later I was in the area and walked in with parts and tools lol. It was gone.
Hopefully, who ever bought it knew how to fix it!
Thanks for the ideas everyone. I have been apprehensive about recycling them, but I think I may be able to learn some things by swapping out old necks with better ones, and reusing things.
Steve, I bet that was quite a shock stumbling on your own work floating around out there! Hopefully it found a good home.
I sold all of the instruments I built as I went along, though the early ones were rather more primitive than now. The first 15 or 20 banjos don't have my name on a metal plate like the ones since then do, so it's quite possible that the current owners may not know who made them. My prices started out quite low and have gradually crept up as I've gotten more experience, and thus been able to make better instruments. I've also gotten faster, from repetition. I remember my first dulcimer took something like 9 or 10 hours or work, and now one takes about two.
One of my earlier guitar projects I’ve stripped of strings and hardware, and working on a “chunky” neck profile. So early builds can be used as learning instruments as I become more skilled in certain areas. Fretwork and finishing skills are in the future also,
I build for hobby vs any profit, so the walls continue to fill up with instruments.! Giving is a nice outlet also.
