Banjo #29
Banjo #29 has landed back in John Bernunzio’s lap and it brings New Mexico to mind, so I thought I would dig up some old photos to post.
The story is that I moved from Eugene, OR to Questa, NM in 1999 to play music and live with a community of musicians. We were also raising our kids together. During my second week in town, 3 acres came falling out of the sky and I ended up living at 8,000 feet in a 300sq/ft A frame cabin 11 miles south of the Colorado boarder. I lived there for six years. I learned how to scrape a living together in the middle of nowhere and I became a banjo maker. It’s a huge long story. But here are pictures from my last weeks before I left and drove back to Oregon. My shop was split between my Chevy Spartan school bus and my cabin. I also had access to a metal shop and a cabinet shop in the neighborhood. I ran the tools with a decrepit old generator, which died the week before I left.
Banjo #29 was the last banjo I completed before hitting the road and I was very excited about it. I owned it for almost a year before a friend gave me an offer for it I couldn’t refuse. He immediately sent it to Bernunzio to show folks I was out there. We are talking a friend who purchased five banjos from me while I was getting started making banjos in New Mexico to keep me eating and working. Much thanks JGM. Yes, I used to make Minstrels…the wet spot on the floor is from my sponge bath and how many banjos do you count along with the sleeping child?
Another friend of mine has owned #29 for 4 years now, but fretless isn’t her thing. The solution was to make a fretted replica for her, which is completed, so hence John has #29 again.
