Banjo pickers are eco-friendly. Scratch a Bluegrass musician, and you will find an environmentalist underneath. The BRC workshop was founded 11 years ago, but we overlooked its 10th anniversary last year while distracted by the pandemic. Over the past decade, unused spare parts have steadily accumulated in the workshop. To avoid dispatching these materials to a land fill, our 10th year of business will be celebrated belatedly by the purposeful re-incorporation of extra materials into inventive mini projects.
The local community art league has an annual “Tiny Things” competitive show each Spring where artists submit works measuring no more than 8x 8 inches in size. As a banjo clearly exceeds these dimensions, the BRC craftsman decided to apply left-over inlay inventories into decorating cell phone holders and submit these tiny entires into the yearly competition. Hopefully, these inlayed and practical desktop items would be of interest to the judge adjucating the exhibit, gallery visitors, and musicians. What banjo player would not want a smartphone stand to check-out online picking turorials?
Last year was our first occasion to experiment with this modest eco-strategy, and “The Lair” was accepted (above) into the springtime Tiny Things show. After the annual community exhibit concluded, this prototypical and planar pine model was gifted to an out-of- state friend. The dragon image on the front was so fearsome, that the new owner reported months later that the family dog had mauled the piney item beyond repair one night.
Despite the almost poetic Viking`s demise of The Lair, a peaceful array of leaping dolphins had resided quietly on the flip side. To see previous dolphin-themed BRC banjos, enter “dolphin” in our home page search engine.
This year, the BRC craftsman has ambitiously fashioned two upgraded desktop items for submission to the Tiny Things exhibit. Both feature a sturdy center post secured with wood glue and a stout rebar-like screw. The smaller cedar model (below) entitled the “Unicorn Cell Perch”‘ measures just over 3 inches at the base.
It is inlayed with enamel-covered laser cut wood images and some mother of pearl stars.
If you look closely, you might recognize the inlays that appeared on the “Unikorn” and “Moonshine” banjos previously depicted on the BRC website.
Another slightly larger and even more rugged red oak iteration for this year’s competition is entitled the “Tree of Life Cell Perch.” It measures just over 6 inches in length and is decorated with mother of pearl leaves and iconic Tree of Life symbols.
The leafy mother of pearl inlays may remind you of our “Time for Tea” and “Tea Leaves” BRC banjo. The aforesaid 5-stringer can be reviewed by entering “tea” in the search engine on our home page. It is hoped that the serene imagery on this year`s fortified smartphone holders will not provoke canine reactions.
The BRC focus remains building art show crafted banjos at modest prices for entry level buyers. Although desk top cell phone stands with fingerboard inlay decorations could potentially attract a niche market of stringed instrument musicians, or perhaps evolve into a profitable franchise for pet chew-toys, these diminutive but sturdy items will mostly be devised in our workshop around the time of the annual Tiny Things art show. This mini project is our small step to preserve the environment.
From the BRC: Be well, be safe, be eco-friendly.
P.S. Have a happy St. Paddy`s Day.
Maybe, Santa has a banjo planned for someone special on your shopping list?
From the BRC: We wish you Peace this Season and Good Health in the New Year. 
Located in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, the Windsor banjo factory manufactured thousands of banjos over its lifetime until it was destroyed during World War II by an air raid in 1940. Hussey eventually donated his banjo, signed by all the crew, to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. In 2013, with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, the Great British Banjo Company was founded and launched its commemorative “Shackleton Banjo” model which became a runaway best seller.
