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Hello! So it’s come to this… We’re making a newsletter! This will be a place to share some of the jobs we’ve been working on, events and workshops we have coming up, hot luthier gossip and what exciting things are coming up in the future. It’s going to be a hot, busy and productive summer so buckle up for some news! Instrument Stringing Workshop August 22nd 2026 4:00pm to 6:00pm Price $25 to $65 sliding scale Need to restring your instrument? Avoiding it because you don't know the best way? A properly strung instrument stays in tune longer, reduces wear and maintains stability through hard playing. For the first time ever, Talley Strings will be holding a workshop on restringing all manner of stringed instruments. Whether you have a guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo or something less conventional we will be walking participants through best practices to get those instruments back up and running. We will cover geared tuners, violin-style friction pegs, mechanical tuners for bowed instruments and whatever else comes through the door. We will have a limited number of guitar string sets available to purchase (A full set for $15) but other instruments and those with a particular taste in strings should bring their own strings to the workshop. If you would like a recommendation, please reach out or bring your questions to the workshop. Register HERE The Case of the Very Broken Banjo Look at this thing! This tenor banjo came in with the neck broken in two places and a fair amount of damage to the headstock. The break at the heel, next to the pot, had been broken and repaired at least once. I started with the break by the headstock. Once I had glued the break back together and carved a small channel into the back of the neck, trying to stay in between the two ebony strips. After that I prepared a maple strip to act as a splint and glued it in.  Here you can see where the previous repair tech drilled through the heel to insert a dowel. While I also installed a dowel into the joint I was able to remove the small ebony plate to hide the repair. I installed a new hardwood dowel after drilling out the old one and put it all back together. Then I filled in the chipped out spots on the headstock, put it all back together and got to the final set up. Banjo sorted.  
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 I found this note written on the inside of a violin I was working on last week and it made me smile to think of the diligent violin-maker grudgingly letting this instrument go into the world. It strikes very close to how I feel about putting out a new website. I've seen other little notes and messages hidden in the bodies instruments and it always feels like a finding a message in a bottle. Sometimes just the name of someone from the 19th century and sometimes an indication towards a repair the the luthier is proud of. I think about leaving one myself sometimes, but the weight of future history that may be experienced by the violin still spooks me. That said, in the interest of sharing what I can and making this website a compelling place to visit, I'm going to work under the assumption that the Internet won't last nearly as long as a good violin and that I need to make a few clunkers before I have the skill to craft a masterpiece blog post. Also, while it isn't a Guarneri, this guy made a pretty good violin in 1957 and I'm really looking forward to seeing the inside of his next one someday.  |