COVID UPDATE

I just wanted to touch base with you all regarding my progress working through 2020's orders. 

Firstly, 2020 was a year where I saw a substantial increase in the number of orders from the previous several years. From speaking with my other craftsmen friends in the industry, this was felt by all instrument makers across the board. The stay at home orders caused a tremendous influx of new folks coming into the Irish trad scene, which is wonderful for our little community, but it has put a strain on the instrument makers to keep up. So, even if I had not been sick myself, my pre-Covid wait list times of around 8 months were never going to hold up under such an increased demand. 

Which brings me to my next point, which is that as soon as I began to work on the orders from April of 2020, I contracted Covid. I'm high on several risk factor lists, and it hit me like a freight train. I missed about a month of work while going through each stage of sickness and recovery. Shortly after I recovered and got back to work, my wife and immediate family all contracted it, and I was forced to take more time off to see to her needs. Naturally, I felt a responsibility to not be shipping out orders while there was active Covid in my home. All things considered, this has cost me nearly two months of production this year, and although I do very much regret the impact on delivery times, we were both fighting for our lives and it could not have been avoided. This was all happening amidst supply chain issues and other related supply issues which caused additional delays and hardship also. 

Thank you to all of you who knew of these struggles and were praying for us and sending well wishes. It means a lot. I am now back to work as of mid November, but please be patient with me as I get my operation back up and running at full speed. 

Chris