Tulsa, OK USA 74112 This period in America played a pivotal role in the history of the Dixieland banjo by fostering technological advances to the instrument, which would allow it to be adopted by many musical genres and eventually jazz. www.louzee.com +1 (828) 226-2286 Many details of these early gourd banjos are evident in the instruments built by European American banjo makers in the mid-nineteenth century. Carlin, Bob. . In the late 1930s, mandolinist, singer, songwriter Bill Monroe formed The Blue Grass Boys, the band primarily responsible for developing bluegrass music. The ensemble included banjo, fiddle, tambourine, and bones, a percussion instrument made from animal rib or shin bones. While it was released with little fanfare in early 2009, it has proven to be one of the year's long-fuse albums, its subtle charms and subtle melodies creeping up and working their way . The two races lived in close proximity in the Appalachian Mountains, Piedmont, and other parts of the South, interacting socially and playing music together for dances. The first banjos were used by African American immigrants in the deep south. www.ballardbanjers.com Also during the second half of the nineteenth century, banjo manufacturers began installing frets on the instrument. SC.nb("info", "cbguitars.com", "", "", ""); Mike Dawson, Luthier +1 (260) 657-5486 A basic banjo that just captures the tone and playability youre looking for is an option, as is a deep well of design options from historical sources. www.deeringbanjos.com High End Professional Used Banjos for Sale - Banjo Vault placement or size. The author John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) referred to the instrument as a "banger" played by a black man. A Mozart banjo, length 100 cm with hard case, stand and book, An antique five string banjo, John Grey & Sons, London, early 20th century, the brass rim and back cast with Eastern inspired decoration enamelled in red and black, with engraved mark to the armrest and metal label to the head, length 95 cm, Cuckoo vintage English four string banjo, late 19th early 20th century, 27 cm drumhead, 75 cm long, A vintage banjo mandolin, early 20th century, 61 cm long, English ukulele banjo, by John Grey & Sons, model George Formby, serial no. Length 76 cm, A Windsor Premium No. PO Box 882, Elkins, West Virginia 26241 304-636-6710 Phone Hours; 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Eastern Time, Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday; Banjos,Contact us. It features 100 "milestone instruments" with in-depth coverage, including model details and beautiful photos. While musical tradition runs strong in bluegrass, a generation of younger players started taking the music in new directions in the 1970s. Ltd. trading as CARTER'S Publications. Banjo mandolin with unusual ivory & ebony fretboard & head, back decorated with timber specimens. Fretted instruments, such as guitars and mandolins, are generally easier to play in tune than unfretted instruments, such as violins, violas, and cellos. www.wildwoodbanjos.com, The Banjo Loft Earl Scruggs banjo acquired by ABM - American Banjo Museum His eighth-note arpeggio patterns, called rolls, have been widely imitated. gourd banjo. Frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard of string instruments that divide the neck into fixed intervals. Banjo maker Jim Hartel on the African heritage and American history of the banjo. Much of what is deemed folk music has its roots in Africa and African American tradition, notes Giddens. Many details of these early gourd banjos are evident in the instruments built by European American banjo makers in the mid-nineteenth century. +1 (339) 219-3047 Home | Vintage Banjo Maker problem with this list? Bluegrass, both progressive and traditional, old-time, and Americana music are still going strong in recordings, concerts, and gatherings of musicians and fans at festivals. The book profiles the most important players and spotlights key luthiers and manufacturers. The Best Banjo Brands (Top Banjo Makers) - Strong Sounds Craft Revival: Shaping Western North Carolina Past and Present 1215 was a good year too Well built in Philadelphia (note the rosewood pot) around 1886 this 130 year old Samuel Stewart Piccolo travelled the world and ended up. 5, circa 1920, maker and model number impressed to the head stock, the fingerboard inlaid with mother-of-pearl. In 1958, Mike Seeger (Petes half-brother), Tom Paley, and John Cohen formed the New Lost City Ramblers, a young group that remained faithful to, The folk music revival took a turn towards folk-rock in the mid-1960s, as Bob Dylan plugged in, and the Byrds played folk songs with electric guitars. Pete Seeger, son of musicologist Charles Seeger, first heard the 5-string banjo in 1936 at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in western North Carolina, organized by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Gardner Minstrel Banjo - Ryan Bocook The Old Plantation and Gerrit Schoutens Slavendans dioramas from Suriname both appear to depict this ritual. 1.6 6. Sylvester Louis Vess Ossman was one of the most popular recording artists of his time. SC.nb("manbdawson", "frontier.com", "", "", ""); Founded by Lo Gordon, now in the hands of his son. Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs: "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (1949). Mesa, AZ USA 85201 Between the 1930s and 1960s, American roots music enjoyed successive waves of interest. Bluegrass is rooted in the rural music of Appalachia as captured on the old-time string band recordings of the 1920s and 30s. Windsor, English zither banjo, by William Temlett, London, circa 1920, the headstock elegantly shaped, stamped to verso 'W. Sharing design elements with many similar West African instruments, the banjo developed in the Caribbean during the first century of the transatlantic slave trade. SC.nb("info", "deeringbanjos.com", "", "", ""); Scott also heads the Recording King custom shop in Japan. Modeled on the designs of William A. Cole's 1890s banjos, this instrument has the highly-ornate inlays of the Boston banjo makers but designed with a lower action and steel strings for contemporary five-string players. A Stelling Banjo Chronology - Stelling Banjo Ltd. trading as CARTER'S Publications. American Made Banjos | Banjos Made in the USA | Banjo.com Horsefly, BC CAN V0L 1L0 They recorded string bands and solo musicians, often on location in makeshift recording studios, and released the music under the labels old-time, old familiar tunes, or hillbilly. Samantha Bumgarner from Dillsboro, North Carolina, recorded ten songs for Columbia Records in April 1924. +1 (303) 449-0041 Two brands, DP Hopkins and Louzee, from the same builders. 309 Plus Park Boulevard Some localities in the Appalachians developed distinctive designs for homemade banjos. Click the bar to view more details about the maker. Timothy Twiss plays the basic movements described in Briggs' Banjo Instructor. Specifically, the banjo was known to be played in the Antebellum South. As a material, it is harder and more stable than ebony, and is increasingly used by world-class guitar makers. Pete Ross, a Baltimore banjo maker, player and historian, plays a historic gourd-type banjo replica. www.quailcreekbanjos.com Black string bands still performed at community dances at this time. SC.nb("banjobart", "aol.com", "", "", ""); Rob Bishline In 1968, the Byrds brought it back home with their album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, hailed by many as among the first country-rock albums. Council (FSC). 1026 W. 6th Place Although these elements are from the 19th century instruments, I wanted a banjo that would play 20th century pitches with steel strings. However, bluegrass incorporates jazz influences and emphasizes instrumental virtuosity and improvised solo breaks, which were not prevalent in old-time music. +1 (931) 580-5742 Mandolin Cafe Classifieds For all custom orders, I ask for a $300 non-refundable deposit, 1/2 of the total estimated cost of the banjo when I begin building, and the remainder upon completion. genuine. discretion but no compensation or gratuity is required or accepted. www.chuckleebanjos.com In the 1830s, a man named Joel Walker Sweeny was one of the first minstrels to play the banjo on stage. Dubois, Laurent. A banjo mandolin, unknown maker, circa 1940s, calfskin head, floating bridge, rosewood fingerboard, nickel hardware, eight buttoned machine heads, hardwood neck and rim, acquired on 12 October 1981, I bought this instrument in 1981 whilst on tour on the, Gibson long necked banjo, purchased in Syndey in 1962 from an American draft dodger, in original hard case. Chronicling "America's African Instrument": Laurent Dubois on the Grayson and Henry Whitter first recorded it in 1929. Players tune the instrument by sliding the rings up or down to tighten or loosen the strings. Macon incorporated multiple techniques, including clawhammer and two- and three-finger up-picking, into his banjo playing. began seeking out some of the performers. The most technically advanced banjo of the early minstrel period. They made smaller instruments and added intricate pearl inlays to the neck and headstock. Welcome to the Vintage Banjo Maker, please do, Sign up for email updates from the Vintage Banjo Maker. The Stedman 'Creole Bania': A Look at the World's Oldest Banjo - Blogger In the book Banjo Roots and Branches, historian Pete Ross concludes, All three banjos differ enough from African instruments while sharing some details specific to later banjos played and made by European Americans to place them at a point in the banjos history where it was no longer simply a relocated African instrument, but on its way to attaining the structure of the well-known antebellum nineteenth-century banjo.. The instrument shares design elements and playing techniques with a family of approximately eighty known West African plucked spike lutes. Click the blue globe to visit the maker's Web site. 791 Burton Ridge Road www.romerobanjos.com This is surely a disturbing trend. His three-finger guitar style had a significant influence on the bluegrass players of the 1940s. I owned an Epiphone long-neck in the '60s and it was an excellent banjo. en.pruchabanjos.cz +1 (650) 588-5558 Bad River Banjo - Authentic banjos of character & distinction. A.A. Farland, celebrated banjo virtuoso of the late 19th and early 20th century, didn't care for those new-fangled tone rings banjo makers of his era were putting on their high-grade instruments -- he thought they sounded "too tinny!" He also abhorred spun-over metal rims like those on S.S. Stewart's banjos for the same reason. West African plucked spike lutes share three basic design features. Q&A: Jim Bollman - Antiques And The Arts Weekly The banjo thimble, a precursor to the fingerpicks that are standard in bluegrass playing, increased the volume of banjo soloists performing in the downstroke style on stage. Haslett, MI USA 48840 Shelbyville, TN USA 37160 Born in 1865, W. E. Temlett left school at the age of 14 and entered his father's factory and it was not long before he was appointed manager. during the 1970's. This one produced in 1977 and just recently returned to us. 3 banjo with hardwood neck and nickel plated body, leatherette case. Bloom's Banjos - The Home of the Hornbeam Special SHS International Solid banjos from the company that gave us the legendary Gold Stars of the '70s & '80s. Gold Tone has licensed one model. www.brooksbanjos.com Charlie Poole, who started playing a gourd banjo in his childhood, recorded many sides for Columbia Records in the late 1920s. For several decades, minstrel shows were the most popular form of entertainment in the United States. Between 1893 and 1917, he made more than 500 recordings of ragtime songs, marches, and minstrel material. Russell Springs, KY USA 42642 James established his mechanized instrument factory in Connecticut in the late 1840's Ashborn was the first to apply mass production principles to banjo and guitar making, transforming the homemade artifacts to commercial products. History of the Banjo SC.nb("ken", "levandesign.com", "", "", ""); DP Hopkins, Inc. 1739 South Sheridan Rd. 1.3 3. Steve likes to use the banjo for old-time tunes and to accompany his vocals. SC.nb("FleshrBnjo", "aol.com", "", "", ""); Custom open back 5-string banjos for traditional old-time music. All but four of these referenced Black musicians. Every Bad River Banjo is built one-at-a-time at a deliberate pace, with tools and methods from the late 19th and early 20th century. I am obsessed with banjo as a tool of reclamation for African American artists., Our Native Daughters with Allison Russell on banjo: "Quasheba, Quasheba" (2020). Open-back models, plus an interesting resophonic model. Because they did not fit the White stereotype of hillbilly music, record companies were not interested in recording them, though occasionally Black musicians played in the background on records by White artists. Tsumura covers a great deal of his early collection (one that would grow much more). Realizing the recordings were made only a few decades earlier, disciples of the Anthology began seeking out some of the performers. SC.nb("fnbanjo", "duo-county.com", "", "", ""); Unique. Gold-Tone Banjo was originally formed in 1993. The brand focuses primarily on creating high-quality acoustic stringed instruments, with options available to all ability levels, styles, and budgets. John Tyler was US President, slavery was not going to be abolished in the USA for another 23 years . SC.nb("zachary_hoyt", "yahoo.com", "", "", ""); 118 M Mid Town Court PO Box 1197 BJ005, length 101 cm. +353 91 796156 SC.nb("fiddlintim", "gmail.com", "", "", ""); Chuck Lee Banjo Company, Inc. A. Sloan & Son. Other parts of the "pot" 1.5 5. www.morganmonroe.com Fairview, TN USA Akeman played in the older clawhammer style and rarely took an improvised solo. Carter's Price Guide to Antiques in Australasia is Registered Trademark of John Furphy Pty. Huber Lancaster with HR-30 Tone Ring. William Boucher, Jr., the earliest known commercial manufacturer, started building banjos around 1845 from his shop in Baltimore, Maryland. www.hatfieldbanjos.com www.goldtone.com SC.nb("stelling", "stellingbanjo.com", "", "", ""); Steve Gerritsen SC.nb("info", "tranjo.com", "", "", ""); Colin J. Vance 2 - First Staghorn and first Stelling designed, built for Brian Welchel, also a student. The Anthology was a set of six long-playing records that compiled eighty-four songs initially released on old-time and race record lines in the 1920s and 30s. They also composed new songs on the banjo, often devising unique tunings for the instrument to achieve the desired tonalities. SC.nb("jason", "romerobanjos.com", "", "", ""); Openback and bluegrass banjos, entirely hand made;Standard New Vintage and custom. A Reliance banjo hardwood neck with nickelplated and wood body in a wood case. They share features that differentiate them from West African lutes, including a flat, fretless fingerboard, wooden friction tuning pegs, and the way the neck enters and attaches to the gourd body. J.D. Stedman's specification of the Creole-Bania 's four strings as being "three long and one short" is the first and only period textual description of the typical string configuration for a 4-string early gourd banjo. +1 (931) 580-5742 He learned the instrument from Black musicians in his home state of Virginia. He called it his "Willard's Improved Patent Time Piece". All Rights Reserved. Today, Levinger is the proprietor of Players Vintage Instruments, where he buys and sells vintage guitars, mandolins, banjos, and other musical instruments. During the last decade of the 19th century there were 5 well respected manufacturers of Banjos, doing business between # 161 and #187 1842 .. John Tyler was US President, slavery was not going to be abolished in the USA for another 23 years . www.seedersinstruments.com severe and the loss of companies represents a thinning of the herd. With the group The Weavers, formed in 1948, Seeger took the banjo to the top of the popular music charts multiple times, though the orchestra arrangements on many of their recordings obscured it. +1 (901) 517-5867 However, a wealth of historical research conducted since the 1970s has brought attention to the African roots of the banjo, and performers and scholars have been making efforts to restore the instruments place in Black culture. The images may have been edited by me for The following are my criteria for inclusion in this list. +420 241 760 704 Gura, Philip F., and James F. Bollman. Baltimore City . I love creatingentirely custom instruments drawing from historical sources. PETE ROSS is a banjo maker, researcher, and musician who lives in . 44, Birmingham, circa 1920, 5 strings, 12 brackets, the headstock decorated with engraved stainless steel plating, 91 cm long, English zither banjo, by Windsor, model no. SC.nb("phopkins", "united.net", "", "", ""); I have absolutely no information for this brand at all other than having seen several McKinley banjos, which impressed me. Often referred to as "the red book" (for obvious reasons) by the banjo-collecting world, the books does a great job at identifying and describing some hightly sought banjos. Physical improvements in the instrument had enabled it to produce a sufficiently loud sound. In the book, historian Pete Ross concludes, All three banjos differ enough from African instruments while sharing some details specific to later banjos played and made by European Americans to place them at a point in the banjos history where it was no longer simply a relocated African instrument, but on its way to attaining the structure of the well-known antebellum nineteenth-century banjo.. SC.nb("chuck", "chuckleebanjos.com", "", "", ""); As might be expected from the location, the majority of the business is in 4-string banjos. The Banjo Instrument History: Facts About Banjos - Bestofbanjos.com The sound of the banjo became commonplace with their theme song for the television show The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971) and the prominent placement of their instrumental Foggy Mountain Breakdown in the 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde. Mills River, NC USA Between 1893 and 1917, he made more than 500 recordings of, In the early twentieth century, manufacturers introduced the four-string, or tenor, banjo. William Seeders Mosheim No banjos currently in production, a sad condition for a past great name in instruments. Charlotte, NC USA Box 124 The banjo is a stringed instrument that is, or has been, prominent in American folk, country, bluegrass. By the early 1940s, musicians introduced electric guitars in jazz and blues. As of June 2022, there are 56. By the end of the century, banjo repertoire had expanded from plantation and minstrel tunes to include sentimental popular songs, waltzes, mazurkas, polkas, and ragtime. 18124 Bull Rapids Road www.bishlinebanjos.com It was tuned in fifths, like a mandolin or violin, and played by strumming with a plectrum, also known as a pick. Carter's Price Guide to Antiques in Australasia is Registered Trademark of John Furphy Pty. Later, Sweeny partnered with a drum maker by the name of William Boucher. Meet the Builders - Premium-quality, affordable banjo parts store Danny Moloney Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2016. As products from mail-order companies like Sears & Roebuck became available in the late nineteenth century, rural Americans increasingly purchased inexpensive manufactured instruments. 183 Cloverdale Dr. To the heal a metal plaque bearing 'The new Windsor/ patent zither Banjo/ A.O. More than half of the banjos and players reported were in the Chesapeake Bay states of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Smakula Fretted Instruments; Banjos Everywhere! A listing of notable musicians who play the banjo as a major part of their output include: A listing of celebrities who play the banjo include: American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame members, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Carroll Best: Old-Time 'Fiddle-Style Banjo' from the Great Smoky Mountains", "Perthshire banjo-maker receives special note of thanks from Billy Connolly following documentary appearance", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_banjo_players&oldid=1135301430, This page was last edited on 23 January 2023, at 21:02. No direct sales; through dealers only. 301 Church Street Progressive bluegrass, or newgrass, draws from a wider pool of musical influences than traditional bluegrass and might include more rock and jazz elements. SC.nb("stonebanjocompany", "gmail.com", "", "", ""); From the Sullivans of First Quality Music fame. SC.nb("will", "seedersinstruments.com", "", "", ""); Formerly J. www.deanocraft.com Intermountain Guitar & Banjo - Guitar and Banjo Farris Travel Banjo Company The Earl Scruggs Deluxe five-string banjo made for Scruggs by Vega in 1960 bore more of a resemblance to their ultra fancy tenor and plectrum banjos than the austere five-string banjos typically associated with folk and country musicians. Today, the banjo can be heard in virtually every genre of music. which was documented in its early days by an English settler within the same rural region . They learned directly from the older masters and recorded them to capture their stories, wisdom, and musical approach. Black musicians played the banjo to accompany singing and dancing, sometimes with percussion or hand clapping. These two earliest known white banjo players could both claim Appalachia as "home." Vega also made some of the early Bacon Professional banjos. Box 132 Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers: "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" (1927). 1865- Frank Converse Banjo primer published 1863-1897 James H. Buckbee Co., of New York largest maker. SC.nb("info", "rickardbanjos.com", "", "", ""); A comprehensive lineup including Gold Star, Flinthill, Saga and Rover models. Time Capsule: Found anything interesting in grandad's loft recently? A Few Notes on the Geneology of Vintage Banjo Manufacturers - Bill's Banjos Don't buy the DIY banjo kits; you'll never get satisfaction if something is wrong. He had led the progress of the 5 string banjo to its peak, both as a piece of 1873 two Johns, Dallas & Brewster, were making banjos in Oxford Street, London but after a few years they split and Dallas went out on Was something wrong with the basic Sweeney design? This article comprises two separate lists. Banjos have experienced a resurgence in . Find an This is a list of builders of 5-string banjos, both Bluegrass (5-string resonator) and Traditional (open back) www.capekinstruments.com www.grundybanjos.com An entirely different approach to pot construction. South San Francisco, CA USA 94080 Back to the Future of Open-Back Banjos | Gryphon Strings The Banjo at the Crossroads: Smithsonian Year of Music Object of the The body is a hollow gourd, calabash, or carved wood, covered like a drum with an animal hide. 1994 Gibson RB3 5 string Banjo with Original Case. SC.nb("phopkins", "united.net", "", "", ""); A division of Gibson. Mostly open-back models. 7, Birmingham, circa 1920, 96 cm long, English zither banjo, by Windsor, popular model no. No. This design was firmly ingrained in the New World, as evidenced by the following instruments found across time and distance: the strum strump observed in Jamaica in the late 1680s, the early gourd banjo in John Roses watercolor (sometimes called The Old Plantation) from South Carolina around 1785,and the banza collected in Haiti in 1841. James Hartel has been making and playing banjos on and off since 1973 when he made a banjo for his 2 year old daughter. Banjo music is as popular as it has ever been. Thomas Dartmouth Rice started the minstrel craze in 1828 with his song and dance Jump Jim Crow. Joel Walker Sweeney was the first minstrel performer to play the banjo. In 2019, Giddens, in collaboration with Black banjo players Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell, released the album Songs of Our Native Daughters. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2018. Eminence, MS USA 1898 was a good year Unlike the fiddle, which African Americans played far more commonly, the banjo was primarily a southern instrument. One of two makers of the Encore Automatic Banjo, incorporated in 1896. The pairing of fiddle and banjo, which integrated Celtic American fiddle and African American banjo styles, became central to song and dance traditions. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2007. The banjo is frequently associated with folk, bluegrass and country music, and has also been used in . Virtuosos like Bela Fleck have continued to extend the range of what a banjo can do. Ken LeVan Poco, New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and others carried country-rock into the 1970s and beyond. The Banjo's Early Days. In this day and age research into most subjects can start with the internet, but sometimes what is posted is simply perpetuating a myth. Get this mug with a donation of $45 or more! However, the nature of the fixed intervals requires some compromise in intonation. These builders may make other types as well. Many White musicians learned to play banjo directly from African Americans. 3733 Kenora Drive +1 (619) 464-8252 Pete Ross Banjos | Baker Artist Portfolio In many cases, banjos were made using gourds and animal skins. Banjos like classic Paramounts, Vegas, Coles, and S.S. Stewarts serve as the standards by which the makers at Arthur E. Smith measure their work. The 1890s brought the dawn of recorded sound with Thomas Edisons phonograph and Emile Berliners gramophone. www.hicklerbanjo.com The tenor banjo lacked the short fifth string, which provided a single-note musical drone. Box 8190 Create your own unique website with customizable templates.