We get all sorts of feedback from people, mostly friendly and Michael Wright, rightly wanted to put right the middle S in S S Stewart....

Apologies for being away and thanks to our resident designer Ginny for putting the site back together. Our website host was taken over,...

In this day and age research into most subjects can start with the internet, but sometimes what is posted is simply perpetuating a myth. ...

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 . 7 years earlier was the...

Well built in Philadelphia (note the rosewood pot) around 1886 this 130 year old Samuel Stewart Piccolo travelled the world and ended up...

... except Samuel S Stewart was not a well man. 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? to answer this question you have to relate banjo manufacturing in both the USA and the...

From the cubby box of a JA Turner "Alvey" 5 string, how about this little collection, probably cost about six and thruppence ha'penny in...

Two top-of-the-line instruments from two top makers plying their trades across the pond. The Chicago-made Washburn model 422 turned up...

Having just had a banjo made out of English yew by artisan maker Dave Stacey, this Williamson of Lincoln, turns up with a yew neck along...