Swaim’s the name
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....
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VBM Revamped
Apologies for being away and thanks to our resident designer Ginny for putting the site back together. Our website host was taken over,...
Fact or history?
In this day and age research into most subjects can start with the internet, but sometimes what is posted is simply perpetuating a myth. ...
Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts
During the last decade of the 19th century there were 5 well respected manufacturers of Banjos, doing business between # 161 and #187...
J W Sweeny, the 1st or perhaps the 3rd?
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...
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...
1898 was a good year
... 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...
Does the peg head profile really tell you the maker?
1873 two Johns, Dallas & Brewster, were making banjos in Oxford Street, London but after a few years they split and Dallas went out on...
Why the “zither” banjo ?
Was something wrong with the basic Sweeney design? to answer this question you have to relate banjo manufacturing in both the USA and the...
Time Capsule: Found anything interesting in grandad's loft recently?
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 little gems from opposites sides of the pond
Two top-of-the-line instruments from two top makers plying their trades across the pond. The Chicago-made Washburn model 422 turned up...
Yew: taxus baccata
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...