next maker .. was born in St Saviours Southwark, Surrey ( which was incorporated into the county of London on 1st April 1889 ). In 1864 William Temlett established a workshop for making banjos at 95 Union Street, London, S.E., with F. Roberts in charge of production. ( a typo on the original British Banjo Makers web site, and now a lot of others, has this date incorrectly as 1846) At first, the banjos produced were smooth-arm 6- and 7-string instruments with crude deep wooden hoops of 12 in. and 13 in. diameter and fitted with not more than a dozen heavy brackets and guitar type machine heads. A single machine head was fitted at the side of the neck for the octave string. On November 20, 1869, Temlett was granted a patent for his first closed-back banjo which can rightly be considered the forerunner of the zither-banjo. This instrument had seven strings and Temlett called his revolutionary new instrument "the suspended sound board banjo." (The principle was used in later years in other banjos, notably the "Vegavox." ) In the 1871 census he was listed as a concertina maker! By 1876 W. Temlett was making early versions (with very little metalwork in their construction) of what was later to become known as the "zither-banjo" and after Cammeyer had launched his instrument with this name, Temlett called himself "the pioneer of the zither banjo . A feature of a lot of Temlett's zither banjos was the prolific use of mother-of-pearl inlays. He used decorations down each side of the fingerboard and between each fret and even round the upper edge of the hoop. When the demand for zither banjos increased to such phenomenal proportions round about 1880, Temlett moved his factory to larger premises at 44 Southwark Bridge Road and there made the thousands of instruments bearing his name and the many hundreds of others sold under various retailers' names. In 1888 he was granted a patent for a banjo hoop which bulged out with a curve around the bottom; the tension bolts passing through holes in the upper part of this curved bulge and the nuts concealed within the bottom of the bulge. (This idea was later used by other makers, e.g. Gibson in America and Merriman in England.) Although zither-banjos account for the majority of the instruments made by W. Temlett, he also made some worthwhile open - back five string banjos. Early in 1900 he suffered a paralytic stroke from which he never fully recovered. He died on May 2, 1904, in Guy's hospital of Bright's disease and cerebral haemorrhage. William Temlett's son, William Ernest , had started work in his father's factory in early boyhood but left at the age of thirty to form his own business. 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. But as he grew older, disagreements with his father became more frequent and in 1895 he left to form his own business. He set up a workshop at 29 Charlotte Street, Blackfriars, London, S.E., and for some years keen rivalry waged between father and son. Pictures courtesy of Brown Dog Banjos William Temlett Snr. 1841 to 1904

The Slingerland Banjo Company was established in Chicago around 1915 by Henry Heanon. By the 1920s they were manufacturing a wide range of instruments including banjos, banjo-mandolins, banjo-ukuleles, guitars and mandolins, under the "May-Bell" label, from premises at 1815 Orchard Street, Chicago, Illinois. The company later changed its name to the Slingerland Banjo and Drum Company and subsequently, in the 1930's, to the Slingerland Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company. The Slingerland name is currently owned by Gibson. Pictures of MayBell courtesy of Intermountain Guitar & Banjo Pictures of banjo-uke courtesy of John Kay Slingerland next maker

....Samuel Bowley Barnes (b 1872 in Wimborne, Dorset) and Albert Edward Mullins (b 1873 in Bristol) were boyhood friends in their home town of Wimborne where they worked together at the local grocers shop. As young men they decide to join forces to become dealers in musical instruments; mainly selling banjos and mandolins in which they were particularly interested. Being players of no mean ability their public appearances helped them to sell their goods and soon they were despatching instruments all over the country, also because of their advertising and the launching (in February 1894) of their monthly fretted Instrument magazine called “The 'Jo." ("The 'Jo" title was changed to “The Troubadour" after a couple of years.) Both their sets of parents had died during the 1880's and while Mullins was living with his brother in law in 1891 neither appear on the 1901 census. They started to sell their "own" make of banjo but these were made for them by J. G. Abbott , W. E. Temlett . Windsor , Matthew , etc. - the usual makers "to the trade" at that time. It was in 1897 they patented their “mute attachment" which was fitted to B. & M. zither-banjos and worked from under the vellum. At the end of 1900 they moved to London and established themselves at Rathbone Place, off London's Oxford Street, as a wholesale house in all musical instruments and merchandise and, soon after, started their own workshops at Harrow, Middlesex. which at first were under the supervision of John G Abbott. During the dance-band boom they marketed- their "Lyratone" banjos, plectrum banjos and tenor-banjo which enjoyed considerable popularity. A feature of these instruments was the all-metal construction of the hoops. In 1924 Barnes was granted a patent simplifying the tensioning of the skin on a zither banjo through a redesigned tension ring. They ceased making banjos soon after the outbreak of World War II. the instruments branded "B. & M." sold from about 1965, have been made for them in Germany. Barnes 1872-1932 & Mullins 1873-1954 Barnes & Mullins No.1 Perfect with the adjustable dowl stick, made by Windsor Next maker

The Fender Co. of Santa Ana California did not make any banjos until the latter part of 1965 when they acquired the plant and manufacturing rights of Gariepy Banjos , a firm which had been conducted by the banjo maker Art Gariepy of Long Beach Cal. “Fender” banjos are well made showing the craftsmanship of their former maker. Fender Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

In January 1924 E L BAiley of 455 Fifth Ave, Brooklyn, New York, advertised a new tenor banjo with:"a tone chamber that gives the resonant tone of the 5 string banjo". From photographs it would appear that the hoop of the instrument was built on the same principles as the early Dobson "bell echo" hoop. Pictures and description courtesy of Steve Prior Ed L Bailey Internal Resonator 5 String . Seems this guy was making high quality banjos but I’ve personally never seen two the same. I have seen banjo mandolins and tenors but all vary in construction, tone rings etc. Build quality is very good and up there with the likes of Bacon and Vega. Lovely headstock, extended fingerboard. This one has a bacon style round rod ring. Very fine player, lovely tone, I prefer it to my Bacon FF . E L Bailey next maker

Stromberg-Voisinet 1890 - 1931 next maker Stromberg-Voisinet started out as the Groeschel Co. in 1890 making mandolins. By the 1920's they we making banjos, ukuleles and guitars and in 1921 the company was incorporated as Stromberg-Voisinet. In 1928 they produced what is recognised as the first electric guitar operating out of 312 Union Park Court, Chacago. The Kay Musical Instrument Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1931 by Henry Kay Kuhrmeyer from the remnants of Stromberg-Voisenet of which he was president 1928. Images courtesy of James Fabian

... of Brixton London, was a teacher, composer and banjo entertainer who started to play the banjo in 1879. He used to advertise that he used only his "own make" of banjo which he was always ready and willing to sell to his pupils and other interested persons. No further details of either Henderson or his banjos have been unearthed although it is known he was still flourishing in 1901. Walter Henderson Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Muse Banjos of Jamestown, Star Route, Boulder, Colorado was the same company as Ode . Muse Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

L Yosco Manufacturing Co. The Iosco familly emigrated from Italy to the US in 1877 and Rocco Lorenzo Iosco (b 1869) changed his name to Lawrence Yosco. He began maufacturing fretted instruments, at the turn of the 20th C and by 1919 had premises at 204 W 34th Street, NY. In that year he was granted a patent on his "double rim" banjo, effectively a resonator with a 3" void built into the rim. While Yosco made Italian style bowl backed mandolins, guitars and 4 string banjos, no 5 string models appear to have been made. Images courtesy of Mike Amato, Bedford Banjo Shop, PA www.bedfordbanjoshop.com next maker

.. from Boston, MASS. A contemporary maker in the style of Fairbanks & Cole during the last decade of the 19th C. It is possible that he at one time worked for them and even sourced some of his components from them. Images by Dave Matchette, courtesy of Elderly Instruments Harry Oakes next maker

A Stanley of Ecclestone St. SW was a maker of Zither banjos in the early 1900's. It is not known if this was A Stanley Senior or Junior. also see see Greeno p Arthur Stanley Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

G Tester next maker The name G Tester, Clapham (in Surrey) appears on the perch pole of this well made banjo. Nothing else is known of this maker/retailer/owner, however it has all the hallmarks of a Richard Spencer made banjo dating from around 1910-15. Bertolle sold the "B&T" model which was almost certainly made by the same maker. Note the bracket nuts inside the pot of this instrument which are identical to both the B&T and the CE "Imperial" model of the same period .. and they both have the "Spencer" style laminated neck.