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... was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire but moved to live with his brother in Broughton, Lancashire , where in 1881, he was a musical instrument maker, including organs. By 1901 he was married with two daughters living in Stockport, Cheshire, and was a self employed piano tuner and musical instrument repairer. He had also changed his name to Crosbie. Joseph Crosby 1857 to .. next maker

In the early 1920’s The Regal Musical Instrument Co., of 3211 W Grand Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, included banjos amongst instruments they made and these were mainly sold through the big American wholesalers, e.g. Tonk Brothers of Chicago and Bugelesein & Jacobean of New York. It is not known when they left Chicago but in 1965 Fender Sales Inc., of Santa Anna California were marketing five models of “Regal “banjos which, it was stated, were “distributed exclusively” by Fender. Picture courtesy of Bruce K . Regal Next Maker

... was born in Clapham, Surrey and out of 9 Falcon Road, Battcrsea, London, S.W., he was initially known as a maker of flat-back mandolins of his own design but he did make a number of banjos and zither-banjos; mainly for other firms, to sell as their own make. In 1896 he was granted a patent pertaining to zither-banjo construction in conjunction with J E Brewster . In February 1899, in conjunction with W E Temlett , he was granted a patent for a roller-"nut" but there is no indication how he came to co-operate with Temlett. However in 1911 at age 34 he was recorded as a Banjo Maker, married with two sons and two daughters, not as an employer but working for others, and living at 25 Khyber Road, Battersea S W. He died in the late 1940s when Clifford Essex & Son acquired his stock of timber, etc Frederick Langham 1877 to c 1947 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Following a tour of Englad with his brother George (b 1857) the African-American James Bohee established a teaching studio in Coventry Street, London, in 1882. He first sold S. S. Stewart banjos at exorbitant prices to his pupils but before long he decided it was more profitable to sell his "own" banjos. These had a 12 inch hoop, plain nickel-silver, fingerboard without any fret markings, and push-in ivory pegs. When the Prince of Wales, who was soon to become King Edward VII, took lessons from him, the banjo craze hit British High Society. It is said he was a shrewd business man and asked as much as £50 for one of his banjos, a truly great price when one realises the highest-priced instruments at that time were 9 or 10 guineas. Bohee banjos were branded "Champion" and Alfred Weaver made the majority of them, although some were said to have been made by Arthur Tilley of Surbiton. Bohee died in 1897 but his brother liver on to 1930. James Bohee ... 1844 to 1897 Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... founded the company in Schönbach which was in Germany in 1887. He became the largest manufacturer of string instruments in the country and his two sons Josef and Walter joined the company just after the 1st WW taking the Hofner brand's reputation round the world. After the turbulence of World War II the company moved in 1950 to Bubenreuth in Western Germany. Karl Höfner Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Kohler & Son were established about 1780 and in 1790 were based at Whitcomb Street, London. By 1835 they were manufacturers and contractors for all military instruments to the War Office, the British Army, Navy and India office. In 1851 John Kohler (b 1804 Middlesex) was manufacturing musical instruments and living at 35 Henrietta Street with his wife Elizabeth, four children and two servants. 10 years later he was employing 6 men and 4 boys at the same address but was now living next door at #33 with two more children. They manufactured for other specialist suppliers including Harper’s Slide Trumpets and McFarland’s Cornopeans and won prizes for their brass instruments. They moved from 35 Henrietta Street, Convent Garden to 116 Victoria Street, Westminster about 1881. In 1899 they also had offices round the corner in in 12A Gt Chapel Street London. Then in 1902 to 167 Edbury Street, Eaton Square and by 1914 had moved to 183-5 Piccadilly. During the banjo boom they imported what appear to be Buckbee instruments marked “Hero trademark” yetcertainly had the skills to manufacture their own. Images courtesy of Richard Evans Kohler & Son next maker

John Alvey Turner .. 1885 to date next maker .. established his first general music shop in the City of London in 1885 and from the early days sold all types of fretted instruments, including his "own make" banjos and zither banjos. The firm has never maintained its own workshops; all high specification instruments bearing the name of John Alvey Turner having been made for them by Temlett , Windsor, Wilmshurst , Dallas , Cammeyer , J. G. Abbott and from 1945 until his retirement in 1956, Sidney Young .

... of 23/25 Constitution Hill Birmingham were established in 1851 as Musical Instrument Merchants, Patentees and Manufacturers." In 1894 they had a stand at the Birmingham Industrial Exhibition on which they displayed and advertised themselves as being agents for Windsor banjos and zither-banjos. Following the success of this Exhibition, they engaged Olly Oakley to demonstrate Windsor instruments in their store. ( In March 1892 Windsor teamed up with Arthur J.Taylor, a prominent Birmingham teacher who taught Olly Oakley, who was working in Taylor's shop at this time. This employment came to an abrupt end and Oakley went to work for Joseph Riley where he sold Windsor & Taylor banjos ). They appear to have started to manufacture their own banjos and zither-banjos a year later and in 1896 filed a patent for an improved zither-banjo, "the inner hoop, or hoop proper, having, outwardly projecting lugs round the bottom edge, which rest on corresponding inwardly projecting lugs on the outer hoop or casing." In the same patent they also included the specification of making, the necks of banjos and like instruments, hollow. In 1897 the firm was advertising its "Riley-Baker Perfected Banjo" in which the hoop was "stiftened or reinforced by an internal annular flange or horizontal feather, which is directed internally from the inside walls , at a point rarther abovce the middle line of the hoop; which is made of two diameters, the upper part being the smaller" The instrument comprised many other improvements which included a tailpiece which was perfected by Grover some years later. The Riley- Baker zither-banjos and the firm’s “Mikado” banjos (a feature of which was the amount of aluminium used in their construction) were widely advertised and John Pidoux was signed up to demonstrate them for the company, in which he played a teaching and advisory role for a few years. John Pidoux played a Riley-Baker zither –banjo at a Will C Peper concert at the St. Martin in the Fields Town Hall, London in May 1898 but the tone of the instrument was said by a critic to be “disappointing”. In 1901, the firms “Jubilee Year” they announced that they had 2000 banjos in stock! .. but they discontinued making banjos and zither-banjos three years later in 1904. Pictures courtesy of John Jukes, .. also see Riley-Baker This Riley, pictures courtesy of Clay Mileson shows the influence of the Stewart Special Thoroughbred on the decoration and carving. Joseph Riley 1831 - next maker

... was a banjo manufacturer in Cleveland, Ohio, active from about 1873 to about 1900. No two instruments are alike, and it is probable that they were built-to-order. All have spun-over rims, necks of Walnut, and metal hardware made in-house. Earlier instruments have metal inlays, square tension and shoe nuts, and a unique bulge at the 5th peg which encloses the peg. Many of the earlier instruments are fretless. Later instruments eliminated the neck bulge, used mostly shell inlay, and had fancier tension and shoe hardware. Two instruments have appeared with a cast metal neck adjusting apparatus, similar in function to that used on The Cole "Eclipse" banjos, but unique to French. Some instruments carry engraved metal presentation or owner's name/initial plates For more information go here Bio and pictures courtesy of Andy Fitzgibbon J. Lafayette French 1843 to 1918 next maker

.. in 1881 his son was listed as a Musical Instrument Seller living in Kensington, married with a son and daughter. From 1891 to the turn of the century he was as Musical Instrument Manufacturer living in Fulham where he died in 1911. His unmarried son George Joseph Butler (b1864-1950) carried on the business Manufacturing Musical Instruments. A zither-banjo marked "Butler, Haymarket, London" passed through the hands of A.P Sharpe but no other details of this maker of (or possibly dealer in) musical instruments were discovered at the time (1960s) Images courtest of the estate of Richard Evans George Butler 1798 - 1867 next maker

Charles G Long 1827 to 1908 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker .. was born in Carlisle, Cumberland (as it was known in 1827), England and was taken at an early age to America. Here he developed in to a child prodigy and by 1844/45 was a member of The Virginian Serenaders. When he retired from minstrelsy about 1868 he was associated with George T Rees in the management of the academy of music in Selma, Alabama and made banjos.

.. was one of the pioneers of modern American banjo playing. At the turn of the century when he found it impossible to purchase a banjo to suit his ideas, he built his own and continued to do so up until his death in November 1960. At one time in his career he advanced the “hole in the vellum” idea in conjunction with a special “plate” resonator he devised and eventually the “van Eps recording banjo” was produced. This banjo had a shaped alloy bowl set under the vellum which reflect the sound through a hole cut in the latter, the top edge of the bowl forms a tone ring. This Van Eps design does not have a flush fret fingerboard or a seperate tone ring. The flush fret model has a 28 ½“ scale, 12” vellum, flush frets with a concave space in between, “fool-proof” pegs, long pressure tailpiece, tone rind devised by WB Farmer, and lamp “heaters” fixed to the perch-pole under the vellum to ensure a board tight soundboard. He made 24 of these. Although Fred van Eps continued to make banjos all his life, being a master craftsman and engineer as well as a maestro of the banjo his commercial models were marketed by Lyon & Healy of Chicago, who stressed the fact that the instruments they sold were distributed by them being made by “The van Eps & Burr Corporation”. He finally made it to England in 1954. In 1962 Art Gariepy (who traded as Gariepy Banjos) of 46 E Market Street, Long Beach, California announced that he had taken over “the van Eps Classical flush fret banjo” but he sold out to the Fender Company in 1962 and no more van Eps banjos were made. Pictures courtesy of The Turtle Hill Banjo Company. Clarification on the different Van Eps designs courtesy of Pat Doyle Van Eps 4 string Recording Banjo Fred van Eps 1878 to 1960 next maker