.. 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.

John Clamp Snr 1833 - 1907 next maker .. born in Durham, Northumberland was a cabinet maker who in 1881 was living at 8 Sandyford Square in the centre of Newcastle, with five daughters and a son. By 1891 he was registered as a Banjo Manufacturer working from home and 1898 he had moved to 22 Simpson Street in the St Andrews district still making banjos at home and by 1901 his 24 year old daughter Cecilia Clamp was a "Teacher of Banjo" and performer. No doubt her students provided a ready market for his banjos. His son John had by now married but carried on with his father’s original profession as a Cabinet Maker in the Tyne & Wear shipyards. Among the banjos he made were ornately inlaid, high quality instruments with carved heels and heads. Initially fretless and subsequently fretted. His early range of flush fret banjos across three styles were available in over 120 different options of pot size, scale length, materials and 5, 6 and 7 strings. They were named the Trick , Drawing Room and Stage models with pot sizes from 9-13" and priced between £3.0.0 and 12 Guineas. He had been a banjo manufacturer for 25 years by the time he died and initially with a family of six to support. Hence the evidence is, contrary to the AP Sharpe article in BMG that he "made only 30 banjos in his lifetime", that he made many hundreds of banjos and it is likely that what was said was "30 banjos per year during his lifetime." It would appear he actually made 550+ during his lifetime. Images courtesy of Gene Parsons at STRINGBENDER PRODUCTS . Clamp fretless images courtesy of Alec Somerville

, .. of Stockwell, London flourished from 1880 to 1912. during which time he advertised himself as a "Professional Banjo Maker" and sole manufacturer of the “lmproved Eureka Banjo." Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? A J Shepherd next maker

was born in Kentish Town, London in 1859 William James Clifford Essex. In 1882 he disolved the Herbert & Co. Wine Merchant partnership, he had with James Herbert. In 1893 Clifford Essex and Alfred D. Cammeyer formed a partnership with offices and teaching studios at 59 Piccadilly, London. At first, the banjos and zither-banjos they sold under the brand name of " Essex & Cammeyer " where made for them by Temlett , Weaver , Wilmshurst and Windsor but early in 1896 they opened their own workshops at 13 Greek Street, Soho, and were soon employing fourteen workmen to make banjos and zither-banjos for them. Clifford Essex dissolved his partnership with Cammayer in 1900 he formed his own firm at 15a Grafton Street, off New Bond Street, London. W. and instruments bearing. the name Clifford Essex Co." were put on the market. At first all the banjos were made for Clifford Essex by Spencer , Weaver, Langham (in London) and Houghton (of Birmingham) -but in 1904 he started his own workshops at The Oval, Kensington, with Alfred Dare as foreman. When Richard Spencer died in 1915, Clifford Essex bought his plant and stock and took his key makers into his employ. Although most of the CIifford Essex banjos sold in the early days were made in the Clifford Essex workshops, many he were still made by the above-mentioned outside makers; notably Richard Spencer. The Weaver- made banjos were made to Weaver's own design although they were sold with the Clifford Essex label on them. It should be emphasised that every Clifford Essex banjo (except the "Popular" model) was hand-made and each instrument individually assembled which often accounts for slight variations in models. and by then only their cheapest model (The "Popular') was made outside their own work-shops by Houghton of Birmingham. In February 1936 the firm became a private limited company and the title changed to "Clifford-Essex & Son Ltd.”. Soon after the outbreak of World War II the manufacture of banjos (and other instruments) was greatly reduced owing,, to shortage of materials and the military call-up of workmen. When the firm went into liquidation in 1942 manufacture ceased. The new company. with the title "Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd." has made a few -special" banjos since 1945 and these bear the initials "C.E." in mother-of pearl inlaid into the peghead. From the cheapest to the dearest (£3.10.0. to £60) Clifford Essex banjos carried the following model names : Popular" "Clipper", "Imperial", "C.E. Special", Boudoir Grand", "Professional" (the only 12 in. hoop model), "Regal", "X.X.'Special" (later called, Concert Grand"), "Paravox" (an instrument designed on the 'Vegavox" lines with an 11 in. vellum, "Paragon", "New Paragon", "Paragon Artist" and "Paragon de Luxe" (the last two being gold plated). In addition tile firm produced three grades of zither-banjo: "Grade 111" (the cheapest), "Grade 11" and "Grade 1”. To enable an owner of a Clifford Essex banjo to "date" his instrument, one can tell by the address in conjunction with the firm's title. 1900 to 1936 15a Grafton Street, London W, 1936 to 1942 90 Shaftesbury Ave., . 1942 to 1957 8 New Compton St., 1957 on 20 Earlham Street. Additional informtion .. cliffordessex.net Clifford Essex .. 1859 to 1946 next maker

Established in 1873 by A Stathopoulo, “The House of Stathopoulo” were in the beginning manufacturers of most fretted instruments except banjos. The first banjos were made in 1876. In the early 1920’s, as the Epiphone Banjo Corporation it launched its “Epiphone Recording Banjo” in both tenor and plectrum models. 5 string banjos were only supplied to special order. The sales of these instruments which included new principles of hoop and neck construction was so phenomenal that in 1925 the firm bought the factory of the Favoran Co. at 35 Wilbur Avenue, long Island, NY, and moved all its production there closing its factory in NY City. In 1928 it became Epiphone Banjo Corporation. By 1935 the company, now named Epiphone Inc. , had eleven models of their “Recording Banjos” , the instruments ranged in price from $150 - $500, in addition to two models of electric tenor-banjo which could be supplied as plectrum-banjos to special order. Product ion stopped abruptly when America entered WW2 and did not start again until the 1950’s when the banjo started to be used again in entertainment circles and the address of the company at this time was 142 W. 14th St. NY City. On 5th April 1957 the Harmony Company of Chicago purchased the company and continued to market four models of the banjos. Epaminondes A Stathopoulo (who always signed himself “Epi”), president of the company died on 6th June 1943. Pictures courtesy of Stuart Morrison Epiphone next maker

Towards the end of the 1920’s three engineer brothers named Barnes in the Woolwich area decided to make banjos. They slavishly copied the Essex "Paragon" model and named their product "Paratone." At a superficial glance it was difficult to tell the two makes apart, it is not known when they ceased making banjos. Barnes Brothers Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... the eldest of 8 children born in Lancashire (Ulverston?) he always advertised himself as "the pioneer maker of mandolins and guitars in Great Britain" and from about 1886 appears to have also made zither- banjos in his factory at 4a Kentish Town Road, London. A feature of these instruments was the balalaika-type of machine head faced with a highly engraved nickel silver plate; all the buttons being on the one side. About the year 1890 he produced a banjo with a hoop of aluminum and claimed to be the first to use this metal for a banjo hoop. In 1893, in conjunction with J. E. Nott-Barnes, he was running the St.Cecilia B.M. & G. Club in which he later claimed to have played the first piccolo banjo, an instrument he had himself made. (In 1896 he was the official conductor of the club at its concerts.) In May 1903 , Messrs James Sinton Ltd. of 151/153 Wardorf Street, London, were advertising "J. G. Winder mandolins etc. are made in our London workshops" yet in the picture of his "factory" is a notice"Albert Hopkins sole agent for J G Winder's English Made Mandolines and Banjos" In February 1910 he wrote from 532 Caledonian Road, London, N. "as a musical instrument maker" to the President of the Board of Trade (on the occasion of the opening of "Labour Exchanges") suggesting a scheme for teaching the making of musical instruments. He said he would like to see established a "School of Musical Instrument Making" with reading room. library and museum "to teach in a first-class and up-to-date manner." John Geldert Winder 1859 to 1931 next maker

next maker Abbott trained as a cabinet maker and was a maker of banjos from about 1895 and sold under his own name and made for other firms and teachers (e.g. Barnes & Mullins , John Alvey Turner , Norton Greenop , Charles Skinner, Len Shevill , G. Scarth) . When Barnes &, Mullins came to London in 1901,and soon after, started their own workshops at Harrow, Middlesex, John G. Abbott supervised the making of the Barnes & Mullins banjos and zither-banjos. In 1905 he left Barnes & Mullins to form his own company with the title of J. G (George). Abbott & Co. and a factory at 97/99 Hampstead Road, London, N.W.l. The instruments they made were grouped under the general names of "Mirabile" (banjos), "Monarch" (plectrum-banjo and tenor-banjos) and Amboyna" (Zither-banjos). About 1928 his workshops were transferred to 44 Chalton Street,Euston Road (where his son-learned the art of instrument making) and four years later he became, part of the Besson Co., when his works were transferred to Besson’s premises at Stanhope Place, Marble Arch, London, when the making of banjos virtually ceased, his activities being devoted to making plectrum guitars (sold under the brand of "Aristone"). In 1936 he suffered from serious internal trouble from which he never fully recovered. He died on February 11, 1938 after a brief illness. John (“Jack") Abbott, son of the above learned the craft of instrument making in his father's workshops. When his father joined Besson & Co. in 1932, he established his own one room work-shops at various addresses in London for the making of, mostly, guitars. He did make a few banjos and even steel guitars with a pickup, which were branded "Abbott-Victor”. He gave up business in 1957. John G Abbott 1878 to 1938

...of 193 Great Brinswick Street, Dublin was a successful teacher of the banjo and a promoter of local concerts from about 1890 to the turn of the century. He sold banjos bearing his name as maker but it is thought they were made for him by Barnes & Mullins. C F Allen Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker