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Elias Howe 1820 to 1895 next maker EH & Co. was founded in 1840 by Elias Howe Jr, made banjos in the last quarter of the 19th C in the Boston Mass., area. (He should not be confused with his cousin Elias Howe who was born in 1819 and invented the sewing machine.) He started out as a student of the fiddle and in 1840 published a book of the tunes he had collected and this developed into a music publishing business, the rights to which he sold to Oliver Ditson in 1842. During the Civil war he made drums and fifes for the Massechusetts Regiment and no doubt his knowledge of drums spilled over into banjo making in the early 1880's. The company bought out HC Barnes in 1898 and had numerous models in two ranges of banjos, their Academy (bottom end) and Superbo (top end)). Images courtesty of the estate of Richard Evans

Joseph Wallis 1826 - next maker Joseph Wallis a flute maker founded his company in 1848 and it initially grew making woodwind and brass instruments then went on to include the piano, harmonium and organ. It became Joseph Wallis and Son in 1883 operating out of 133-5 Euston Road London and was exporting instruments all over the world. The company won medals at the 1885 London Exhibition and about that time was importing either Banjos or Banjo parts (and assembling them) from JH Buckbee in New York. He was still listed as a banjo/multiple musical in strument maker out of the same address in 1915. 6 or 7 string banjos were specifically made for the English market and are rarely seen it the USA. The originally gut strung example clearly shows the “JHB” of Buckbee and includes the "Guaranteed American Made" impression on the dowel stick. Images courtesy of Maurice Benton

.... was closely associated with the fretted instrument industry for over forty years. He played the banjo with the Moore & Burgess Minstrels and The Stavordales but was more widely known for his long partnership with Arthur Stanley Sr. The team of Stanley & Greenop toured every Music Hall in the United Kingdom from 1903 more than once and even did a tour of South Africa. The partnership broke up just prior to the outbreak of World War I. At the turn of the century, Norton Greenop designed and sold the first banjos to bear his name as maker but these instruments were made for him by John E. Dallas . They included several unusual features and were a cross between a banjo and a zither banjo with a lot of metal in the hoop. The tone was inclined to be metallic. In 1926 John Alvey Turner Ltd. were agents for his "Tonetube" banjos, plectrum- banjos and tenor banjos. Again this was a zither-banjo type of instrument, the brackets passing through circular tubes which were said to add tone to the instrument, "functioning as the sound post of the violin. Instead of the hoop being enclosed at the back (ala zither banjo) it had a concave "receiving pan" insert "to project the tone forwards." At this time Norton Greenop was carrying on a music business at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex and conducting his own dance band. He died on December 27th, 1930, after playing at a dance. Images courtesy of Glen Morris Norton Greenop 1868 to 1930 next maker

Reliance was the trading name of George Houghton & Son Reliance Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

..... was working in Ravenswood Illinois in the 1880s Cubley was an earlier maker and one of the first to use a metal rod for the dowel stick and a metal/metal spun pot. In 1893 he was involved in a Patent dispute with Henry Dobson’s wife Catherine who claimed that these metal pots infringed her patents with regard to the improved tone from the Dobson bell shaped metal tone ring. Cubley argued successfully that his banjos used metal differently and had inferior tone to the Dobson’s and the claim was dismissed. What this does show however is how big the banjo industry had become in the 1890’s that this case had to be decided by the US Supreme Court images courtesy of Richard Evans estate Edwin J Cubley next maker

.. in 1893 started making mandolins with a carved front and back in a small room over a shop in Main Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA and such beautiful works of art were his instruments that he had no difficulty in selling them. A true craftsman he took pride in the production of the revolutionary mandolins he fashioned with loving care. Some 450 miles away in Rochester New York an enthusiastic teacher of the mandolin names L A Williams had been buying Gibson mandolins by mail to sell to his pupils but could not get enough instruments to meet his demands. In the summer of 1902 Mr Williams travelled to Kalamazoo and after lengthy discussions with Gibson tool a leading part in the promotion of the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Co. with the sole aim of increasing output. Sylvo Reams was appointed secretary and general manager. Bigger premises were acquired and woodworking craftsmen taken on to assist Orville. Under Reams’ guidance the company grew and flourished and with Williams in charge of advertising and promotion the products of the firm became more and more popular and well known the world over, but Reams died on 5th January 1917. Gibson, a genius at devising and manufacturing the unusual turned his attention to the banjo early in 1900; his main objective at the time being to add strength to the hoop of the banjo. In Boston, Mass (a hive of industry as far as the banjo was concerned) “tone rings” were being developed and launched along with various devices for improving both the necks and the hoops . Gibson devised an all wood hoop with a “shelf”, under which a metal “bracket band” was housed. Business boomed and in July the company opened its new $75,000 factory at 500 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo, but less than six years later he had to move to number 900 to what was claimed to be the fine s tans most up-to-date equipped factory of any in the industry at the time. For its “designer and acoustical engineer” the company has Lloyd a Loar a musician of the highest rank. He had studied harmony and theory and the physics of music at several American colleges and was a graduate in Physics, Geometry and Mechanics. His was the guiding hand behind the Gibson instruments for many years until his death in 1943. The next major development in the company’s banjos took place in 1922 when the “Gibson Tone Projector” was produced. This was a device, it was claimed “actually projects the tone” which resonators do not accomplish”. A year later LA Williams, who had done so much to make the company what is was, resigned due to ill health. Unlike most banjo makers of the period the early Gibson banjos were fitted with machine heads and not pegs. The next innovation was the famous “Mastertone” banjos and tenor-banjos, fitted with the normal type of resonator. At first the tenor banjos were made to a 19” scale – “just short enough to allow the average hand to use mandolin fingering: that is, seven frets up to the first position but long enough to give all the pep and snap allowed by law”. Soon after the company came into line with other tenor-banjo makers and lengthened the scale. From 1926 all “Mastertone” banjos were fitted with the normal type tone ring but during the period 1932 to 1935 the company also marketed a banjo without any tone ring and it is this instrument, using the full diameter of the 11” vellum, that finds great favour with present day American “Folk” banjoists. When America entered WWII in 1942 the making of banjos ceased because of the government’s limitations on the amount of metal allowed in any one musical instrument. The company was able to make mandolins and guitars and the factory also made aircraft components. In 1944 the Gibson name and plant was acquired by the Chicago Music Instrument Company of Chicago and in 1948 they started to make “Gibson” banjos and by the 1960’s were selling four models of tenor, plectrum and 5 string banjos incorporating the best features of the pre war instruments. Pictures courtesy of Smakulas Fretted Instruments Orville Gibson Next Maker

The Rosetti was one of their brands and "Lucky Joe" a model. for more information see Egmond Company www.egmond.se next maker

James W Skinner 1856 - next maker .... born in Berkshire he was married in 1880 when he was employed as a baker’s porter. In 1891 he operated his banjo retailing business out of 174 Friar Street, Reading, Berkshire at the peak of its popularity, he was recorded in the census as James S living with his wife Harriet E and four daughters at no. 127 Friar Street.. No doubt he was a contemporary of AW Deane . Ten years later he had three more children and was employed as an Engineers Fitter, living at 736 Harrow Road, Kensal Green, London.

...whose real name was William Dodds, was a highly successful Music Hall Artiste who used the banjo in his act at the turn of the 20th century. He used the name William Allen on official records. He was conducting a successful teaching studio at 38 Newington Butts, London, where he was born, but his increasing professional engagements made it necessary for him to finally give up teaching. In 1902 he toured the U.S.A. for twelve months. It is not known when he first started to make banjos, but his first models were called "Revelation", the wood hoop of which was covered by an S-shaped metal casing with a projecting flange at the bottom through which the brackets passed. When he went into partnership with Olly Oakley in 1926 with a shop at 61, Charing Cross Road, London, the “Will Van Allen" banjos, well made modern instruments, appear to have been products of the John G. Abbott workshops. He dissolved his partnership with Olly Oakley in 1929 or 1930 and very few Van Allen banjos appeared to have been sold after this date. Pictures courtesy of Fred Will Van Allen 1874 - next maker

George Washburn next maker see Lyon & Healey Images courtesy of Skip Sail

.. of Emporia, Kansas and later Chicago, was a prominent banjoist in American fretted instrument circles in the 1880’s. In 1885 he conceived the novel idea of attaching the banjo’s 5th string peg to the tailpiece “thereby removing the projection from the banjo neck and allowing more freedom in left hand manipulation”. Another of his improvements was the “steel neck stiffener” which was fixed to the base of the banjo heel and ran across the hoop to just below the tailpiece bolt. In July 1892 he patented his “Grand solo banjo” which has a 10” hoop, twenty four frets, and included a steel brace in the neck ”to prevent warping”. Henning was not the actual maker of instruments bearing his name, they were probably made for him by JB Schall and/or Washburn . In 1897 he issued a banjo magazine called “The Chicago Trio” and organised a mammoth BM&G Orchestra, both of which he used to publicise the banjos bearing his name. Eventually he moved to Los Angeles and died there in the 1930’s. It is perhaps interesting to recall that early in his career he acquired the Sweeney banjo now in the Los Angeles County Museum which he left to them in his will. It now appears from the makers logo on this banjo that he also at some time worked out of Meridian, Mississippi. Images courtesy of Kris Stroda who's Great Grandfather owned this banjo . This Henning has interesting detailing on the inside of the pot, a Patent date of July 18 1890 on the side of the dowel stick and Washburn "Imperial" type hardware. Chicago makers logo. Images courtesy of the estate of Richard Evans John E Henning next maker