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.. was an enthusiastic banjo player in Boston, Mass. who was making the occasional banjo for his friends from about 1875. In 1880 he and William E Cole formed a partnership, and trading under the name of Fairbanks & Cole established a workshop in Beach Street, Boston “to manufacture banjos, mandolins and guitars”. With Frank Cole (younger brother of William) in charge of production the firm flourished. On December 30th 1890 they patented a banjo with a tone ring which they called their “Special Electric Model”. In 1903 this model was redesigned to begin its worldwide fame as the “ Whyte Laydie” banjo. In 1892 AC Fairbanks, having lost interest in banjo making, gave up control of the firm to exploit his invention of the wooden rim for bicycles, forming the AC Fairbanks Wood Rim Co. The Cole brothers also left to form their own banjo making company. The financial control of Fairbanks & Cole was acquired my Messrs Dodge & Cummings who changed the title to AC Fairbanks & Co Inc. and put David L Day (subsequently to be associated with the Bacon Banjo Co .) in charge of product ion at the firms new premises at 786 Washington Street. In 1895 the firm patented a tubular tone ting for the banjo which they called the “tu-ba-phone” and on1st September 1909 this was incorporated in an instrument they called the “tu-ba-phone banjo” although by this time they were under the control of the Vega Company. Early in the 1900 the Fairbanks Company had made a second grade banjo called the “Star” which had a five pointed star on the peg head. In 1904 the Washington Street premises were burned to the ground and the trading name and salvaged plant were taken over by the Vega Company and incorporated in their Sudbury Street Factory. For a time both the Fairbanks and Vega company names were used in advertising , at the same, Sudbury address. Prior to 1904 The Vega Company had not made banjos. Acquiring the Fairbanks plant, they continued the production of “Fairbanks “instruments and in addition launched the Vega banjo – both ranges of instruments being made in the same workshops and in fact being identical except for the name. For eighteen years both “Fairbanks” and “Vega” banjos were made in the Sudbury Street works nad David L Day was then the salesman for the two-in-one firm. He travelled the whole of the USA selling their products. He left the company on 18th September 1922 to become the Vice President of the Bacon Banjo Company Inc. of Groton, Conn, At this time the Fairbanks name was finally dropped by Vega. Note: The double spun pot on this 1895 5 string gut strung. Pictures of Electric courtesy of Steve Prior. Hank Schwartz site on the history of Fairbanks A C Fairbanks & Co 1890- 1895 next maker

.. of Albany, New York fashioned banjos in many odd designs from about 1870. It is said that he was always experimenting to find the perfect banjo and most of his necks were made without a perch-pole being bolted directly to the hoop. He succeeded to the business of Albert Wilson who continued to produce the banjo with the wooden hoop veneered with German silver which had been marketed by Wilson. Farnham does not appear to have produced any banjos after 1890. William H Farnham Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

.. the famous minstrel banjoist, designed the instruments he advertised as the “Hall Banjo “ and although he always stressed the fact that these banjos were “his own make” , they were made for him first by James W Clarke (who was responsible for building Hall’s famous banjos known as “Ironside” and “Thunderer”) and then on the death of Clarke in 1880, probably by Buckbee . In 1881 he toured England with a minstrel show. In 1893 EM Hall “the tall banjoist” as he was known, started teaching in a studio in Chicago, from which he advertised the “New EM Hall Banjo” made for him by JB Schall who had a flourishing banjos business and factory in Chicago at that time. Within a year Hall had given up teaching and was touring with a minstrel show. Hall lost his life along with 600 other people when the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago burned down on 30th December 1903. Emory M Hall 1845 to 1903 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

was born in Leamington in Warwickshire where at 23 years old he was a bricklayers mate and married. Within 10 years he had moved to London living in Marylebone with 7 children the oldest being ten and the youngest were two month old twins . He was shown on the 1891 census as a banjo maker but within two years his wife appears to have died and with 7 children he married again, moving to Maidenhead, Berkshire working from home in the market area, as a green grocer. By 1911 he had fathered a further nine children and was a professional travelling musician and still living in Maidenhead .. he died in 1919. Banjo images courtesy of Grayson Calvert , which started out as a fretless banjo Thomas Lyons 1858 to 1919 next maker

... established his business in New York in 1871 producing a wide range of instruments. The son of Sylvanus Billings Pond an established piano maker he took over part of the business of Firth, Pond & Co. to form William A Pond & Co. when his father retired. He was known for his range of high quality instruments ranging from pianos to guitars and band instruments and also as a music publisher While he died in 1885 the company continued trading until 1917 under the control of his sons. William A Pond 1824-1885 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

During the dance-band boom of the early 1920s Hawkes & Co. of London marketed banjos bearing their name, these instruments were made for them by J.G. Abbott & Co. In 1930 the firm was incorporated with Boosey & Co. to become Boosey & Hawkes Ltd. Hawkes & Co. Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

In 1897 Messrs Rettburg and Lange took over the factory and banjo making plant of JH Buckbee and established a factory at 383 Second Avenue, New York City. By 1903 they had moved to 115-121 East 13th Street and from this address in 1908 they announced the production of their “Orpheum” range of banjos. Three years later they were able to announce that increasing business had made then seek even larger premises at 225-227 East 24th Street. In January 1915 they advertised their “Brass Band Orpheum” – an new banjo with 29 frets (to high G) . The neck on this instrument was joined to the hoop at the 20th fret with a fret board extension over the velum carrying the extra 9 frets. July 1918 saw the debut of the “Orpheum Plectrum banjo” and a new 5 string with a long fifth string tuned to an octave below the third string (this banjo was similar to the Vega banjo Brent Hayes had played for some years). It was in August 1920 that the company was granted a US patent for its new “Paramount” banjo and this new instrument (designed by William L Lange) made its first appearance in 1921. In 1922 William took over sole control of the company and changed the title to Wm L Lange. In September of that year he announced (as “successor to Rettberg & Lange) six styles of the “Paramount” banjos. “Paramount” banjos became world famous and were much sought after by all the leading dance-band players. The five spacious floors at East 24th Street accommodated over 250 workers making banjos and included its own plating shop. It was during this period that Wm D Bowen tested all banjos leaving the factory. In November 1922 Lange made what was said to be the World’s largest banjo. It was for the Paul Whiteman orchestra and is said to have cost $500. The instrument weighed 35 pounds and was five feet long. The hoop was 24” in diameter and the neck 3 feet long and was playable! In the early part of 1925 the Lange factory bought out a cheaper model instrument with the name of “Langstile” and this incorporated a resonator made of metal and mahogany. Such was the demand for this cheaper instrument that it was produced at a second factory located in Brooklyn where instruments (notably the “Challenger” and the “Artcraft” range) were also made for other manufacturers and retailers to sell. All manufacturing ceased in 1939. The Challenger Melody King and the Challenger Victory were both manufacctured by William Lange the builder of Paramounts, Orpheums, Langstiles, Langecraft, Broadcraft and many more for various stores. The Melody King model was a bottom end professional level model which sold for $135 in the late 20's, $5 more than a Paramount A. Langstile Tenor models, sometimes with a Supertone name were made for Sears by Lange. Images courtesy of Vincent Hadus W M Lange 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