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During the period 1860 to 1890 reference is found in American Publications to a Mr Landers of Spring Street in New York as being “well and favourably known as a banjo maker” but nothing further is known about this maker or the instruments he made. Landers Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Arthur Tilley 1847 to 1921 next maker Arthur Tilley's family were dairy farmers and horse dealers in Surbiton, Surrey. He was introduced to the banjo in early boyhood by a friend bringing one to his home on a wet evening. The two boys amused themselves with the crude 7-string instrument in a harness room and as the banjo could not be taken away because of the pouring rain, Tilley had it in his possession until the next time his companion visted them. In the meantime he taught himself the three chords in C and, in addition, had picked up enough to make his friend jealous and take the instrument away in high dudgeon. Having been bitten by the "banjo bug" and having no chance to buy an instrument, the young Tilley set to and made one. His interest in the banjo gradually increased and after hearing Huntley & Lee (of the Haverly Minstrels) play at a private recital in 1881, he discarded his 7-string home-made "tub" banjo and made himself a more modern five-string model which was the start of his venture into commercial banjo making. The census of that year has him as a "painter, musician & vocalist" He established a workshop for making banjos and in 1884 was granted a patent for a banjo with a flange to take the tension brackets instead of the conventional shoes, preceding Temlett by four years in this connection. At first Tilley banjos had only 16 frets (more than sufficient at the time) but when he became a recitalist at various concerts and exhibitions, in which he played solos of his own composition "in keys considered impossible on the banjo," he found the need for the full complement of frets and fitted them to all his instruments. He was awarded a First Prize Medal for his banjos at the Inventions Exhibition, Kensington, in 1885, and a year later he organised a group of six players who toured the whole of England and did much to advertise his banjos. Tilley was one of the first in England to use a plectrum on the banjo. With Jack Thomas, Dick Edmunds and Arthur Creswick and calling themselves "The Riverside Quartet." they used to go on the river in a boat on summer evenings and play waltzes composed by Tilley in single-note four-part harmony which was most effective. Later they appeared at concerts professionally and packed whatever hall they appeared in. This success led to Jack Thomas starting "The Stavordales" (q.v.). In 1889 Arthur Tilley started to make zither-banjos and in that year filed a patent for a zither-banjo in which the lower half of the hoop was made of wood and the upper half ("being called a bezel or cap") was of metal. By 1894 his entire output was zither-banjos and it was said he exported to every corner of the world. In 1892 he had an accident with a lathe when a drill struck his eye and permanently impaired his sight, but Tilley zither-banjos continued to be made in their hundreds until the outbreak of World War I, while he was still living in Surbiton ( the 1911 census shows him incorrectly bourn in 1850) Shortage of materials at the time appears to have forced him to give up the manufacture, for in 1918 he was working in an aeroplane factory. His instruments were always well made and have always been highly prized. Images courtesy of Keith Knight

Arthur O Windsor 1858 to 1938 As a young man, Arthur Octavius Windsor acquired a thorough knowledge of wood and metal working and by 1887 had a small factory in Birmingham for the making of coffin 'furniture'. He played the banjo as a hobby and when the instrument started to become universally played he made some instruments after his own design. He had his own bench in a corner of his factory where he fashioned the instruments that carried his name as maker. His banjos proved popular and in three years he had set up an instrument factory in Newhall Street and was employing a staff of twenty-five, all making banjos. Very soon his range of instruments included most of the fretted instruments. He made the first mandolin-banjo with a back built up of separate segments and in 1893 took out a patent to use the same method for the backs of zither-banjos, although he continued to use one-piece backs on his cheaper models. At school, Arthur had been called 'Castle' and he adopted the silhouette of Windsor Castle as a trade mark and called his premises in Newhall Street 'Castle Works'. (In addition to the 94 Newhall Street factory, he had sawmills and a wood-working plant in Mott Street). In the early days, Windsor tested every instrument before it left the factory. In March 1892 he teamed up with Arthur J.Taylor, a prominent Birmingham teacher ( who taught Olly Oakley ) and player of the banjo and the firm of Windsor & Taylor came into being. ( Oakley was working in Taylor's shop at this time so this employment came to an abrupt end and Oakley went to work for Joseph Riley where he sold Windsor & Taylor banjos ) Taylor had begun to teach the banjo in 1881 and had first met Windsor in 1885 whilst trying to find a good banjo of English make to sell to-his pupils. They-did business together for some time before entering into a deed of partnership. It was at this time the firm started to make open-back banjos. In January, Windsor & Taylor organised the Birmingham B.M. & G. Orchestra which gave its first public concert in March of that year. These concerts became regular affairs (at which the leading soloists of the day appeared) and the orchestra also visited such places as Coventry, Leamington, Liverpool, London etc. Windsor and Taylor entered the publishing field and this, coupled with the public appearances of A.O.Windsor and A.J.Taylor (both of whom were first-class banjo soloists), did much to publicise the instruments they made and a studio was set aside for him in the factory to enable him tocarry onwith his teaching activities. The fact that Oakley changed to zither banjo and was playing a 'Windsor' did much to boost sales. Unlike other manufactures of the day, every part of the instruments made by Windsor & Taylor were fashioned in the Newhall Street factory, including all the metal parts used. The latter were always 'non-standard' so that a replacement could only be purchased from them. 1896 the firm published a 50-page booklet How a Zither-Banjo is Made. Given away free of charge it helped sell the instruments which were already a household name. In 1901, Taylor left the firm and then the title became Arthur O. Windsor. He had a stand at the British Industries Fair, White City, London, which was most impressive and did much to make the Windsor products known to overseas buyers. In 1928 Windsor brought out his famous 'hollow arm' zither-banjo with its revolutionary resonator-type back. Windsor made instruments for other firms and would copy any design or model. They also supplied many of their cheaper stock instruments branded with the retailer's name as maker. The firms range of banjos, zither-banjos, banjolins and mandolin-banjos was wide because, they offered a large discount on catalogue prices, their lower-priced instruments became known in the trade as 'pawnshop banjos'. These instruments could always be found in pawnshops throughout the country where they would be offered for sale for as much as 50%, below the catalogue price. The firm ceased to exist in December 1940, two years after Windsor had died, when the factory was destroyed in an air raid. Up to that time Windsor was probably the largest maker of fretted instruments ever known in this country. The output of the Newhall Street factory in Birmingham must have been into many thousands of instruments each year. next maker

In 1960 the Ode Company, Mariposa Avenue, Boulder, Colorado was founded by Charles Ogsbury, a young engineering student of Colorado. It announced its entry into the banjo making field with a range of 5-string and long necked banjos ranging in price from $72-$86. These instruments quickly gained favour with folk and bluegrass enthusiasts and before long a far greater range of instruments, including plectrum-banjos, was being produced. When the firm moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1964 they also used the name “Muse” and identical instruments were sold under both brand names, Ode being given style letters and Muse style numbers. i.e. “Ode style B” and “muse style 5” were the same banjo at the same price of $295. The main difference being that Ode was purchased direct from the manufacturer and Muse supplied only through dealers. In October 1966 it was announced that the Baldwin Piano and Organ Company of Cincinnati, Ohio had bought the Ode Company and all instruments produced in the Boulder factory would be marketed under the Baldwin name through its guitar division and Charles Ogsbury was retained as a consultant. Images courtesy of Gruhn Guitars Ode & Ome next maker

... of 15 Terry Street, Nelson, Lancashire, was an enthusiastic teacher of the banjo whose banjo playing experiences went back to the days of the smooth and unfretted instrument. In addition to his own professional appearances in and around his home town, he directed the Nelson Banjo Band for many years and as a result he had ample opportunities for selling his banjos bearing his name as maker. The images of this Lund Cello banjo show that he clearly had access to play and copy the instruments eminating from makers such as Essex and Dallas in London on the back of the BMG Orchestras. His training in the gas industry almost certainly influenced him as clearly he was a fine engineer producing quality hardware. Typically at the start of the 20th C a lot of components for standard sized banjos could be bought off the shelf at hardware shops but it is demonstrated here that his small production gave rise to a certain naivety in woodworking, displayed in this example, in the dovetail joints used for the perch pole. Or perhaps the steel bracing was a later modification. Images courtesy of David Grego William Lund to 1945 next maker

In 1883 he sold his factories and in 1889 went into partnership in the musical instrument business with Frank, his son as Stratton & Son. It is probably during this period that he sold banjos, almost certainly made for him by Buckbee , under the model names of Bijou and Appolo . These would have been gut strung banjos. John Franklin Stratton 1832-1912 next maker .. His first commercial venture in 1859 was to open a shop in New York as a music retailer being an accomplished player of wind instruments and a leader of various bands and orchestras. During the civil war he was a supplier of field trumpets. Stratton & John Foote joined forces in 1864 to buy an instrument importing business and then set up several companies in Germany to manufacture both woodwind and stringed instruments.

William E Temlett 1866 to 1921 next maker In 1864 William Temlett Snr established a workshop for making banjos at 95 Union Street, London, S.E. William Ernest Telmett 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. W.E. Temlett prospered and within a year he was advertising that the instruments he made could only be bought through retailers not direct from him. His "Apollo" zither- banjos and the "Hercules" and "Mozart" banjos enjoyed healthy sales all over the country; the latter being said to be good copies of S. S. Stewart 's instruments. In October 1898 he launched his own monthly fretted instrument magazine - "The Banjo, Mandolin & Guitar News" - which enjoyed an existence for some years and this, coupled with the many concerts he organised in and around London, did much to popularise his instruments. He was an enlightened employer and every year took his entire staff, male and female, to the seaside for the day and gave an annual dinner and dance for their benefit at which the leading fretted instrument soloists would perform. In addition to his instrument making, he published fretted instrument music but his extensive catalogue was purchased by John Alvey Turner in 1903 and absorbed into the latter's vast catalogue. Pictures of WE Temlett's "Patent", all metal pot, ivory flush frets, ebony neck courtesy of Skip Sail, Picture of WE Temlett courtesy of Steve Prior

The Merlin Manufacturing Corporation of 3545-7, North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois was formed in 1962/3 by Leonard McCabe, an accountant, and Jay Smith, a mechanical engineer. William “Bill” Malloy who was an amateur banjoist was engaged as an advisor and sales manager. The efforts of the company were devoted to the 5-string banjo, prompted by Mr Smith’s desire to play one after finding it difficult to buy such an instrument. Since he was a mechanical engineer he decided on an unusual approach and to quote from the company’s literature the Merlin banjo was to be “a blend of modern and traditional design”. In fact the instruments were made of aluminium and fibreglass except the wooden fingerboard and the spun brass resonator. The neck of the banjos was of highly polished aluminium and the hoop made of fibreglass; neck and hoop being locked together by means of six screws which were said to allow an adjustment of the neck (see pictutres) It could be “moved up or down and even rotated to bring the out strings closer to the finger board” it was claimed. CC Richelieu, who had been building and playing banjos for forty years was a consultant to the company in a minor capacity. – on a “what’s wrong” basis, as he put it. He wrote “the Merlin banjo as it evolved from a series of rather foolish trial and error experiments, finally turned out to be a rather good banjo”, It did however lack a the feel of good wood and conventional banjoist frowned upon it – but its tone and the action was quite good. In 1965 the company stopped production after selling less than 100Merlin banjos. In 1967 it went into liquidation. Pictures courtesy of Barbara Harris-Pruitt Merlin next maker

in 1883 he made this banjo in Albany NY, and wrote his name on it .. thats all we know. restoration and pictures by Andy Fitzgibbon Jacob F Noelsch next maker

References to a John Jones, of Lea Bridge Road, London, as a "lone" maker of banjos have been discovered but apart from the fact that he died in the 1920s and his workshop was in the garden of his house, nothing else has been unearthed except that making banjos was his full-time occupation. How and where he sold the banjos he made is not known. November 2012: John Jones (b 1861 in Bethnel Green) and his son John CA Jones (b 1884 in Bethnel Green) were both resident, in 1911, at 196 Lea Bridge Road and both recorded as chairmakers. John Jones 1861 to .. Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

It would appear that Albert Houdlett & Son makers of drums and banjos were in existence in the early 1860’s for Friederich Gretsch was working in their factory until he was 27 when he left to form his own business. In a list of banjo makers included in the June 1928 issue of “The Cresendo”a firm or Houdlett of 40 Melrose Street,Brooklyn, New York were listed as makers of “Lynbrook” (brookLyn), “Nu-art” and “Nu-way” banjos and a "Royal Parlour" 5 string, they went out of business in 1930. The “Music Trades” magazine of February 1958 referred to the company as “long defunct”. "Lynbrook" pictures courtesy of Jim Kvalheim Albert Houdlett & Son 1865-1930 next maker