... was a high quality instrument maker in Philladelphia, Pennsylvania in the last quarter of the 19th C. While he built instruments and competed with the quality of S S Stewart he did not make anything like the volume. images courtesy of Mark Ralston Joseph Ricketts next maker

.. a Swedish cabinet maker, went to Boston Mass. in 1887. He secured work in the Thompson & Odell works and for eighteen years was their foreman in the banjo, mandolin and guitar factory. In 1905 he started his own business at 40 Hanover St., Boston, and five years later took his son Elmer into the business with him. Between them the two craftsmen produced hundreds of banjos, including other musical instruments in which they specialised. The banjos they produced and sold under the name of Stromberg had what they called a “Cupperphone Tone Chamber” which consisted of a metal ring placed on a series of upright metal tubes or cups fitted on a built in wooded shelf inside the banjo hoop and directly under the vellum. The firm appears to have gone out of business soon after 1929 Photos courtesy of Intermountain Guitar & Banjo Charles A. Stromberg next maker

Leslie Uncless ... as teacher of the banjo in Syracuse,, New York, was mentioned as a maker of banjos along with Dalton MacGee in the August 1910 issue of “The Crescendo” but nothing further been discovered about him or his activities. Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

.. of New York City was said to have been one of the best jig dancers in the American Minstrel business in the 1860’s and was equally proficient as a player of the banjo. He was a maker of banjos, although not in large quantities and he sold the banjos he made only to professionals. In the December 1909 issue of B.M.G. Clarence L Partee wrote “ I have seen several fine specimens of his (Clarkes) workmanship” He is said to have improved the design and remedied many of the defects of the Wilson & Farnham “Silver Rim” banjos and is credited with evolving the “extension bar” (perch pole) thus giving rigidity between the neck and the hoop., although “Stewart said that the “majority” of wood rimmed banjos, even before that date, were so made. Jimmy Clarke made EM Hall ’s early banjos “Old Iron sides “ and “The Thunderer”. He died of TB in New York on 27th February 1880 and a measure of the respect in which Clarke banjos were held at that time can be gauged by a statement (by Stewart ?) that “ in 1878 Stewart banjos were superior in quality and design to those hitherto made by JW Clarke” J W Clarke c1835 to 1880 Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... came to England from the USA in 1888 having initiall trained as a vilolinist, where, with many introductions to London's high society, he was encouraged in his musical career by people such as Sir Arthur Sulivan. He had learned the Zither style of banjo playing in New York from aged 14 and was well versed in public performances by the time he crossed the pond. He set up a partnership to make banjos with Clifford Essex but when that was disolved in 1900, Cammeyer took over the workshops (established in 1896 at 13 Greek Street, Soho) for the production of his own instruments then later under the name of The Cammeyer Music and Manufacturing Co., Swallow Street, London. These were mainly zither-banjos but some banjos (and later, plectrum banjos and tenor banjos) were made. The man in charge of the workshops was Sidney W. Young who was responsible for the designs of the famous "Vibrante" and "Vibrante Royal" zither-banjos and the "New Era" banjos bearing the Cammeyer name. When Cammeyer retired from business in 1939, Sidney Young took over the workshop at Richmond Buildings, Soho, and continued to make instruments under his own name up to the outbreak of World War II. After the war he established a workshop at 70 New Oxford St., "here he worked in conjunction with John Alvey Turner Ltd. until his retirement in 1963. When Cammeyer died Young acquired the stock of Cammeyer "parts" and timber and from these produced many "Vibrante" zither banjos but these instruments do not carry the facsimile signature of Alfred D. Cammeyer, which first appeared on Cammeyer instruments after July 1st, 1900 and was attached to all his instruments until the date of his retirement. For more information click here Alfred Davies Cammeyer 1862 to 1949 next maker

Joseph Bohmann 1848 - next maker Born in Czechoslovakia he emigrated to the USA and founded the Bohmann’s American Musical Industry in Chicago in 1878. The stringed instruments he made ranged from guitars, violins, banjos, and mandolins of which he was one of the first makers in the USA. He made all grades and variants of each instrument claiming to be The World’s Greatest Musical Instrument Manufacturer winning awards for the quality of build and tone of his instruments. The company continued making instruments under the guidance of his son up until the 2nd World War when the factory appeared to have been mothballed. The company also took out several patents on the construction and tone enhancements put into their instruments.

When the famous American banjoist William (Bill) D Bowen ran a teaching studio from 637 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey, he sold the Bowen banjo which had a 12” hoop, 28 brackets and 20 frets, and sold for $50. The instrument had a solid wood hoop inside of which were fitted 25 nickel plates brackets made of spring steel which were held in place by bolts through the conventional shoes. These brackets extended over the upper edge of the hoop to rest on a, 1/8dia ring fixed to the hoop. On top of this was a 5/16th dia. steel ring over which the vellum was stretched . Bowen claimed that “the steel brackets act as a spring by which you get vibration to each note”. It is obvious he did not make the instruments himself which were possibly made by Rettburg & Lange William D Bowen Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

The FA Pelton Piano company operated out of 161 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass., at the start of the 20 th C. This banjo has an aluminium pot and is typical in style of Boston made instruments. F A Pelton next maker

The Harmony Company of Chicago was established in 1892 by a small group of craftsmen who learned their skills by apprenticeships in Europe. At first they only made guitars and mandolins. By 1903 the growth of the business warranted the building of a small plant at 1750 North Lawndale Avenue, Later, two additions to the main building were undertaken to cope with the increasing demands for instruments. With the spread of ragtime the company equipped itself to make banjolins, tenor-banjos and plectrum-banjos to meet demand and by the mid 1920’s were one of the largest banjo makers in the USA, however their output of 5 string banjos was not large. In addition to the instruments bearing the name Harmony the company also made all types of banjos for other firms sold under the vendors own brand names. In 1941 the company moved to larger premises at 3633 S, Racine Avenue and in 1962 it acquired a modern one story factory built at its present location 4600 South Kolin Avenue. Continuous growth compelled the establishment in 1965 of Harmony’s “Plant No 2” nearby so that now with 125,000 sq ft of manufacturing it is one (1960’s) of the top production facilities in the USA. They ceased the manufacture of banjos abruptly, like all other manufacturers when the US entered WWII and did not recommence production until the 1950’s. Not content to resume manufacture on prewar lines the company developed and entirely new process of making hoops which involved a moulded resin plastic hoop reinforced at key points and they called them the “Reso-tone” . A heavy protruding rim (as earlier used by Gibson and Merriman ) through which the tension brackets pass, takes the place of the shoes. The company also markets a resonator of the same material. In the early “sixties the rising popularity of folk and bluegrass music bought about a change in demand and the company’s principle banjo production was devoted to 5-string and long necked instruments, although tenor and plectrum banjos continued to be made. Pictures courtest of Smakula's Fretted Instruments Harmony next maker

.. of The Bowery, near Grand Street, New York City, is said to have been (1850) the first "professional" banjo Maker. George Bauer, writing in Stewart 's "Journal" mentions another Dave Jacobs of Chatham Street, New York City, who made especially fine banjos. It is possible, of course, that it was one and the same person. It is recorded that Dave Jacobs set up as a banjo manufacturer and teacher a little later than Charles Morrell" (pre 1840-1849) but the banjos he sold as his own were made for him by the firm Luben L. Lewis & Co (Ruby Brooks Grandfather and uncle). The Jacobs Banjos were of maple ; the necks being "scooped out" where they joined the hoops. It was in Jacob's store that in the middle 1850's Jerry, Dan and Neil Bryant, Eph Horn, James Unsworth and other prominent professionals of the day used to meet to hear the latest news and tunes of the banjo world. Jacobs (often described as "an industrious German ") eventually returned to his native land with, it is recorded, a small fortune made with "hard work and frugal living." David "Dave" Jacobs mid 19th C Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... of New York City, was said to have the largest musical instrument making factory in the world in 1860 and until about 1896/7 the concern made banjos for many others, including Dobson , Converse, Bruno , Foote , Farland , Mather , Wallis , Stratton etc. At the peak of the banjo boom the factory was said to have made ten thousand banjos each year. No one appears to have seen a banjo with the name Buckbee on it so it would appear the firm never marketed its own instruments under its own name except with the initial JHB on the side of the heel. The plant - at least, the banjo-making part of it - was taken over by Rettberg & Lange in 1897. J H Buckbee next maker

William B Tilton Around 1860, William B Tilton, “on Broadway near Spring Street” in New York City was making banjos in addition to guitars. Six years later he is heard of in Boston, Mass. where he produced a “clock key tightened tack head banjo” with a 2 ½” deep hood. No details of this tightening device are available nor has any information be found about his further banjo making. Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker