Frank C Wilkes 1868 to 1929 ... was born in Salford, Manchester and in 1891 he was registered as a "banjo maker and music seller". In 1894, Frank Cecil Wilkes, of 19 Mount Street, Manchester, took out a patent involving a banjo with a "hole in the vellum" and started manufacture both banjos and zither banjos incorparating this feature. He applied in England (#1925) and the USA (#554967) when he was residing in Tib(b) Street, Manchester. The patent which was granted in 1896 in the USA. The aperture was surrounded by an elaboratedly-decorated celluliod ring to reinforce the skin. His banjos were made with hoops of 9" or 10" diameter with the back of the hoop enclosed by a rosewood soundboard. His early instruments had a groove on the outside of the neck (with an elaborate arrangement of slotted screw-nuts) to take the octave string from the side "pip" up to the peghead. Later he used the normal tunnel under the fingerboard (see images) producing traditional 5 string banjos with zither type slotted machine heads and closed backs! His business appears to have flourished as the name of the firm changed to F.C Wilkes & Co., with premises in 1911 at 6 Oxford Road, Station Approach, Manchester. At the turn of the century we was resident in Moss Side Manchester working on his own as a Banjo Maker & Music Seller and by 1911 had moved to Levenshume but appears to have gone out of business during the 1st WW. He died there in 1929. Wilkes replacement skin and other restoration work undertaken by Andy Fitzgibbon of Smakulas Fretted Instruments , Elkins, West Virginia. next maker

…. arrived in the US in 1832 from Germany and started his company in New York in 1834 and as the business developed became distributors for a wide range of types of musical instruments. In 1868 after the Civil War they started using the name C. Bruno and Son and imported a lot of the instruments they distributed from Europe. Charles Bruno Jnr developed the company after his father’s death manufacturing Instruments at 356 Broadway NY where, after a long period of ill health he committed suicide on 18th April, 1912, 3 days after Titanic sank. In the June 1928 issue of "The Crescendo" a list of banjo makers at that time included the firm of C.Bruno & Son Inc of New York City who were listed as making "The Royal Artist" and "Tempo Grande" instruments. During their long history banjos were made for them by several maufacturers including the Fred Gretsch Mfg. Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y. or William Lange Images of this "Magic Wonder" courtesy of Paul Dzwill Charles Bruno .... 1884 next maker

Located in New York City, this company went into business in the 1890s. Their first store was at 161 Bowery Street, and they later relocated to 200-201 Grand Street. During the 1920s over fifty workers were employed, making banjos, banjo-ukeleles, guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, and violins. The name was changed to Favilla Guitars, Inc. in 1959, and the business was moved to 57 Front Street, where it remained until 1963 when it moved again, this time East Farmingdale, Long Island. The last instruments were built in 1973. research courtesy of David E. Schenkman and for further detailed information on this maker see here Images courtesy of Shelly Shapiro Favilla next maker

.. well-known as a teacher of the banjo in and around Ilford, designed and made a special type of plectrum-banjo in 1927. It had a zither-banjo type hoop with a 10 in. vellum, with the neck joined to the body with "shoulders." The open-type back of the hoop incorporated a sunken reflector plate about 1 in. from the base of the hoop, the wall being made of metal with round outlet holes some 2 in. Apart. Mr. Edwards' father was a wood worker of some considerable skill who had taught his son to use the tools of his trade. Jimmie Edwards had also spent some time watching the young Jack Abbott making banjos and in 1927 he designed and started to make the instruments that bore his name. Over a period of years he made between 40 and 50, but increasing professional engagements and other activities connected with the entertainment profession eventually forced him to discontinue making banjos. In 1938 he commissioned Jack Abbott to make him a special banjo to his design and Jimmie Edwards used this instrument throughout World War II to entertain the troops in ten different countries. In 1963 Mr. Edwards resumed making banjos (copying this special Abbott-made instrument) but he is kept so busy teaching that his output has been limited to two or three instruments each year. Jimmie Edwards Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... was born In Middlesex and moved to Birmingham, where he became a successful teacher, concert artist, recording star and broadcaster, sold many banjos, and zither-banjos bearing his name as the maker. All these instruments were made for him: at first by Windsor and then by Joseph Riley Sons . He was associated with the latter firm, as a teacher and demonstrator from about 1894 to 1898. In the first deacde of the 20th Century he was renown for playing the fashionable ragtime tunes of the period on his zither banjo. John Pidoux 1876 - 1953 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

John Henry Parker 1861 - next maker John Henry Parker was born in 1861 in Braunton, Devon, England, His father was an Agricultural Labourer who became landlord of the Barnstaple Inn, Braunton by the time John was 10. He came late into the family born when his mother Elizabeth was 45, with 15 and 18 year old sisters. Aged 20 he was training to be a chemist when soon after his father died and around 1882 he emigrated to Montreal, Canada. where he set up his musical instrument busines. Subsequently he moved to New England at the tunrn of the century. For further full details see here

From about 1850 the Dobson brothers in America had as much to do with the keeping up of interest in the banjo as anyone. .. except perhaps SS Stewart. As performers, teachers and instrument makers their names became household words wherever the instrument was played. George Clifton Dobson, the youngest of the brothers was born in Williamsburg, NY and around 1870 set up a studio in Washington Street Mass., where he was kept busy with influential pupils. He was the inventor of the “Victor” banjo with enjoyed a large sale in its day. George retired in the early 1920 a rich man having invested in real estate and in an interview he gave to a music paper he spoke of how he and his brothers used to make their early banjos with “a saw, plane and a jack knife – all the tools they had or needed”. It was, he said, the demand for their roughly made banjos that decided them to go into business. It is interesting to note that in 1879 he was using a banjo with 16 inlaid frets but by 1887 his banjo had 17 raised frets. George supplied historical data to Herbert J Ellis for the preface to one of the latter’s banjo tutors. Pictures courtest of Intermountain Guitar & Banjo George C Dobson 1842 -1931 next maker

Born in 1869 William C Stahl was given a cheap banjo on his twelfth birthday and started to learn to play the instrument by ear. When he was fourteen he stated to study the violin “so he could learn to read music” but after five years he gave it up to concentrate on the banjo and its related instruments. At the age of nineteen he composed his first banjo solo which was published by SS Stewart. IN 1899 he was offered the leadership of a large orchestra and teaching studio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There he flourished and gradually built up a large teaching connection and entered the publishing and manufacturing businesses. His banjo methods were sound and well written, being un usually detailed for the period. By 1903 “The Crescendo” was able to report “Wm. Stahl had been so behind with orders for his mandolins, guitars and banjos that he had been running his plant night and day all though the summer and is still behind with orders”. Over ten years later Thos. J Armstrong said that ”Stahl banjos had made Milwaukee famous “. In 1919 advertisements Stahl claimed to have been the first manufacturer of the tenor-banjo –“ a dozen years ago”. He died on April 29th 1940 but appears to have ceased banjo making some time before this date. William C Stahl 1869 to 1940 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... of 267-9 Portobello Road, London, was a successful teacher of the fretted instruments and a dealer (at first, using the name of "The Mozart Musical Stores") in everything musical, with the emphasis on the banjo and mandolin. From about 1890 onwards he extensively advertised and sold his own patent "Highbridge" or "Finger Rest" banjos and zither-banjos, a feature of which was his own (Skinner) "Tone Bar"-a device fitted to the instrument parallel to the strings on which the little finger of the right hand could rest whilst plucking the strings. This necessitated a violent backward slant to the neck to allow for an exceptionally high bridge, which Skinner always claimed increased the tone of the instrument. He was the father of the extremely talented Skinner Sisters (who performed at many banjo concerts in their day) and Charles Skinner Jnr (b 1892) who was well known as a mandola player with Troise and his Mandoliers and as a London County Council Institute and H.M. Prisons instructor of fretted instruments for many years, up to the time when he was over eighty. Although Charles Skinner Snr always stated in his advertisement and printed literature that he was a "Musical Instrument Maker," all his banjos and zither-banjos were made for him by W. E. Temlett and, later by J. G. Abbott. The business was closed down when Mr.Skinner Snr died in February 1922. Images courtesy of Ken Barker Charles Skinner 1849 to 1922 next maker

In 1916 the Slingerland Drum Company was formed in Illinois and two years later they formed a banjo division for the manufacture of tenor- banjos and plectrum-banjos which they sold under the name of Maybell. These well-made instruments enjoyed sales all over the world until the depression of 1929 when production eased. In 1930 the Company reverted back to drum making. Maybell Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

.. was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1931 by Henry Kay Kuhrmeyer from the remnants of Stromberg-Voisenet which he bought in 1928. S-V Started out as the Groeschel Co. in 1890 making mandolins. Subsequently the business moved to Elk Grove Village, Illinois and was one of the largest makers of banjos in America for many years. The company first made banjos during the dance band boom – the instruments being designed by Kuhrmeyer, the owner and president of the company at that time. In addition to their own branded instruments they made banjos for smaller firms to sell as their own make but there are no records of the names under which these instruments were sold as the company records have been lost. Like all other American instrument makers they ceased production of banjos when the USA entered WWII but manufacturing was resumed in the 1950’s – models including five-string banjos, tenor-banjos and plectrum-banjos. Ranging in price from $60 to over $100. Models included "Silvertone". Kay Musical Instrument Co. Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker