... was born in Bethnal Green where he married a local girl. By 1871 he was living at 15 Saville Place, Lambeth, Surrey and was recorded as a musician with three children. Ten years laster he had moved to Endell Street where he was clearly had a good business, making good quality well finished instruments, as he had seven children and employed a servant. During most of his life he preferred to be known by his middle name William. Earlier banjos have the address as 26 ENDELL St LONDON W.C. and later banjos omit the W.C. Early models included a gut strung 6 string fretless with five friction pegs in the head and a 5th string peg. Later models included a slotted peg head with tunnelled 5th string and with the end of the perchpole fed through the pot where the tailpiece was attached to it. Hi later models can be rocognised by his signature mother or pearl inlay which was a large dot surrounded by 4 small dots .. see peghead and 14th fret marker below Thomas William Bacon 1841 - 1918 Next maker

William A Cole to 1909, Frank E Cole 1855 to 1922 The first Cole banjos were made by William A Cole of 179 Trement Street, Boston, Mass. after he had dissolved the partnership with A C Fairbanks in 1892 – after 12 years of supervising the production of Fairbanks banjos. The foreman of the Fairbanks factory had been Frank E Cole (Williams younger brother) and the two brothers started making banjos under the name of William A Cole. On the 30th January 1894 the factory had become established at 786 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. for on that date they patented their “Eclipse” banjo which incorporated improvements deigned by Frank Cole. In 1895 the London firm of Essex and Cammeyer was appointed British agents for the Cole Banjos and Mr (later Sir) Home Gordon played the first of these to be imported, at a concert held in North Cray in December of that year. William Cole died 2nd January 1909 and Frank Cole took over the business and from then on the banjos he made at 3 Appleton Street Boston carried his name. “Eclipse” banjos were sold up until 1922 when ill health forced Frank Cole to retire. He sold his plant to E J Nokes and Edward F Nicolai. Frank Coles was an exceptionally fine banjoist and was responsible for major improvements to banjos that were incorporated in the instruments he produced. At one time about 1890 he organised a banjo quintet that frequently appeared in public and did much to publicise the Cole banjos. About 1895 he trained his three sons (Percival, 12, Harry,9 and Raymond, 7) as banjoists. Frank E Cole died at the age of 67 in Avondale, Nova Scotia on 19th July 1922 from cerebral haemorrhage. Pictures courtesy of D Freshwater Note: the Cole banjo as imported by Essex and Cammeyer W A & F E Cole next maker

... was born in Manchester to father Matthew and mother Elizabeth and in 1891 was living in Stretford with his parents and brother. He then moved to Chorlton when he married Alice Brown, Lincs. in 1906. By 1911 he lived in and worked out of 156 Beresford Street, Moss Side, Manchester and was a successful teacher of the banjo from the late 1920's up to the outbreak of World War II. The banjos bearing his name as maker were well-made instruments of high class but without any outstanding characteristics. It is not known whether he made the instruments himself although it is possible, as he always advertised himself as a repairer of banjos. A recent acquisition of a Wilkes banjo had Castle Brand Banjo strings (presumably made by Windsor) in the cubby box bearing the stamp of Goodman stating “A. Goodman .. Banjo Specialist, Dealer in Music, Instruments, Strings, Cases, Lessons in all styles of Banjo Playing. “ He died in Manchester, London. Updated information from Sue Bradley including picture of him and his wife Alice. "Sue says .. a conversation with my mother aged 93 ... fittings on his banjo were solid gold .. Uncle Algi played banjo, mandolin, guitar and other stringed instruments including cello. Algernon G. S. Goodman 1882 -1958 next maker Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images?

Born in St Pancras London in 1858, he was the youngest with three elder sisters and it appears he never knew his father. At aged 13 he was living at 121 Gt College Street with his mother Helen (b 1827) who was a Pianoforte seller. He moved to Birmingham where at aged 22 he was working as a "music seller" and “living in” as a servant to a Mr E A Barton. In 1885 his son was born but his wife soon died and by 1891 he was living with his 5 year old son George Philip and mother-in-law in Birmingham where he established a factory firstly in Hockley Street and then at Soho Hill Works, and was listed as an instrument maker and employer. He married his 2nd wife Sara Sparrow in 1899 and by 1911 had retired from the business and moved to Strathmore, Southbourne Grove, Prittlewell in Essex with three daughters aged 7, 5 and 3. He died there on the 26th February 1929 leaving his estate of £5091 to his widow Sara. Not only did he sell a wide range of instruments bearing his own name but he made banjos and zither-banjos for other wholesale and retail firms (such as Ball Beavon , Rose Brothers , J. Thibouville, Lamy & Co ., Rose Morris & Co. ) to brand as their own. "Down South" was a brand of JTL made by Matthew. N ote: So that he could maufacture "without orders" but still be able to sell to a retailer Matthew tended to put his makers mark, hidden, on the reverse side of the perch pole i.e. facing the inside of the vellum. .. and the heel on an early Matthew banjo is very recognisable. Often the last three digits of the serial number were also printed on the pot usually by the neck clamp. George Paradice Matthew 1858 to 1929 next maker

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