William Schmick next maker ... of 514 N 9th St., New Jersey took out a patent on September 23rd 1914 for his “Lyric” banjo, tenor-banjo, mandolin-banjo and guitar-banjo. Speaking of the instruments at the time “The Crescendo” said “While this new arrival resembles the English zither pattern, and indeed was modelled after that type, every essential feature represents a change from all previous forms of banjo production, the inventors object being to produce an instrument that would be effective with gut strings instead of wire. The head forms the lid of a wooden box and is self-contained; that is it is not fixed to the box as all but just rests there and acts like a second bridge for the strings. When the strings are removed this head, with its novel hoop for tightening, can be lifted out of the enclosure. It is not necessary to do this every time you wish to tighten the head, however, for special brackets are provided for that purpose, hidden from view but easily accessible around the top of the vellum. When a new head is needed one can be put on without disturbing the neck or the dowel piece, and the instrument re-strung and played at once for the vellum always remains at the same height, no matter how loose or tight it is.” This instrument had a hoop constructed on similar lines to that used in zither-banjos but in the upper perimeter were 22/24 sound holes. It apparently sold, far as late a 1925 Carl Fischer Inc. were selling them in their New York, Chicago and Boston shops according to their advertisements. images courtesy of M Beadles

When George Scarth abandoned his violin-importing business and took over the general music shop at 69 Charing Cross Road, London, in 1929 he was at first content to sell the occasional banjo which he would obtain from his usual wholesaler. However, in 1931 he decided to launch his own brand of banjo and the first Scarth banjos were designed and made for him by Robert ("Bob") Blake. When the demand for these high-class instruments increased, J. G. Abbott was called upon to also make for him. Scarth banjos ranged from an inexpensive model to a really high-class expensive instrument: the "Model B2" being a good copy of the American "Vegavox." None of the instruments the sold bear the name Scarth, but they can be identified by the old-English letter "S" (made of mother-of-pearl) inlaid in the pegheads. No Scarth banjos were made after 1936. when the demand was more for plectrum guitars. By this time the firm moved 55 Charing Cross Road. George Scarth Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

... was founded in 1926 in Chicagi Il., from the joining of two Boston firms--Nokes & Nicolai and JosephPacheco with the Liberty Rawhide Company-a major Chicago supplier of banjo and drum heads from 1920. Contemporary articles state that Liberty had purchased the "stock and good will" of the other two companies, and moved the stock in trade and equipment to new quarters in Chicago; each man was to have responsibility for his own end of the business, while John W. Placko, president of Liberty, was to supervise the manufacture of the drum and banjos heads. Within a year the new company had failed and was sold at auction, in August, 1927; since the factory and most of the machinery were new, there was great competition for the assets, which were finally purchased by Slingerland Liberty Music Company 1926-1927 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Thomas Bostock 1857 to 1941 next maker ... was born in Southwark and brought up in Clerkenwell, London. He first trained as a printer but by 1890 he was a musical instrument maker and he had his business at 23 Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell. He married Alice Maud Philips in 1882 and they had 6 childern. He was a wholesale maker of banjos and zither-banjos from about 1880 to the middle 1920's when nothing further is heard of him. The 1911 census has him listed as a Musical Instrument Maker and repairer. He is buried in Islington Cemetry. 5 sring courtesy of J A Turner. (originally fretless and replaced tail piece and tuners) Additional familly information courtesy of David & Carol Bostock

Dayton banjos were designed and patented in October 1920 by Charles B Rauch who established the Dayton String Instrument Company, in Dayton Ohio and was running a successful teaching business there and conducted the Dayton Mandolin Club. In addition to banjos Rauch made and sold most fretted instruments. In 1922 the Dayton range of banjos was improved by having hoops of curly and birds eye maple. Subsequently Rauch launched the “New Construction Dayton Banjos” which had 12" hoops and were fitted with a round metal perchpole and an extension fingerboard. The 5 string hoops were turned from 12 wood blocks glued in 3 layers. Instead of the normal banjo pegs they were fitted with machine heads as per the guitar. An advertisement of the time mentions a “fine line of tenor banjos, mandolin banjos, guitar banjos, cello banjos and ukulele banjos in this new construction". In 1925 Thomas J Armstrong wrote “Dayton banjos are high in favour” It is not known when the company ceased trading. For more information and pictures go to Tim Canuelle's site "Dayton String Instrument Co." Dayton next maker

.. was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire and started to learn to play the banjo at an early age and played in public when he was eleven. When he left school at the age 14 he was apprenticed to the firm of Windsor and Taylor and remained with them when he moved to York where for some years he ran a successful teaching connection In 1902 he left York and settled in Bournemouth where he worked in co-operation with A. de Vekey for about five years and for a short period he was a member of the Stavordale Quartet. In 1907, he "turned professional" and for some time toured with a minstel troupe and then appeared on the Music Hall stage with “The American Trio". In 1912 he was with the Palladium Ministrels for the successful run of this show. During World War I he worked as a civilian artificer for Kelvin's of Glasgow on submarines, and, later, as a scientific instrument maker for a firm at Brentford, Middlesex. After the war he set up as a “lone” maker of banjos mandolins and guitars with a workshop at Buer Road, Fulham, S.W. London, and was making high class banjos up to about 1935. He died on July 7,1955 from a cerebral thrombosis. "Charlie" Page 1857 to 1955 Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

.. born in Leicester on June 5th 1898 and learned the craft of woodworking from his father. He started to make banjos in the 1910's until the 1920's although his main activity was teaching and conducting a successful music shop with emphasis on the fretted instruments. He concentrated on producing one grade of high-class banjo, although he was known to have produced a cheaper instrument of varying designs at different times during his banjo-making days. Since 1939, when he ceased to make banjos, he was concerned mainly with making -guitars. He died in 1967. Joseph Chamberlain 1898 to 1967 Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Ebenezer Batelle started selling sheet music from his Boston Book Store in 1783. The book store changed hands several times and came into the ownership of Colonel Samuel H. Parker in 1811. In 1823 Parker employed a trainee called Oliver Ditson and the sheet music business was profitable enough to be separated to its own entity, in 1835, to include music publishing which was then being organized by Ditson. At this time the company became known as Parker & Ditson but following Parker's death in 1842 Ditson acquired the whole business which became known as Oliver Ditson. The expansion of the company proceeded at pace with the acquisition of the publishing catalogues of, amongst others, William Hall & Son and John Firth & Son and with musical instrument production following the establishment of Lyon & Healy in Chicago in 1864 and John Church Company of Cincinnati Ohio in 1860. When John C Haynes joined the business in 1857 as a partner it became Oliver Ditson & Co. Ditson ensure tight control of the business by installing familly members in the main offices in New York and Philadelphia. On his death in the company changed its name to Oliver Ditson Company and continued trading until 1937 when the company was sold to Theodore Presser. Images courtesy of Steve Benson Oliver Ditson 1811 to 1888 next maker

Around about 1870 James Morrison, of 670 Sixth Avenue, New York City, formed a company for making banjos and in October 1875 the "Morrison Patented Steel Hoop Banjo" was being offered for sale by Jas. Morrison & Co., of that address. It was claimed this instrument was "different from other banjos principally in the hoop which is supported by pins driven into the wood rim over which the head is stretched" and was used and recommended by Brooks & Denton, the Dora Bros., Vess L. Ossman, Gregory & Farmer, Grant Brower, F. Wilbur Hill, Thomas E. Glynn, Sam Devere, Billy Carter, etc. etc. in the same advertisement it was said that all these players also sold the Morrison banjo. By 1903 Morrison was located at 157, E, 67th Street, New York City, from where he advertised that his instruments were "guaranteed to be the finest-toned in the world, for stage and club use". For a great many years it is true that the Morrison banjo was considered in America to be the acme of perfection in tone and durability. When Brooks and Denton formed their partnership in 1885 they claimed to be the sole selling agents in New York for the Morrison banjo. They were still selling them in 1912. Pictures courtesy of Bill Neff James Morrison next maker

... established a wholesale and retail musical merchandise establishment at 24 High Street, Aldgate, London, in the 1870's and started to make banjos in the early 1880's; mostly of the smooth arm type; with 12in. hoops- and in five, six and seven-string models. His son, Albert V Ebblewhite was born in 1871 and took over running the the business following the death of his father in 1901 Between the years 1901 and 1918 they sold (as wholesalers and retailers) a great number of zither banjos bearing the name of Ebblewhite as maker but these where made by Arthur Windsor (a personal friend of Ebblewhite), Wilmshurst (of London) and Matthew (of Birmingham). Ebblewhite also exported Windsor made banjos to the USA under the brand name of AV & Co. They ceased to market their banjos soon after the outbreak of World War I and the firm closed down completely in 1966 soon after Alberts death. John Henry Ebblewhite 1829 - 1901 next maker

.. of 606 Kimball Hall, Chicago, Illinois, was born on 4th February 1859 and when he became a professional banjoist, travelled for a number of years as featured banjoist with the Kimble Hall Opera Company. By 1911 he had established a teaching studio in Chicago and was advertising his “Mellow tone” banjos as “being designed and made” by himself. He was a go ahead teacher and must have sold many of his own make to his countless pupils, although it is doubtful he made the instruments himself. It was more likely they were made for him by JB Schall. In 1919 he published a banjo tutor in C notation (in which he advertised his own banjo ) and six years later published a tutor for the tenor-banjo. He retired in about 1924 to his farm in Marinetti, Wisconsin, but continued to do a little teaching. He was last heard of in 1944 when he was 85. Arling Shaeffer Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

Arthur John Wilmshurst 1862 to 1946 next maker ... came on the scene as a maker of banjos -- and more especially zither-banjos -- about 1890 at 3 Layard Road, Bermondsey, London, S.E. He was always a "One man" concern who specialised in his own zither-banjos, which were easily identifiable by the ornate metal fretwork (backed by coloured silk) between the straining, hoop and the outer casing of the instrument. This metal fretwork was not purely for decoration as Wilmshurst clearly identified that it solved the problem with zither banjos where the round wooden "pot", when under the tension of the strings, distorted to oval resulting in an instrument with a high, and often unplayable, action. Windsor and others tried to solve this problem with his zither banjos by inserting an adjustable shoe between the drum and the heel. In 1891 he was granted a patent for a zither-banjo, in which the vellum was held between two clamping rings screwed together the screw bolts taking their bearing in the hoop. He was the only maker of banjos to exhibit at the Earls Court Industrial Exhibition in 1894; one of his exhibits being designated his 'patent Unique Adjustable Banjo'--- a zither-banjo in which all unnecessary fittings have been dispensed with. He advertised extensively and, as his own travelling salesman, sold hundreds of instruments. In addition, he made for other firms, e.g. Ebblewhite , Turner , Essex & Cammeyer etc. Initiall his workshop was a small back room in the house in which be lived. He married in 1904 and by 1911 he had moved half a mile onto the high street at 128 Southwark Park Road, Bermondsey S E London and was still there in 1915. He died on March 1st, 1946 at the age of 83, and the Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd. purchased his stock of timber, spare parts and unfinished instruments. Note the rolled over back to the pot on the fretless. 5 string fretless images courtesy of David Neve