Item List E L Bailey ​ Read More

Item List Fred J Bacon 1871 to 1948 Read More

< Back Thomas William Bacon 1841 to 1918 ... 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 Previous Next

< Back Bay State ​ also see Haynes Pictures courtesy of Intermountain Guitar and Banjo Previous Next

< Back John G Abbott 1878 to 1938 Abbott trained as a cabinet maker and was a maker of banjos from about 1895 and sold under his own name and made for other firms and teachers (e.g. Barnes & Mullins, John Alvey Turner, Norton Greenop, Charles Skinner, Len Shevill, G. Scarth). When Barnes &, Mullins came to London in 1901,and soon after, started their own workshops at Harrow, Middlesex, John G. Abbott supervised the making of the Barnes & Mullins banjos and zither-banjos. In 1905 he left Barnes & Mullins to form his own company with the title of J. G (George). Abbott & Co. and a factory at 97/99 Hampstead Road, London, N.W.l. The instruments they made were grouped under the general names of "Mirabile" (banjos), "Monarch" (plectrum-banjo and tenor-banjos) and Amboyna" (Zither-banjos). About 1928 his workshops were transferred to 44 Chalton Street,Euston Road (where his son-learned the art of instrument making) and four years later he became, part of the Besson Co., when his works were transferred to Besson’s premises at Stanhope Place, Marble Arch, London, when the making of banjos virtually ceased, his activities being devoted to making plectrum guitars (sold under the brand of "Aristone"). In 1936 he suffered from serious internal trouble from which he never fully recovered. He died on February 11, 1938 after a brief illness. John (“Jack") Abbott, son of the above learned the craft of instrument making in his father's workshops. When his father joined Besson & Co. in 1932, he established his own one room work-shops at various addresses in London for the making of, mostly, guitars. He did make a few banjos and even steel guitars with a pickup, which were branded "Abbott-Victor”. He gave up business in 1957. Previous Next

< Back Ball, Beavon & Co ​ .. established a wholesale musical instrument business at 31 Aldermanbury, London, EC in the 1880's and subsequently in Pinder Street, Bishopsgate, London. Although they marketed banjos bearing their name as maker they were made by Matthew and Houghton of Birmingham. They also sold SS Stewart banjos during the 1890's which were stamped on the dowel stick Ball, Beavon & Co London, under the neck clamp, alongside the Stewart label. In the days of the 7-string banjo, they sold an unfretted instrument with 40 brackets on the hoop and fitted with push in pegs. The firm went out of business during the First World War, probably due to the cessation of supplies and of cheap musical instruments and merchandise from the Continent. Images courtesy of Jim Leith Previous Next

Item List Thomas William Bacon 1841 to 1918 Read More

Tonk Brothers Do you have a pre 1940's banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker At the beginning of the 20th c Chicago was a hub of music companies and Tonk Bros slotted into the maize of manufacturers, buyers and resellers and retailers of instruments and sheet music at the quality end of the market. The philosophy of quality in product and service was laid down by Charles J Tonk and they claimed to be the world’s largest exclusive wholesaler of stringed musical instruments including National Guitars and Washburn banjos, guitars, mandolins and Ukuleles. It was started in the early 1890’s by the Tonk Bros. and was taken over by Paul Moenning in the mid 1920’s still trading as Tonk Brothers, 623 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago. In 1928 he acquired the Lyon & Healey wholesaling business and had JR Stewart making Washburn banjos for him claiming $1 million of sales in 1929 when you could buy a National Style O for $60 In 1929 the stock market crashed and the manufacturing business of Stewart went bankrupt, so Tonk Bros bought the factory along with the Washburn name. As the US came out of the depression the industry had slimmed down and Tonk continued to trade with Regal who was building their instruments in the old Stewart factory and wholesaling though companies like Kay and Stella.

.. 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

Following a tour of Englad with his brother George (b 1857) the African-American James Bohee established a teaching studio in Coventry Street, London, in 1882. He first sold S. S. Stewart banjos at exorbitant prices to his pupils but before long he decided it was more profitable to sell his "own" banjos. These had a 12 inch hoop, plain nickel-silver, fingerboard without any fret markings, and push-in ivory pegs. When the Prince of Wales, who was soon to become King Edward VII, took lessons from him, the banjo craze hit British High Society. It is said he was a shrewd business man and asked as much as £50 for one of his banjos, a truly great price when one realises the highest-priced instruments at that time were 9 or 10 guineas. Bohee banjos were branded "Champion" and Alfred Weaver made the majority of them, although some were said to have been made by Arthur Tilley of Surbiton. Bohee died in 1897 but his brother liver on to 1930. James Bohee ... 1844 to 1897 Do you have a banjo by this maker? can you supply us some images? next maker

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