Category Archives: banjo

Meet the Maker: Robert Anderson

2021
AL#144 p.36               
John Calkin   Robert Anderson                                                                                       

▪ Robert Anderson made banjos part-time for decades while he worked a respectable day job. But since he has “retired” into a full-time lutherie career, he is in demand for his beautifully carved, inlaid, and engraved instruments. We take a look into his converted tobacco barn and talk shop. Mentions Doug Unger, Stan Werbin, Kathy Anderson, Grateful Dead.

Letter to the Editor: Experimental solidbody guitar by Doc Kauffman

2017
AL#129 p.3               
Leo Bidne                                                                                           

▪ An electric guitar by pioneering designer Doc Kauffman uses a speaker cone in place of a resophonic cone.

Questions: Banjo-Style Guitar Neck

2014
AL#117 p.69               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Building a guitar in which the neck attaches to the body as a banjo neck attaches to it’s rim and a soundboard bracing to accommodate this.

Reviews: The Guitar in America, Victorian Era to Jazz Age by Jeffrey J. Noonan

2008
AL#96 p.65               read this article
Don Overstreet                                                                                           

▪ The book is about the Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitar Movement that ended with the Great Depression. While the reviewer admits that there is little here for luthiers, there is a ton of interesting material for the musical history buff. This time is where many of the instrument icons we all copy came from.

Meet the Maker: Chuck Lee

2008
AL#95 p.26               
Steve Kinnaird   Chuck Lee                                                                                       

▪ Lee is a prominent maker of old-time open-back banjos, ex-plumber, dedicated Christian, and Texas-style family man. Cool guy, and his banjos are interesting, too. With 20 photos.

Resurrecting the Family Banjo

2005
AL#84 p.50   BRB7 p.412            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Resurrection isn’t so much about true restoration as in making a dilapidated instrument function again in a manner that the owner can afford. Time-saving procedures are permitted that a restorationist wouldn’t dream of, but preserving the instrument as much as possible is still the goal. With 12 photos.

Meet the Maker: George Wunderlich

2003
AL#73 p.50   BRB7 p.24            
Nathan Stinnette   George Wunderlich                                                                                       

▪ Wunderlich builds minstrel banjos, recreations of banjos made before the various factories turned them into standardized items that standardized the way we all think about the banjo. With 6 photos.

Kit Review: The Riverboat Banjo from Musicmaker’s Kits

2000
AL#62 p.50   BRB6 p.490            read this article
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ This is the first of a new semi-regular column. The Riverboat features massive amounts of wood to paint or carve, as well as a head adjustment system that eliminates all of the traditional banjo hardware. Calkin likes it. With 7 photos.

Review: Ring the Banjar! The Banjo in America from Folklore to Factory, by Robert Lloyd Web

1999
AL#58 p.55   BRB5 p.480            read this article
Woody Vernice                                                                                           

▪ In 1984 the MIT museum sponsored an exhibition of banjos built predominantly in and around Boston. This book is sort of the catalog of that show, complete with two essays about the history of the banjo and the Bostonians who built the factories. The reviewer decides that if you like the open-back banjo you’ll enjoy this book.

Meet the Maker: Geoff Stelling

1996
AL#47 p.30   BRB4 p.346            
John Calkin   Geoff Stelling                                                                                       

▪ A profile of one of the leaders in high-end banjos, featuring a tour of the shop, production techniques, construction methods, and banjo/motorcycle cross-pollination.

Questions: Banjo-Lin

1996
AL#45 p.43   BRB4 p.123            
John Doan                                                                                           

▪ The history of the banjo-lin, 100 years old, manufactured by F.C. Heiser Company, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

It Worked for Me: Banjo Rim Binding Clamp

1995
AL#44 p.58   BRB4 p.500            
Norbert Pietsch                                                                                           

▪ Two rings, one for inside, one for outside, for use with rubber or rope for clamping binding to a banjo rim.

Meet the Maker: Bart Reiter

1993
AL#34 p.14   BRB3 p.324            read this article
Paul Hostetter   Bart Reiter                                                                                       

▪ Reiter is perhaps the best known current maker of open back banjos. He traces his beginnings and some specifics of the banjo market. With 3 photos.

Hellfire! or How Not To Build A Banjo

1992
AL#32 p.47   BRB3 p.257            read this article
Harold Turner                                                                                           

▪ Build a banjo and scare the congregation, and not with music. Luthier humor, and more good local color. Turner was there when the banjo bomb was invented. A shrinking calf skin head was the culprit.

Meet the Maker: Ren Ferguson

1992
AL#32 p.8   BRB3 p.242            
Jonathon Peterson   Ren Ferguson                                                                                       

▪ The shop honcho of Gibson West relates some personal background. Ferguson moved to Montana long before Gibson did. Did Gibson really build a factory there just for him? Probably not. Mentions Rob Ehlers, Steve Carlson, Henry Juszkiewicz.

GAL Instrument Plan #28: Swahili Kibangala (African Banjo)

1990
AL#23 p.28   BRB2 p.411            
James Hillier                                                                                           

▪ The kibangala is a seven string, four-course instrument carved from solid wood that utilizes a skin head. The plan is a shrunken version of our full-scale Plan #28.

The Mandolin Orchestra in America, Part Three

1990
AL#21 p.44   BRB2 p.262            
Joseph R. Johnson                                                                                           

▪ A number of non-mandolins were considered to be intrinsic parts of the mandolin orchestras. This installment of the series looks at all the boys in the band (and some girls, too). With 16 photos and a few drawings.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Meet the Maker: Frank “Andy” Johnson

1989
AL#19 p.40   BRB2 p.294            
Jonathon Peterson   Frank “Andy” Johnson                                                                                       

▪ Johnson is a banjo restorationist and tonewood supplier from Washington State. He specializes in selling spruce to the major piano manufacturers.

The Mandolin Orchestra in America, Part One

1989
AL#19 p.34   BRB2 p.262            
Joseph R. Johnson                                                                                           

▪ Mandolin mania in America was a social phenomenon that was inflated to the max by the Gibson Company advertising propaganda. This portion of the series details the rise of the mandolin orchestras and mandolin clubs. With 9 photos and a Gibson cartoon. Part Two and Part Three follow in AL#20 and AL#21.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Roy Smeck: Wizard of the Strings

1987
AL#11 p.40   BRB1 p.436            read this article
James Garber   Roy Smeck                                                                                       

▪ This is an interview with the man who may have been the best known instrumentalist of his time, the Chet Atkins of vaudeville, if you will. The conversation is mostly about his instruments.

American Plucked String Instruments at the Shrine to Music Museum

1987
AL#10 p.44   BRB1 p.398            
Joseph R. Johnson                                                                                           

▪ This is a checklist of what to look for when you get there. Also, a reason to go.

Banjo Block Rim

1984
DS#298   BRB2 p.444            
Elliott Burch                                                                                           

▪ Most banjo rims (or pots) are laminated from one long strip of steam-bent wood. An even stronger rim can be made of blocks laid up like a brick wall. Here’s how to make one. With 7 illustrations.

Calfskin Banjo Head

1978
DS#76   BRB2 p.244            
Kirk Hogan                                                                                           

▪ Mounting a skin head on a banjo has become a lost art. Here’s how to do it. Includes 4 drawings.

Gibson Banjo

1976
DS#28               
Tom Morgan                                                                                           

▪ Recent popularity of the banjo and need for dissemination of bits of info have prompted this writing, in which the topics, types of shell, wood rim construction, tone rings, adjustment of string height, and correcting neck wrap are discussed.