Just this past week, two major US banjo manufacturers have announced the availability of banjo hardware made to vintage specifications.

Both Huber Banjos and American Made Banjo Co. are now producing parts for sale to banjo builders – both professional and hobbyist – and as replacements in vintage, pre war banjos. In both cases, these are the parts used in the finished banjos these two companies offer, now available for the first time for sale as separate components.

The two catalogs of parts overlap for the most part, though Huber offers a mix of wooden and metal parts, and American Made has a more complete listing of machined components. In addition to tone rings, resonator hardware, arm rests and coordinator rods, Huber has their resonators and rims available for sale. American Made doesn’t have any wooden parts listed on their site, but has all the metal hardware for a flathead, Mastertone-style banjo.

Tom Mirisola of American Made Banjo acquired his own machine shop earlier this year to manufacture banjo parts, and installs them in his Kel Kroydon banjos. You can see the complete list of parts on their web site.

Steve Huber is continuing to work towards the point where all the components in his Huber Banjos are made in house, and has only a few parts left before that goal is reached. He will be announcing two new tone ring models and a new Huber engineered rim within the next few weeks.

See the list of Huber Vintage parts online.

Both companies also offer custom made heads, straps bridges and strings, and Huber makes a deluxe capo as well.

Bill Evans is the latest professional banjo player to be recognized with a signature model Kel Kroydon banjo, made by the American Made Banjo Company.

Bill’s banjo has a maple neck and resonator, with a Hearts and Flowers inlay in the fingerboard. A Dannick flat head tone ring is installed, manufactured by American Made Banjo, and is plated with an antique gold. When the banjo is offered for sale in the near future, it will be available as shown in the accompanying photo, or with a custom engraving pattern which Bill is designing himself.

Tom Mirisola, president of American Made Banjo, is delighted to have Bill on board. He also shared news about their having recently acquired their own machine shop to manufacture to Dannick tone rings and the other metal parts used in assembling the Kel Kroydon banjos.

Evans has been using the banjo of late for his many banjo workshops, and his shows with Megan Lynch in support of their new CD, Let’s Do Something, and is pleased with his signature model Kel Kroydon.

“I’m excited to be associated with Tom, American Made Banjo Company and the Kel Kroyden nameplate. I take an association of this kind very seriously and I wanted to be sure that we had come up with an instrument that equaled and maybe surpassed any other professional grade instrument available in terms of tone, workmanship and playability. The Bill Evans KK is the result of a collaboration between Tom, Robin Smith, Charlie Cushman and myself with the goal being to create an instrument that sounded as close as possible to the prewar instruments that I’ve been associated with over my career.

The classic sound and tone of players like Earl Scruggs and Sonny Osborne rings in my head every time I pick up the banjo – that combination of maple and gold for me can’t be beat. I also need an instrument that’s at home with styles other than bluegrass. The KK is the only new banjo that I’ve played that works for me in all settings. The tone, response and feel of this banjo is right for both traditional bluegrass and more adventurous playing. And it’s got a big sound! When I’m on stage with Megan Lynch, it’s often the only instrument you hear as I support Megan’s singing. This banjo is allowing me to work at an entirely new level of dynamics and power and I can get a pretty amazing array of sounds from it. (more…)

Nashville-based banjo picker – and Bluegrass Blog contributor – Casey Henry is the latest banjoist to debut a signature model in the Kel Kroydon line manufactured by Tom Mirisola and the American Made Banjo Co.

The Casey Henry model is part of the Charlie Cushman signature line, with each banjo designed with Charlie’s input, and final assembly and set up occurring under his supervision. It is an all maple banjo, with the pearloid fingerboard and brightly-colored inlays that were utilized in the original Kel Kroydon banjos prior to WWII.

Casey is delighted with her new axe, and shares a few words about how she came to be involved with Kel Kroydon.

“Tom Mirisola first approached me about a set of signature strings, which I was pretty tickled about. When he called me after IBMA about doing a signature model banjo I was so surprised I almost didn’t know what to say. I was flattered he’d chosen me to be part of the Kel Kroydon family, and although I’d never met him in person (and still haven’t) I knew that if Charlie Cushman was working with him, he was good folks.

I modeled my KK banjo on my Gibson style 11 that I’ve played for years–maple stained brown, with nickel plated hardware. I chose the pearloid fingerboard because the 11 had originally had one (the tenor neck I have hanging on my wall) and, why not? It’s distinctive. There’s no mistaking what kind of banjo it is from the very first glance.

I got my new instrument right before Christmas and spent quite a bit of time playing it over the holidays. It sounds absolutely wonderful. It has that deep flathead growl (Charlie Cushman set it up impeccably, of course) and I know it will only get better with time.

To my surprise I haven’t found playing on the mother-of-toilet-seat fingerboard to be that different. I guess I mostly look at the side of the neck, rather than the front, when I play. I really hope some people will be interested in buying one. I know Steve Martin just bought a Charlie Cushman model and I’m pretty pumped that Steve Martin and I have the same kind of banjo!”

You can see more photos and find additional details about the Casey Henry model on the Kel Kroydon web site.

Mirisola tells us that they have a number of new items to be introduced in ‘08, including a Style 2 Kel Kroydon reissue, and a Dannick no-hole archtop tone ring. The Style 2 banjos will feature a walnut neck, simple inlays on a pearloid fingerboard and will be available with either a 1/4” brass hoop or the Dannick flathead or archtop tone ring.

American Made Banjo Company has announced that their first new Kel Kroydon banjo for 2007 will be an artist model for celebrated Nashville banjo picker Charlie Cushman, built to his custom specifications.

This new Cushman model will be a mahogany banjo, fitted with AMB’s Dannick tone ring, and featuring an ebony fingerboard with their Kel Kroydon Style 10 inlay, and the Style 10 resonator overlay. Charlie will set up each of these banjos himself, and sign them before they are shipped.

They will be built by Robin Smith of Heartland Banjo & Guitar.

No pictures of the Cushman model yet on the Kel Kroydon site, but they will surely show up there before long.