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The first American banjos were made by African slaves, who built them in the style of the gourd-body instruments they had played in their homeland. Minstrel shows of the 1830s and 1840s, both in the U.S. and England, popularized the instrument more broadly. By the end of the 19th century, numerous instrument makers were building banjos, including E.J. Cubley of Illinois, and A.C. Fairbanks and Co. of Massachusetts.
One Fairbanks banjo in particular, the Curtis Electric, is extremely rare because as few as 50 of them were made. The Curtis was loud but not a lot of fun to play. Slightly better were the four-string banjos made by Stella of New Jersey, while the cream of the crop were the banjos made by Gibson, who ruled the banjo world during the mid-1920s to mid-1930s.

I bought my first really good bluegrass banjo in 1963 from a banjo player who lived in New York. His name was Winni… [more]

I started playing guitar when I was pretty young and bought my first guitar when I was 10 or 11. Like a lot of peop… [more]

I grew up in upstate New York in Rochester, and started playing guitar when I was about 10 years old. We had this p… [more]

I started out primarily as a collector and the business aspect of it evolved over time, almost by accident. I didn’… [more]

Billed as “the world’s largest, most active, banjo community,” this site's Forums pages boast thousands of to… [read review or visit site]

First published as a folk music magazine in 1971 by Michael I. Holmes before going online in 1997, Mugwumps is a no… [read review or visit site]

This great reference site features detailed sections for vintage guitar makers including Gibson, Fender, Martin, Gr… [read review or visit site]

If you're into Gibson's Les Paul models, or even curious, this is your site. Chock full of useful reference data, p… [read review or visit site]

Want to see all the old brochures and ads for your favorite vintage axe? Check out this great site, which showcases… [read review or visit site]

If vintage guitars could talk... they'd be digging this site. With its many themed collections and exhibitions, it'… [read review or visit site]
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