Savana to Young

SAVANA

Stanley Rose served an apprenticeship with the firm of Ball Beavon. He left at the outbreak of World War I to serve in France. Upon demobilisation. he and his brother formed the firm of Rose Brothers and they dealt in the wholesale supply of any and all kinds of musical merchandise-including banjos and zither- banjos made in the Birmingham and London factories.

When the banjo started to be popular during the dance band boom of the early 1920s, Rose Brothers manufactured and sold to music shops their "Savana" range of inexpensive banjos. (The name was coined from the Savoy Hotel and its broadcasting "Havana" band.) In 1923 the Rose brothers took into the business the brothers Morris and the title of the firm was changed to Rose, Morris & Co. Ltd. (See John Grey.)

SCARTH

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.

SHEPARD

A. J. Shepherd, of Stockwell, London flourished from 1880 to 1912. during which time he advertised him. self as a "Professional Banjo Maker" and sole manufacturer of the “lmproved Eureka Banjo."

SHEVILL

H. Leonard (Len) Shevill was the son of an old time banjoist of the same who ran a teaching studio in the Fulham district of London in the 1880s.

Len Shevill entered the profession in the early 1920s and established a teaching studio in Maida Vale from which he conducted a world-wide correspondence course for teaching. the plectrum banjo and tenor-banjo. He also sold musical accessories and his "own make" of instrument which was named the "Len Shevilll Special." These were made for him by J.G Abbott. In the early 1930s he moved to Bournemouth and here he was active in a playing capacity until about 1950 when he retired from the music profession and took over the management of the Belvedere Hotel.

SKINNER

Charles Skinner, of 26719 Portobello Road, London, was a successful teacher of the fretted instruments and a dealer (at first, using the name of "The Mozart Musical Stores") in everything musical, with the emphasis on the banjo and mandolin. From about 1890 onwards he extensively advertised and sold his own patent "Highbridge" or "Finger Rest" banjos and zither-banjos, a feature of which was his own (Skinner) "Tone Bar"-a device fitted to the instrument parallel to the strings on which the little finger of the right hand could rest whilst plucking the strings. This necessitated a violent backward slant to the neck to allow for an exceptionally high bridge, which Skinner always claimed increased the tone of the instrument.

He was the father of the extremely talented Skinner Sisters (who performed at many banjo concerts in their day) and Charles Skinner who was well known as a mandola player with Troise and his Mandoliers and as an L.C.C. Institute and H.M. Prisons instructor of the fretted instruments for many years up to the time when he was over eighty.

Although Charles Skinner (the elder) always stated in his advertisement and printed literature that he was a "Musical Instrument Maker," all his banjos and zither-banjos were made for him by W. E. Temlett and, later. by J. G. Abbott.

The business was closed down when Mr.Skinner died in February 1922.

SMITH

From the early 1880s until 1913, Alfred Smith, of Grove Road and, after January 1895, Penrhyn Road, Kingston on-Thames, Surrey, was a successful teacher of the banjo, mandolin and -guitar and a public performer on these instruments. In addition, he conducted a successful amateur B. M. & G. orchestra of over thirty members, made up of his pupil. He also arranged successful concerts in and around Kingston. All these activities enabled his name to sell the banjos and zither-banjos bearing his name as maker but these were probably made for him by Parslow or Tilley.

SPENCER

Richard ("Dick") Spencer, a teacher, player and composer of and for the fretted instruments, established a workshop and studio at 84 High Street, Clapham, London, in 1880 and his extremely well-made banjos and (after 1888 - Ed.) zither-banjos soon gained a name with professionals and amateurs alike in and around London. He employed a number of workmen and made a great number of instruments each week for a number of years. As a professional player of the banjo he used the nom de plume of Dick Spence.

By 1883 he was making banjos with an insert strip of ebony through the centre of the two-piece neck .and in 1897 he was advertising the "Spencer. & Watkins' Patent Banjo," although no details of Watkins or the features of the "patent" banjo have been discovered. In addition to his prolific output of instruments bearing his own name, Spencer also made-banjos and zither banjos for others which were branded with the seller's name. He made extensively for Essex & Cammeyer in the early days of their partnership and for Clifford Essex for a number of years. When Richard Spencer died on April 2nd, 1915, Clifford Essex bought his plant and stocks of material from his son who had no interest in banjo making.

SPENCER

It is interesting to note that Alfred Dare (who had started work in the Spencer workshops at the age of 14) took charge of the Clifford Essex workshops on the death of Spencer. Will Mitchell (who succeeded Dare as foreman of the Clifford Essex workshops) was also employed by Spencer for some years.

In 1910 Spencer moved from Clapham High Street to 364 Clapham Road.

SPRATT

Harry Spratt, of various addresses in the Covent Garden area of London, was one of the earliest of the British commercial banjo makers. He flourished in the early 1870s, both as a maker of banjos and as a teacher of the instrument. His banjos at that time were typical of the period: deep (5 in.) hoop of wood (with undulant bottom edge), wide unfretted neck, push-in pegs, and six or eight heavy straining 5 brackets.

In 1885 he was granted a patent for a metal hoop for the banjo "with an annular groove in it to receive the tension bolts and to which the handle (neck) is attached." In section this hoop was something like the figure 5 minus the tail.

TEMLETT

In 1846 W. (William) Temlett established a workshop for making banjos at 95 Union Street, London, S.E., with F. Roberts in charge of production.

At first, the banjos produced were smooth-arm 6- and 7-string instruments with crude deep wooden hoops of 12 in. and 13 in. diameter and fitted with not more than a dozen heavy brackets and guitar type machine heads. A single machine head was fitted at the side of the neck for the octave string.

On November 20, 1869, Temlett was granted a patent for his first closed-back banjo which can rightly be considered the forerunner of the zither-banjo. This instrument had seven strings and Temlett called his revolutionary new instrument "the suspended sound board banjo." (The principle was used in later years in other banjos, notably the "Vegavox." ) By 1876 W. Temlett was making early versions (with very little metalwork in their construction) of what was later to become known as the "zither-banjo" and after Cammeyer had launched his instrument with this name, Temlett called himself "the pioneer of the zither banjo .

A feature of most of Temlett's instruments was the prolific use of mother-of-pearl inlays. He used decorations down each side of the fingerboard and between each fret and even round the upper edge of the hoop on his zither-banjos. When the demand for zither banjos increased to such phenomenal proportions round about 1880, Ternlett moved his factory to larger premises at 44 Southwark Bridge Road and there made the thousands of instruments bearing his name and the many hundreds of others sold under various retailers' names. In 1888 he was granted a patent for a banjo hoop which bulged out with a curve around the bottom; the tension bolts passing through holes in the upper part of this curved bulge and the nuts concealed within the bottom of the bulge. (This idea was later used by other makers, e.g. Gibson in America and Merriman in England.)

Although zither-banjos account for the majority of the instruments made by W. Temlett, he also made some worthwhile open - back five string banjos. Early in 1900 he suffered a paralytic stroke from which he never fully recovered. He died on May 2, 1904, in Guy's hospital of Bright's disease and cerebral haemorrhage.

William Temlett's son, William Ernest, had started work in his father's factory in early boyhood but left at the age of thirty to form his own business. Born in 1865, W. E. Temlett left school at the age of 14 and entered his father's factory and it was not long before he was appointed manager. But as he grew older, disagreements with his father became more frequent and in 1895 he left to form his own business. He set up a workshop at 29 Charlotte Street, Blackfriars, London, S.E., and for some years keen rivalry waged between father and son.

W.E. Temlett prospered and within a year he was advertising that the instruments he made could only be bought through retailers not direct from him. His "Apollo" zither- banjos and the "Hercules" and "Mozart" banjos enjoyed healthy sales all over the country; the latter being said to be good copies of S. S. Stewart's instruments.

In October 1898 he launched his own monthly fretted instrument magazine - "The Banjo, Mandolin & Guitar News" - which enjoyed an existence for some years and this, coupled with the many concerts he organised in and around London, did much to popularise his instruments. He was an enlightened employer and every year took his entire staff, male and female, to the seaside for the day and gave an annual dinner and dance for their benefit at which the leading fretted instrument soloists would perform.

In addition to his instrument making, he published fretted instrument music but his extensive catalogue was purchased by John Alvey Turner in 1903 and absorbed into the latter's vast catalogue.

TILLEY

Arthur Tilley's family were dairy farmers and horse dealers in Surbiton, Surrey. He was introduced to the banjo in early boyhood by a friend bringing one to his home on a wet evening. The two boys amused themselves with the crude 7-string instrument in a harness room and as the banjo could not be taken away because of the pouring rain, Tilley had it in his possession until the next time his companion visted them. In the meantime he taught himself the three chords in C and, in addition, had picked up enough to make his friend jealous and take the instrument away in high dudgeon.

Having been bitten by the "banjo bug" and having no chance to buy an instrument, the young Tilley set to and made one. His interest in the banjo gradually increased and after hearing Huntley & Lee (of the Haverly Minstrels) play at a private recital in 1881, he discarded his 7-string home-made "tub" banjo and made himself a more modern five-string model which was the start of his venture into commercial banjo making.

He established a workshop for making banjos and in 1884 was granted a patent for a banjo with a flange to take the tension brackets instead of the conventional shoes, preceding Temlett by four years in this connection. At first Tilley banjos had only 16 frets (more than sufficient at the time) but when he became a recitalist at various concerts and exhibitions, in which he played solos of his own composition "in keys considered impossible on the banjo," he found the need for the full complement of frets and fitted them to all his instruments. He was awarded a First Prize Medal for his banjos at the Inventions Exhibition, Kensington, in 1885, and a year later he organised a group of six players who toured the whole of England and did much to advertise his banjos.

Tilley was one of the first in England to use a plectrum on the banjo. With Jack Thomas, Dick Edmunds and Arthur Creswick and calling themselves "The Riverside Quartet." They used to go on the river in a boat on summer evenings and play waltzes composed by Tilley in single-note four-part harmony which was most effective. Later they appeared at concerts professionally and packed whatever hall they appeared in. This success led to Jack Thomas starting "The Stavordales" (q.v.).

In 1889 Arthur Tilley started to make zither-banjos and in that year filed a patent for a zither-banjo in which the lower half of the hoop was made of wood and the upper half ("being called a bezel or cap") was of metal. By 1894 his entire output was zither-banjos and it was said he exported to every corner of the world. In 1892 he had an accident with a lathe when a drill struck his eye and permanently impaired his sight. But Tilley zither-banjos continued to be made in their hundreds until the outbreak of World War I. Shortage of materials at the time appears to have forced him to give up the manufacture, for in 1918 he was working in an aeroplane factory. His instruments were always well made and have always been highly prized.

TURNER

John Alvey Turner established his first general music shop in the City of London in 1885 and from the early days sold all types of fretted instruments, including his "own make" banjos and zither banjos. The firm has never maintained its own workshops; all instruments bearing the name of John Alvey Turner having been made for them by Temlett, Windsor, Wilmshurst, Dallas, Cammeyer, J. G. Abbott and from 1945 until his retirement in 1956, Sidney Young.

WEAVER

Alfred Weaver was born in 1857 and started to make banjos at the age of twenty-one in a workshop which he established at 7 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C.2. His early unfretted instruments had an ornately engraved German-silver fingerboard, highly polished, which was fixed to the neck by some fifty counter sunk screws on each side. At first he made the fashionable seven-string and six-string models, but when the five-string banjo became established he concentrated on these and even converted many of his earlier instruments, when he could lay is hands on them. His craftsman-built instruments were always plain and unadorned and could easily he identified by the spoon shaped heel butt. He made banjos with varying size hoops, from 10 in. to 121 in., mostly with push-in pegs of ebony and always with a gut-attached band tailpiece. This preference for push-in pegs and wooden tailpiece was based on the theory that no metal should be in contact with the strings.

He made some zither-banjos at the height of the popularity of this instrument, but they were inclined to be heavy and lacking in true zither-banjo tone. Weaver banjos were played by many distinguished people (notably King Edward VII) and such leading professionals as James Bohee, Edwin French, Pat Shortis, Charlie Rogers, Joe Morley, Chas. E. Stainer, Tarrant Bailey Jr., and George E. Morris, to name but a few. In addition to the instruments stamped "Alfred Weaver, Maker" on the perch pole, he made banjos for others which although unmistakably Weaver-made, bore the retailers name. Banjos made by this outstanding British craftsman can still be found bearing the trade names of James Bohee, Alfred D. Cammeyer, John Alvey Turner, Clifford Essex, etc.

He retired to Bournemouth, Hants in 1936, and a year later all his unfinished instruments, parts, timber, etc., were acquired by John Alvey Turner. Ltd., who, employing Sidney Young, produced "Weaver" model banjos for some years. These were not stamped with Weaver's name on the perch pole.

On June 17th, 1919, Alfred Weaver was crossing Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth, when he was knocked down by a van. He was rushed to Boscombe Hospital, but died just before midnight.

WELLS

In an article in an 1894 issue of "The Banjo World," it mentions that Wells of Reading (the banjo maker) "has just completed a zither-banjo with a zinc (instead of wood) back." No other details of this instrument or any others by Mr. Wells have been unearthed, but the, quoted article infers he was not an unknown person as a maker of banjos and zither-banjos.

WILMSHURST

Arthur John Wilmshurst was born on Dec. 14th, 1862 and 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.

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; on 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.etc. His workshop was a small back room in the house in which be lived.

He died on March I st, 1946 at the age of 83, and the Clifford Essex Music Co. Ltd. purchased his stock of timber, spare parts and unfinished instruments.

WINDER

John Geldert Winder always advertised himself as "the pioneer maker of mandolins and guitars in Great Britain" and from about 1886 appears to have also made zither- banjos in his factory at 4a Kentish Town Road, London. A feature of these instruments was the balalaika-type of machine head faced with a highly engraved nickel silver plate; all the buttons being on the one side. About the year 1890 he produced a banjo with a hoop of aluminum and claimed to be the first to use this metal for a banjo hoop. In 1893, in conjunction with J. E. Nott-Barnes, he was running the St.Cecilia B.M. & G. Club in which he later claimed to have played the first piccolo banjo, an instrument he had himself made. (In 1896 he was the official conductor of the club at its concerts.)

In May 1963, Messrs James Sinton Ltd. of 151/153 Wardorf Street, London, were advertising "J. G. Winder mandolins etc. are made in our London workshops" which seems to indicate that Winder had retired from the profession. In February 1910 he wrote from 532 Caledonian Road, London, N. "as a musical instrument maker" to the President of the Board of Trade (on the occasion of the opening of "Labour Exchanges") suggesting a scheme for teaching the making of musical instruments. He said he would like to see established a "School of Musical Instrument Making" with reading room. library and museum "to teach in a first-class and up-to-date manner."

WINDSOR

As a young man, Arthur Octavius Windsor acquired a thorough knowledge of wood and metal working and by 1887 had a small factory in Birmingham for the making of coffin "furniture."

He played the banjo as a hobby and when the instrument started to become universally played he made some instruments after his own design. He had his own bench in a corner of his factory where he fashioned the instruments that carried his name as maker. His banjos proved popular and in three years he had set up an instrument factory in Newhall Street and was employing a staff of twenty-five, all making banjos. Very soon his range of instruments included most of the fretted instruments.

He made the first mandolin-banjo with a back built up of separate segments and in 1893 took out a patent to use the same method for the backs of zither-banjos, although he continued to use one-piece backs on his cheaper models. At school, Arthur Windsor had been called “Castle" and he adopted the silhouette of Windsor Castle as a trade mark and called his premises in Newhall Street "Castle Works." (In addition to the Newhall Street factory, he had sawmills and a wood-working plant in Mott Street).

In the early days, Windsor tested every instrument before it left the factory. In March 1892 he teamed up with Arthur J. Taylor, a prominent Birmingham teacher and player of the banjo and the firm of Windsor & Taylor came into berries. Taylor had begun to teach the banjo in 1881 and had first met Windsor in 1885 whilst trying to find a good banjo of English make to sell to-his pupils. They-did business together for some time before entering into a deed of partnership. It was at this time the firm started to make open-back banjos.

In January, Windsor & Taylor organised the Birmingham B. M. & G. Orchestra which gave its first public concert in March of that year. These concerts became regular affairs (at which the leading soloists of the day appeared) and the orchestra also visitedsuch places as Coventry, Leamington, Liverpool, London etc. Windsor and Taylor entered the publishing field and this, coupled with the public appearances of A. 0. Windsor and A. J. Taylor (both of whom were first-class banjo soloists), did much to publicise the instruments they made and a studio was set aside for him in the factory to enable him to carry on with his teaching activities.

The fact that Oakley changed to zither banjo and was playing a "Windsor" did much to boost sales. Unlike other manufactures of the day, every part of the instruments made by Windsor & Taylor were fashioned in the Newhall street factory, including all the metal parts used. The latter were always "non- standard" so that a replacement could only be purchased from them. In 1896 the firm published a 50-page booklet How a Zither-Banjo is Made. Given away free of charge it helped sell the instruments which were already a household name.

In 1901, Taylor left the firm and then the title became Arthur 0. Windsor. He had a stand at the British Industries Fair, White City, London, which was most impressive and did much to make the Windsor products known to overseas buyers. In 1928 Windsor brought out his famous "hollow arm" zither-banjo with its revolutionary resonator-type back. Windsor made instruments for other firms and would copy any design or model. They also supplied many of their cheaper stock instruments branded with the retailer's name as maker.

The firm's range of banjos, zither-banjos, banjolins and mandolin-banjos was wide because, they offered a large discount on catalogue prices, their lower-priced instruments became known in the trade as "pawnshop banjos." These instruments could always be found in pawnshops throughout the country where they would be offered for sale for as much as 50%, below the catalogue price.

The firm ceased to exist in December 1940 when the factory was destroyed in an enemy air raid. Up to that time Windsor was probably the largest maker of fretted instruments ever known in this country. The output of the Newhall Street factory in Birmingham must have been many thousands of instruments each year.

YOUNG

Although no instruments were sold in his name, Sidney W. H. Young’s unmistakable craftsmanship can be found on instruments bearing other names. He was first heard of in the banjo-making world as a member of the team of craftsmen making banjos and zither-banjos in the Essex & Cammeyer workshops at 13 Greek Street, Soho, London.

When Clifford Essex and Alfred D. Cammeyer dissolved partnership in 1900, Sidney Young was appointed manager of the Cammeyer workshops and it was he who was mainly responsible for the design and manufacture of the 'Vibranite," "Vibrante Royal" and "New Era" instruments (as well as the many other cheaper grades of zither banjos) sold under the Cammeyer name. When Cammeyer retired in 1939, Sidney Young, took over the small workshop at Richmond Buildings, Soho, where he continued to make instruments for private customers until the outbreak of World War 11.(it was during this period that he designed and made the "Vivavox" models for Emile Grimshaw & Son.) After the war he established a workshop at 70 New Oxford Street, London, W.C. . Here he worked in conjunction with John Alvey Turner Ltd., (their premises being next door) until his retirement in 1956. He had acquired a good stock of Cammeyer "parts" and timber, and turned out many "Vibrantes" etc., but these do not bear the facsimile signature of Cammeyer on the heel butt.

In 1937 Turner acquired Alfred Weaver's stock of half-completed hoops, arms, fittings, etc., and Mr. Young's skill fashioned them into instruments almost indistinguishable from the genuine article except that they bore no maker's name.

He died on December 11th,1964.