Slingerland - Posted - 08/18/2011:  19:38:49

Way up in the mountains in Sugar Grove, NC, lives Clifford Glenn, the living tradition of instrument making of the Watauga County, NC tradition. Clifford is a fourth generation instrument maker who spent close to 50 years building some of the finest instruments the world has seen. For over 40 years of those years, he shared a workshop with his father, Leonard.

Edited by - Slingerland on 08/18/2011 19:55:18

Slingerland - Posted - 08/18/2011:  19:40:11

March 12, 1964 Clifford Glenn banjo (more photos on my homepage)

Edited by - Slingerland on 08/18/2011 19:42:01

Slingerland - Posted - 08/18/2011:  19:41:36

1940s-1950s Leonard Glenn banjo (more photos on my homepage)

R Buck - Posted - 08/18/2011:  21:22:11

I've got one of their banjos from over 25 years ago.  It is sweet as can be. 

beezaboy - Posted - 08/19/2011:  05:31:18

Good story!  I wonder how many banjos the elder Leonard made (1950's) and then the successor Leonard/Clifford (1960's+) made.  I expect that finding examples would be slow going.  Too bad Clifford did not have a customer list from back in the day.  Then some letter writing might turn up some banjos looking for a new home.

Slingerland - Posted - 08/19/2011:  05:55:24

Thanks!



There was really no demand for these instruments outside of the Watauga County area until Frank Proffitt gained national recognition (late 1950s/early 1960s). Historically, makers in this area did not mark their instruments because they did not see the need to do so. I have seen one banjo purchased from Leonard in 1959 that is not marked. Leonard and Clifford began marking their instruments shorty thereafter.

Banjos were signed by either Leonard or Clifford (depending on who made it) and I have never seen an instrument bearing both names. At some point during the late 1950s or early 1960s, Leonard and Clifford began making banjos and dulcimers that would later be sold by Frank Proffitt. The Glenns would leave the instruments unmarked and Frank Proffitt would sign (and sometimes date) the instrument. (Source for the Frank Proffitt information: Clifford Glenn)



Until the mid 1950s, Leonard appears to have made banjos from time to time, but not necessarily in any regular fashion. There is at least the banjo I have, made no later than the early 1950s, and a reference in a book, published in 1969, that illustrates one Leonard made in 1947 and owned by Mack Presnell.



From the mid 1950s until the early 1960s, Leonard and Clifford began making banjos and dulcimers in a more regular fashion, but not full time. In the early 1960s, their instrument production became full time.



Leonard died in 1997 and Clifford made instruments until the early 2000s.



I recently asked Clifford about how many instruments he and his dad made over the course of their careers and he said that it was hard to say, but they probably made 1,000 or 2,000 instruments. Clifford also said that they made more dulcimers than banjos.



In my experience, the banjos and dulcimers that turn up most frequently are the ones from the years of their full time production, specifically the 1960s and 1970s.

Edited by - Slingerland on 08/19/2011 06:06:16