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AmericanMadeBanjo |
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The Kel Kroydon® Banjo Company has rolled back the hands of time in the Bluegrass Banjo world.
The Style 10 and 11 Designs are Registered Trademarks
of the American Made Banjo Company
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www.americanmadebanjo.com
Experience Level: Novice
Occupation: Retired
Gender: Male
Age: 72
My Instruments:
Banjo/Guitar
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Created 3/26/2006
Last Visit 4/15/2025
www.kelkroydonguitar.com www.kelkroydon.com www.americanmadebanjo.com I am the owner of the American Made Banjo Co, Inc located in Boston, MA. USA. Originally a Tenor Banjo player since 1975 I swapped over to the Bluegrass 5 String banjo in 2001. I played Lead Tenor with the 9:29r's Banjo band for 19 years. We were a local 25 piece banjo band who specialized in raising money for charities. We never took more than our expenses for travel and returned our portion to the charity we were working for. We worked almost every Friday night filling auditoriums where ever we played. At times a bunch of us would break off from the band and played at local rest homes and hospitals for the terminally ill. Again, donating our time for those in need. At 19 years old I built my first banjo with a Vega Style Pie shaped resonator and a Tubaphone Tone Ring. I still have it to this day and will never sell it. Most of the time I played a Vega Whyte Lady or my B&D Silver Bell #6 NE Ultra Plus. These banjos will be in my possession forever. In 2001 I had a charity gig hosted by the NH Country Music Association. I scruffed by with the Tenor and soon realized a 5 String was the proper banjo to use. So, I purchased a cheapie and sought out a local instructor. This is where I met banjoist Rich Stillman. To this day I still take lessons bi-monthly as the learning curve will never end. Being accustomed to the Rhinestone and Pearl look on a Banjo, I was excited to find out the MOTS look was also popular in the Bluegrass world. I immediately purchased a few prewar banjos with MOTS and without. As my ability grew so didn't my desires for the right sound. The prewar banjos satisfied my desire only for a while which led me on to making my own banjos. I fell upon the Kel Kroydon trademark securing the name and look then decided I might as well do something with it. My goal was to produce a prewar style banjo for the banjo enthusiast without emptying their pockets. So, I brought back the MOTS banjo in both the Style 10 and 11. In a short time I realized banjo players also wanted a more traditional look, so I developed the New Generation Kel Kroydon Banjo starting a new era and look. The more I became involved with the 5 String banjo the more I had to get the right sound to accommodate the look of the banjo. That's when I hired the best Metallurgist in the country to clone a prewar tone ring. We reached our goals in a short time and now are looking toward the future. Future development of a Flange using original prewar Pot Metal is my next project. We are close with the look. Also, in the process of building prototypes we figured out why they flared in the past. We will correct that design flaw with our flanges coming out soon. If it wasn't for the knowledge of Robin Smith I would have never accomplished what has been done so far. I am still elated every time I look at the metallurgical results of the Dannick Tone Ring vs. the original prewar specimens we used. And they said it couldn't be done. The way I feel, those are the words of people who never tried. Oh!!!! The Cryogenic Strings are another story. Have a nice day Tom Mirisola
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