Are there any female banjo luthiers out there folks would recommend?
Thanks!
If she’s still working, there’s none better:
It certainly is an area I wish more female artisans would become involved in. I was at a large guitar show recently and there was only one female builder. It seems like a great opportunity.
My wife is a painter and uses her first initial instead of her first name in all her gallery promotions and website because she feels people would not give her as much credit if they knew she was a woman. Many people are surprised at her openings when they see her. Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but have never met a female banjo builder. My wife helps me sometimes, and there isn't a reason in the world why she couldn't build banjos if she wanted to—that would be true of a lot of people who have art school educations.
As an aside, read the book "the Kalamazoo Gals" about the women who built all the Gibson banner guitars during WWII.
There is/ was a builder in Canada. One of hers came up for sale on BHO about a two years ago. I know the Canadian luthiers or if you email the 12th Fret in Toronto, they'd know in a second. Seems like she had a blog. I'll try to find out after work.
Emily Ellis Richards builds gourd banjos in Alabama. She is also a good player per the few videos posted. Not sure if the primitive banjos count but they certainly do for me.
quote:
Originally posted by 35planarThere is/ was a builder in Canada. One of hers came up for sale on BHO about a two years ago. I know the Canadian luthiers or if you email the 12th Fret in Toronto, they'd know in a second. Seems like she had a blog. I'll try to find out after work.
Anne Hartman in Toronto.
Thanks Rives! @rmcdow
Randomly found this BHO archived topic from 2013 on women banjo builders:
banjohangout.org/archive/267003
Edited by - 35planar on 09/22/2023 17:39:41
Elaine Filion. Already mentioned in the thread above
She has the distinction of having a Martin Kit certified for warranty by Martin
I gave her these pieces on the left to assemble in garagista fashion for me to get to playing banjo again back in 2000
She is a member here and well known to the banjo crew in Austin
She is very modest and a wonderful person besides
Thanks again to Rives McDow
Now that the dust has settled
I once asked Cathy Moore if she did her own wrenching. She said some but mostly she had a banjo builder help her
Cathy Fink said she wrenched, too but didn’t too often
Mary Cox said, “No my boyfriend tunes my banjo.”
Some humor is worth it
There are few jobs available or advertised as female banjo builders
I have employed and sought out female crafters because they are less brutish and not as prone to injury and their hands are more nimble
I am willing to pay a percentage which has more potential and incentive than just flat wages
I have had two older women do frets and assembly while I continued to cut and turn
Necks were especially hard to get someone and Roberto Venn School treated me like an upstart sub contractor, then came Covid-19
One younger person went to begin her family
So I definitely have tried. My own daughters are occupied. One has her own frame shop
But the need and possibility of young people getting funding and starting to offer builds while sharing wages and cooperatively paying premiums for specialties like inlays certainly exists and should be encouraged by this brute male dominated field
Linda Manzer is noted for sharing innovations freely as a guitar luthier and her inlays are the finest
One of my Doctor’s technicians is a woodworker mentored by her own father which I think is the best of traditions
you have mail. Thanks for posting
a new start up would get great marketing assistance here. People get entrenched and forget to mentor the future
Other bigger shops have a Deering, a Rogers and an Ogsbury
Thats all the hangout seems to be able to come up with. No teams nor kalamazoos
i have a cranky old mentor who gave himself a shot of Jatoba dust just after he retired at 65
Swahili has no word for female lion. She is SIMBA
Edited by - Helix on 09/25/2023 15:23:12
Pharis Romero, partner of Jason Romero does a lot of inlay & finishing work on their banjos.
romerobanjos.com
For the old-timers here, I’ll throw in a shout-out to Lorna Wells.
She hasn’t posted since 2007, but she was always working on a new cool project. Cookie tin banjos, various cobbled creations, always something new…
She was an elder statesman here on BHO, back in the day.
For those of us that are vintage steel bicycle nuts…
Back in the 60s/70s, when the classic Schwinn Paramounts were being brazed, the two expert brazers that were creating those exclusive top-of-the-line frames:
Both women.
Someday I’ll own a vintage Paramount.
I was a wrench at a Schwinn dealership when I was in college. (70s)
I could have bought one for 20% off!
Ok, sorry. Back to banjos.
I apologize for not even mentioning Lorna Wells, she lived here in Tucson and banjo building was only one of her amazing adventures and "features." She championed underdogs like herself and never gave up. Thank you wrench lady.
I'm still trying to figure out what a "female banjo" is.
I don't think she builds banjos (just repair work), but Cat Fox is very good. I was bummed to learn that she moved away from my area, to the east coast. https://www.catfox.com/
A female banjo nurtures others and doesn't kill threads.
A smart A** male banjo is mostly droning.
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