Banjo Builder

After leaving the road as a musician in 1989 I secured employment at the Gibson Guitar Company in Nashville, Tennessee.

I starting out as a neck fitter (affixing necks to guitar bodies), but within the first year I was promoted to the banjo department. I love the banjo and had played one for many years, so to be a craftsman involved in the production of the famous Gibson Mastertone banjo was an incredible stroke of good fortune!

During my twenty years of employment with Gibson – July 1989 through July 2009 - I was indeed truly blessed to play a part in the production of the finest banjo ever made.

My job entailed all aspects of neck production which involved shaping the neck, fretting, binding, and installing the nut and side dots. My experience as a machine shop lathe operator came in handy for machining resonators and wooden rims for the pot assembly. On occasion I lent a hand in the Hand Sanding Dept. I was well versed in all the various stages of what is known as "white wood production". Through the years I have had a hand in building every style of banjo from the no frills RB-1 to the classy RB-6 Gold Sparkle model and the elegant Earl Scruggs Special. I've worked on the All American as well as the Florentine and Bella Voce.

In this picture below I'm shaping a Granada Flying Eagle neck on the belt sander:

When we decided back in the late 90’s to build a brand new model for Earl Scruggs, I suggested we name it after a famous instrumental he wrote, the "Flint Hill Special." Earl approved of the name and gave it his blessings. Many years later I got to name the newest model for the Earl Scruggs line of banjos, “The Earl.” Again, Earl gave us the go ahead. With 24K gold-bound MOP inlays and 24K gold side dots and a portrait of Earl on the back of the resonator “The Earl” is the most prestigious Earl Scruggs banjo we ever built.

Needless to say, I've also been fortunate to have met and gotten to know many other artists while building their banjos, artists such as Earl Scruggs, Alan O'Bryant, Bela Fleck, Ron Block, Rob McCoury, Charlie Cushman, Larry Perkins,Vic Jordan, Jim Mills, J.D. Crowe, Allison Brown, Tony Wray, Steve Dilling, and Jason Burleson to name a few.

~ Ed Weber