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Weaver Banjos |
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Alfred Weaver by Richard Ineson |
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Lane, London, W.C., in 1878. His later addresses were 139, Long Acre and, 121 Sinborough Road, Earls Court, London S.W. Weaver banjos are characterised by their plain lines and simple, functional mother of pearl position marks. The shape of the heel of the neck is very individual and has been described as spoon shaped, it tends to he longer on Weaver banjos, especially the banjos produced prior to 1900, than on those of other makers. Several transitions in the design of Weaver banjos can be identified. In his very early instruments made around 1878 - 80, the shanks of the hooks pulling down the vellum are bent, the fingerboards of these instruments are sometimes made from rosewood rather than ebony and were sometimes covered in ornately engraved, German Silver (white brass). The nuts fixing the bracket shoes to the hoop are small and square and have an integral brass washer, the heel of the neck can be extremely elongated, push - in type violin pegs are always used, the balls at the base of the nuts, securing the straining hooks, are separate from the actual nut, (this was possibly intended as a locknut device), the overall impression of these instruments is that they are rather 'home made' in appearance. Later, Weaver seems to have improved the quality of his metalwork, though his work remained highly individual, the nuts holding the bracket shoes became larger and hexagonal, the shanks on the hooks were straight, Grover pegs were fitted in place of the violin pegs, the balls on the nuts securing the straining hooks became integral with the nuts. Most Weaver banjos were fitted with a small, ebony tail piece though some later banjos, perhaps post 1st World War, appear to have been fitted with a metal tailpiece as a standard Fixture, the wooden type of tailpiece was simply tied on with a piece of gut as on a violin. The dimensions of Weavers' banjos vary, as do the types of wood he used in their construction, I have seen rosewood, walnut and birds eye maple used for the necks. The hoop in the instruments I have seen is always made from oak, used either as the lining material in the metal covered hoop models or in the solid in the wood hoop models. Hoop depths and diameters vary greatly, depths on early Weaver hoops seem to be around 6. 0 cm later hoops are found to be as deep as 8.0 cm, early hoops tend to be less robustly made than the ones on later banjos. The diameter of the hoop seems never to be less than 27.0 cm and the largest diameter so far seen is 31.0 cm. The bezel or, top band, on Weaver banjos is normally notched to receive the tension hooks except on very early models. Weaver, though known predominantly, for his five stringed banjos, made all kinds of banjos – zither banjo, tenor banjo, banjeaurine, mandolin banjo, banjolin (the peghead on these instruments was violin shaped) though 1 have not come across a plectrum banjo, to date. Marks used by Weaver on his banjos, include two versions of an oval cartouche mark which simply says, in a band, surrounding the word 'maker', A. Weaver. London.
Other marks are A. Weaver London and A. Weaver London W. C. stamped in the wood on both sides of the perch pole.
Occasionally a facsimile of Weaver's signature along with the word 'Special' is found stamped on the vellum of a Weaver banjo, this is accompanied with the address of the premises from which he was working at the time the vellum was fitted.
I have seen two dated Weaver banjos, one had the date 1878 stamped on the top edge of the peghead, the other had 1879 stamped on both sides of the perch pole. Weaver made banjos for other companies, such as Clifford Essex and Essex & Cammeyer, these normally have no Weaver marks on them but can be identified from the characteristic shapes of the peghead, heel shape, metalwork etc. The Essex & Cammeyer, Weaver banjos sometimes have an embossed metal strip pinned to the perch pole which says:- 'Made Expressly for Essex & Cammeyer'.
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| Wood Hoop Weaver by Alan Middleton | ||
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| Banjos made by Sydney Young from Weaver stock by Alan Middleton | ||
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