High-quality banjos from these islands

The news blog of FOAOTMAD, the British national association for old-time music and dance, reports that James Bowen, maker of the very-high-quality open-back Griffin Banjos in Britain, is interested in selling his own personal instruments to FOAOTMAD members. Any BIB readers who are also FOAOTMAD members will already be aware of this; for others, the Irish angle in this news is that one of the four instruments is a Clareen 'Oyster Queen' 5-string banjo in bird's-eye maple and ebony, with a Whyte Laydie tone-ring and a frailing scoop, made by Tom Cussen at Clarinbridge, Co. Galway.

© Richard Hawkins