Last year we heard the sad news of the death of classic banjo player, John Willis.

John was a regular at British Banjo Rallies and not only a player, composer and banjo maker but a jack of all trades and described himself as a "messer-abouter" !  The sad news was posted on the site by our site administrator David Wade who has also recently sadly died.  It has been a very bad year for their families and friends and for Classic Banjo.

Here are John and David together. 

John's wife, Margaret, has kindly sent me several of John's original compositions for Classic Style Banjo and I have added these to the MUSIC LIBRARY...  do a search for "Willis" and you will find the complete list.

In the photos above you will see John playing one of his banjos, inspired by the 12" wood hoop Weaver. He made the hoop from oak and bent it round, it was American oak because this bent easier than English, the arm is rosewood with an ebony finger board, the brackets and hooks he cast himself in his little foundry, they were made in brass and then he had them nickel plated.  He made two identical "Weaver" banjos.

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I just had a quick look through these and they look pretty good. It looks like he captured the true "classic banjo" style too.

Uncle Albert's Cure gave me a good laugh. I'll play through that one this evening. 

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