"Nothing official, but I understand Clems son is hoping to restart the business soon. I hope that's true."

"I've now found a supplier of LaBella 17 strings in the UK,   stringsdirect.co.uk   however they aren't cheap in comparison to CE.  £12.99 plus £1.99 delivery but it looks as though they're the only…"

"So, we should provide a size chart for the CE sets. I guess I'll have to find an unused set and measure them. I know I was using their heavier gauge "Weaver" 4ths, which were 0.030".. The old website had string sets listed as…"

"Thanks Jody, I'll have a google around the UK to see if I can find a supplier...Steve."

"The excellent shop in Michigan in the USA called Strings By Mail (https://www.stringsbymail.com) ships internationally. The sell individual strings by *many* makers in many gauges, including rectified nylon by La Bella. There may well be shops in…"

"LaBella are MUCH lighter than the CE offerings.  And the Labella No. 17 are just slightly heavier than period examples.  That said, LaBella does sell singles in pretty much any size you could ever want.  The only problem is that they…"

"If you especially like the CE heavy gauge sets you may be able to still find some from retail outlets.   Another possibility is to buy single strings of another brand that replicate the CE gauges.  A third possibility is to discover who…"

"I was using La Bellla Classical Banjo strings. I am not sure how they compare. But, they may be worth looking into."

"I've been using CE heavy gauge strings for many years, now that they are no longer available, could anyone suggest suitable alternatives...Steve."

"That’s a good question. Looks like all of their eBay listings have also been pulled."

"Makes me wonder what happened to whatever products were in stock."

"Yes, it is too bad.  I bought one of the Regal style armrests that they recently put out and was hoping to buy another.  When I was about to place my order I started seeing posts from people having trouble and then got the bad news about…"

"Thanks. I didn’t see that post. That is sad news. All of my emails have gone unanswered. So, I guess it is safe to assume that Clifford Essex is unfortunately no longer in business."

"As much of an answer as we have is here https://classic-banjo.ning.com/forum/topics/clifford-essex-music-company"

"I'll get the few bits and pieces I have about KS together, and make a start about writing her up for the Morley bio on this site, I haven't found a photograph of her yet. Good to know that another 1891 programme survived."