Comment by thereallyniceman on November 2, 2018 at 18:35

The Abbott Banjo was made by Jack Abbott and I would guess around 1940.  J.G Abbott Snr (his dad) was renowned for making the finest of instruments, guitars, uke-banjos, zither banjos and 5 string banjos. Tarrant Bailey Jnr played an Abbott professionally and maybe the banjo you have was one made using the TBj name to promote the instruments. 

Here is TBj playing his Abbott

John George Abbott was born in 1877 in Poplar, London and was a cabinet maker by trade. By the end of the century. I can imagine the musicians who were 'getting into' banjos around the turn of the century, looking for skilled craftsmen to make instruments. Fortunately, they found John Abbott.

In 1901 he went to supervise the production of Barnes & Mullins banjos at their factory in Harrow.

When he left in 1905, he started his own company J G Abbott & Co in Hampstead Road , London. He made banjos under his own name and for several of the other 'names' in the banjo business such as Norton Greenop, Charles Skinner, John Alvey Turner and Len Shevill. It is not uncommon to find an Abbott-made banjo of this era branded by another firm , such as Hawkes.

There were two main makes of banjo - an ordinary Abbott banjo in 3 grades with grade 1 being the best and a more expensive banjo named either the Monarch or the Mirabile depending on the type which was also graded by decoration and quality.

1905 was also the year that his son was born. He was also called John George, just as his father and grandfather had been - there were three generations of John George Abbott living at this point in time.

As John junior, or Jack as he became known to distinguish him from his father, grew up, he learnt the trade of instrument making and for a period of time in the late 1920s and during the 1930s both men worked together producing guitars, banjos and banjo ukuleles at their workshop in London which had moved in 1928 to Chalton Street. During this era, it is possible to confuse the attribution of a particular Abbott instrument but those in the trade can spot the tell-tale differences in workmanship between father and son.

When JG Abbott grew ill in 1936 and gave up the business, Jack started on his own producing guitars, occasional banjos and banjo ukuleles. Around this time, Besson's acquired J G Abbott & Co.

JG Abbott, John senior, died in 1938.

Jack Jnr. continued making instruments until the mid 1950s .

J

Comment by Jake Glanville on August 6, 2024 at 9:33

Thanks for the info.  I am very interested in the Abbotts as I have a zither banjo made by one of them.  Which one, I wonder?  Mine has 'J Abbott Maker London' stamped on the lower side of the neck.  The last  three frets are shortened.  It has a split second fret, which I'm told wasn't usual on Abbott ZB's, also that the split second fret wasn't continued after 1921.  Is that right?  It's a Grade 3, so not top quality but it plays beautifully and it's one of my favourite banjos.

BJ.

Comment by Jake Glanville on August 6, 2024 at 9:51

PS

As I may have mentioned before, I have a banjo once owned by Tarrant Bailey Junior.  That's the name signed inside where it wouldn't normally be seen.  It is a William Temlett Senior zither banjo, which I know isn't the usual type of banjo used by TBj.  It's one of those very prettily decorated Temlett Snr. models like Rob McKillop has (had?) of the kind which caused the split between Temlett Snr. and Temlett Jnr.  It plays beautifully and was rescued by master luthier John Marlow of Dewsbury about three years ago.  Many thanks for the clip.

BJ.

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