I posted about Bob Flesher in another thread last week.

www.flesherbanjos.com

Flesher makes all types of banjos in his own little shop out here in California. Reasonable prices for the quality, but be prepared to wait a while. He makes all he can, but demand is high. I own one of his minstrel banjos , and another is on order. One friend of mine after playing my fretless minstrel banjo, said "well, this raises the bar". (He was thinking about getting a fretless banjo, and was debating between finding an original 1800s antique or getting a new one from another maker.) Bob was the most influential maker of the authentic fretless minstrel banjo in the late 20th century. A lot of big names play them, including Tony Trishka.

Bob also developed hardwood tone rings (he uses ebony). That was before the Deering "John Hartford" model, I believe.

I know this is a shameless plug for him, but he runs a small outfit, and can always use a little free publicity to keep that backlog of work up high!

Joe