I have one of Lo Gordon's Cedar Mountain banjos, and loads of people have told me without prompting that they love it's tone. It's the best buy I've ever made.
We have some good banjo makers in the UK. As Guy said James Bowen of Shropshire makes lovely banjos (Griffin) - I've played many of them at our festivals, as James really likes people to play the ones he brings. We also have Dave Stacey of Letchworth, Hertfordshire who makes lovely banjos. I'm looking after the banjo Debby McClatchy uses when she comes to the UK, which was (re)constructed by Dave. It has an old Bacon body, with one of Dave's necks, with beautifully copied Bacon inlays, heel carving and internal resonator, as near as dammit a Bacon FF professional - it sounds like heaven, and I wont want to give it back when she comes in March. Debby says if she ever sells off her banjos, that's the one she's keeping! Dave Bing, a wonderful West Virginia musician and fiddle maker was given one of Dave's banjos when he came over last year, and in a couple of weeks will spend time with Dave learning some banjo-making tricks.
Cheers
Ray