"If I had to rate them from my own experience I'd say,
1. Vega whyte layde for clawhammer
2. Vega Fairbanks
3. Stewart."

Number 2 -- Which model Vega Fairbanks? Fairbanks and Vega were a few doors apart in boston around 1900, and when Fairbanks had a fire, they had their banjos made for a few years by Vega, as I understand. Then, Vega having gained some "street cred," they dropped the Fairbanks name altogether. So they made all the models Fairbanks had at the time -- the "Special Electric" was the closest to the Vega Whyte Laydie, for example -- but "Faibanks by Vega" covered the lesser models, too.

That aside, my favorite banjo makers come by era:

Minstrel era -- most any of them, though my main Minstrel banjo is a pretty good reproduction of an 1854 Boucher (as pictured here), although with a fiberskin head and Champion pegs.

Old-time & Clawhammer -- I loved my Vega Tube-a-phone with a neck made by Alberto Vazquez, but eventually sold it because I had a "family" banjo, and couldn't keep both (lack of funds does that, at times). I still play the family banjo, which started life as a B&D Silver Bell tenor I inherited from my uncle Bobby. My friend Bates Littlehales made the lovely maple neck for it, and it's an incredible banjo. It has a resonator that I never install, so I could use it for Scruggs' style playing, but don't.

Older finger-style playing I did on the 1893 S. S. Stewart 'American Princess' banjo I unfortunately just also sold (I seem to run into 'lack of funds' at regular intervals in my life). I still have a wonderful classical-era English fretless, made by Geo. Mathews of Birmingham that will do for both finger-style and down-picking, though I don't play it as often as the Minstrel or modern banjos in my life.

I do not own a bluegrass-ready banjo, other than Bobby's banjo when I attach the resonator (and, with a fiberskin head, it's less bluegrassy than it should be). I may eventually get one, just because I think my clumsiness at the style would be less if the banjo were really responsive; when I play that style now, I have to dig into the strings for the volume, which slows me down far too much, whereas a light touch would be faster if the banjo responded to a light touch.

So there we are. I have tried out a few of the modern makers' instruments in stores and at music gatherings, and they're nice, but the short time I've played them kept me from making a definitive decision as to their quality.

Bob