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Banjo: Windsor' Whirle ' Related threads: Slide banjo (3) Frank Proffitt banjos (97) Billy Faier on Banjo (20) What's up with Banjohangout.org? (20) Profitt-style fretless banjo? (39) A Rarity - Thankfully? (16) Banjo and 'chanterelle' (14) Banjo: The Novel (9) Crossing-over to the dark side - Banjos (35) HELP:Banjo Instructor Wanted (9) A Tutor (banjo) (3) Harmony Banjoes (3) What is a Plectrum Banjo? (80) |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Windsor' Whirle ' From: Davetnova Date: 23 Feb 04 - 03:54 AM Was there a standard design for the whirle range. The reason I ask is that I've got a banjo mandolin, banjolin or what, That has an 11inch pot, smaller tonering and resonator. The only pictures I've seen of them Have been backless without the tone ring but I have seen a windsor popular with an identical body to mine. I know nothing about banjo's (or much else) and wondered if it is a marriage of bits, everything seems to be original. |
Subject: RE: Tech: Windsor' Whirle ' From: Leadfingers Date: 22 Feb 04 - 02:45 PM As Geoff said £60 for a Windsor in reasonable condition is definately a bargain. I already have too many banjos but if I was offered a playable Windsor for that money I would buy it as a spare, if not as an investment. And is it a Tenor or a Five ?? Either way I might be tempted to take it off your hands if you dont want to keep it. |
Subject: RE: Tech: Windsor' Whirle ' From: Geoff the Duck Date: 22 Feb 04 - 09:01 AM Assuming that the instument is complete and not "damaged" - ie. warped bowed or twisted neck, all frets there and fairly "true" I would have regarded £60 for a vintage Windsor a fair or good price 20 years back. Sounds like a bargain unless it suffers from the above defects. In that case it might be worth repair - if you can find a competent craftesman repairer. You might also wnat to pay that for a wall decoration. Acording to their websites Hobgoblin have ones for sale at £350 and for £450, so the price is excellent if the instrument is playable. Some useful links :- http://www.andybanjo.com/faq_2.htm British Banjo Makers Part 4 Somebody's links page Quack! Geoff. |
Subject: RE: Tech: Windsor' Whirle ' From: GUEST,Eugene Judge no cookie Date: 22 Feb 04 - 07:46 AM Here's some info on Windsor. I've seen a "Whirle" for sale on the Net for a lot more! Any old banjo is worth having as a piece of our musical heritage but I'm biased as a "5 stringer". 'British Makers Ancient' was abstracted from the The Banjo Story by A.P.Sharpe serialised in the B.M.G.Magazine 1971-1973 WINDSOR As a young man, Arthur Octavius Windsor acquired a thorough knowledge of wood and metal working and by 1887 had a small factory in Birmingham for the making of coffin 'furniture'. He played the banjo as a hobby and when the instrument started to become universally played he made some instruments after his own design. He had his own bench in a corner of his factory where he fashioned the instruments that carried his name as maker. His banjos proved popular and in three years he had set up an instrument factory in Newhall Street and was employing a staff of twenty-five, all making banjos. Very soon his range of instruments included most of the fretted instruments. He made the first mandolin banjo with a back built up of separate segments and in 1893 took out a patent to use the same method for the backs of zither-banjos, although he continued to use one-piece backs on his cheaper models. At school, Arthur Windsor had been called 'Castle' and he adopted the silhouette of Windsor Castle as a trade mark and called his premises in Newhall Street 'Castle Works'. (In addition to the Newhall Street factory, he had sawmills and a wood-working plant in Mott Street). In the early days, Windsor tested every instrument before it left the factory. In March 1892 he teamed up with Arthur J.Taylor, a prominent Birmingham teacher and player of the banjo and the firm of Windsor& Taylor came into being. Taylor had begun to teach the banjo in 1881 and had first met Windsor in 1885 whilst trying to find a good banjo of English make to sell to-his pupils. They-did business together for some time before entering into a deed of partnership. It was at this time the firm started to make open-back banjos. In January, Windsor & Taylor organised the Birmingham B.M.&G. Orchestra which gave its first public concert in March of that year. These concerts became regular affairs (at which the leading soloists of the day appeared) and the orchestra also visited such places as Coventry, Leamington, Liverpool, London etc. Windsor and Taylor entered the publishing field and this, coupled with the public appearances of A.0.Windsor and A.J.Taylor (both of whom were first-class banjo soloists), did much to publicise the instruments they made and a studio was set aside for him in the factory to enable him to carry onwith his teaching activities. The fact that Oakley changed to zither banjo and was playing a 'Windsor' did much to boost sales. Unlike other manufactures of the day, every part of the instruments made by Windsor & Taylor were fashioned in the Newhall street factory, including all the metal parts used. The latter were always 'non-standard' so that a replacement could only be purchased from them. In 1896 the firm published a 50-page booklet How a Zither-Banjo is Made. Given away free of charge it helped sell the instruments which were already a household name. In 1901, Taylor left the firm and then the title became Arthur 0. Windsor. He had a stand at the British Industries Fair, White City, London, which was most impressive and did much to make the Windsor products known to overseas buyers. In 1928 Windsor brought out his famous 'hollow arm' zither-banjo with its revolutionary resonator-type back. Windsor made instruments for other firms and would copy any design or model. They also supplied many of their cheaper stock instruments branded with the retailer's name as maker. The firms range of banjos, zither-banjos, banjolins and mandolin-banjos was wide because, they offered a large discount on catalogue prices, their lower-priced instruments became known in the trade as 'pawnshop banjos'. These instruments could always be found in pawnshops throughout the country where they would be offered for sale for as much as 50%, below the catalogue price. The firm ceased to exist in December 1940 when the factory was destroyed in an enemy air raid. Up to that time Windsor was probably the largest maker of fretted instruments ever known in this country. The output of the Newhall Street factory in Birmingham must have been many thousands of instruments each year. Cheers Eugene |
Subject: RE: Tech: Windsor' Whirle ' From: Dave Hanson Date: 22 Feb 04 - 06:12 AM refresh |
Subject: Tech: Windsor' Whirle ' From: Dave Hanson Date: 21 Feb 04 - 10:47 AM I've been offered a Windsor Whirle banjo for £60.00 apart from the fact it's English can anyone in Mudcatland give me any more info.[ I haven't seen it yet ] hanks in advance, eric |
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