The subject of the banjo covers much history, and a number of similar but different instruments have shared the name 'banjo'. From the 19th century minstrel players to the razzle dazzle vaudeville acts of the Roaring Twenties on through contemporary bluegrass, the banjo has been a part of folk and popular music for over two hundred years. Various types of instruments and the styles played on them have gone in and out of fashion over time and each new generation seems to find a way to use the banjo for its own musical expression.
Read more...

It's no secret that koa is now one of the most highly desirable woods for guitar makers and players alike, but unlike recently added "upgrades" like bubinga, Madagascar rosewood, cocobolo, and other species, koa has been in use for several decades. Yet koa almost never appears on very old fretted instruments, while rosewood, maple, and even walnut show up quite often. Unlike the old standards, and the newcomers, the use of koa has a unique history.
Read more...

The craze for koa instruments died in the 1930s, along with the Hawaiian music fad in general, and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor there wasn't much koa wood being shipped to the US for several years. Although Martin returned to selling lots of ukes after the war was over (during Arthur Godfrey's heyday), it didn't bother trying to get koa again as mahogany ukes sold just fine. Of course the ukulele makers in Hawaii, especially Kamaka, never stopped using koa for ukes. Shown here is a set of raw curly koa for a uke, and a current Kamaka tenor ukulele [31891]. But throughout the '50s and '60s there were no new guitars made of koa to be found, until that changed in the 1970s as independent guitarmakers like the Santa Cruz Guitar Co., and even the much larger Gurian Instruments on the opposite coast, offered guitars with koa backs and sides as an alternative to East Indian rosewood or mahogany.
Read more...

The new model classical guitars have updated features that have been lacking in the past. Adjustable truss rods, shortened scale lengths and narrower nut widths along with woods other than Indian rosewood for the sides and back.
Read more...