Mike Ramsey started building banjos in Lebanon, Ohio in 1986. His first banjo consisted of a neck made in his basement workshop fitted to an old purchased rim. Many prototypes followed as he fine-tuned the process, style, sound and product. In 1990, Mike left his corporate position and began his own woodworking business and in 1994 he and his wife Patty moved to their current location in Appomattox, Virginia. Mike built a new woodworking shop there to accommodate his expanding business.

Ramsey banjos are individually crafted from the finest wood and finished to perfection. The inlays are immaculate and the engraving is of the highest quality. Mike uses various rim diameters and other options to individualize his banjos, including fancy inlay, carved heel, and hand rubbed wood finishes. His standard models and options available can be viewed on this website.

You can find additional information on Mike Ramsey banjos at their web site:
http://www.ramseybanjos.com/

While the Bluegrass Connection can order any Mike Ramsey banjo, the following models are currently in stock:

Top of Page

STELLING BANJOS

Stelling Banjo Works was established in 1974 while Geoff was stationed at a Naval Base in San Diego. As a semi-professional banjo and bass player in various bluegrass bands since the mid-60's, Geoff developed an ear for banjo tone and experimented with the mechanics of banjo construction until he patented a revolutionary design that his banjos are famous for today: the wedge-fitted pot assembly. Prior to Geoff's design, tone rings and flanges were machined to slip-fit over the wood rim. Such a design proved to be less than perfect when changes of humidity and temperature manifested themselves as changes in tone and volume. The patented Stelling wedge-fit assures the best possible tone ring and flange to wood rim fit possible under all circumstances. The resulting purity of tone and unrelenting power are unparalleled.

Since intonation has been an inherent problem on stringed instruments, Geoff has since devised a compensated nut that nearly perfects the intonation on all models of Stelling banjos. By selectively notching the nut slots to different lengths, relative string distance from the nut to each fret is adjusted. This adjustment to the nut is one of several final operations Geoff Stelling performs on every banjo.

Stelling banjos are now handcrafted in Afton, Virginia. Raw slabs of wood are cut to useable dimensions and then air dried in a climate-controlled room for up to five years. Once the wood is dry enough to use, it is milled to the dimensions of a banjo neck and aged further. After a few months, if the neck blank appears stable, it will continue through the six to eight week process of becoming a finished banjo.

When each banjo is strung up and adjusted to standard Stelling specs (which includes the introduction of fifth string "railroad" spikes), Geoff puts on his picks and plays a few tunes. At this time, any minor adjustments deemed necessary are made and the banjo is ready to be shipped out.

You can find additional information on Stelling banjos at their web site:
http://www.stellingbanjo.com

While the Bluegrass Connection can order any standard model or custom banjo, the following models are currently in stock:

Top of Page

HUSS & DALTON GUITARS

The Huss & Dalton Guitar Company is located in the heart of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, an area rich in the tradition of fine acoustic music. Their handcrafted instruments capture the spirit of the time-honored music played there for generations.

Most models use a radius top that improves structural integrity, boosts mid-range tones, and gives a greater balance than traditional designs. Braces are made from hand split Appalachian Red Spruce, which has a greater strength-to-weight ratio than other brace woods. Necks are quarter-sawn Honduras Mahogany or Spanish Cedar and employ a steel reinforced truss rod. Each is hand-carved to a sleek, comfortable feel. All fingerboards are ebony and bridge plates are made from Honduras Rosewood.
Huss & Dalton guitars use bone nuts and a fully compensated 1/8” bone saddle. The scale length of each string is determined by checking the guitar with a strobe tuner for correct intonation. The scale of every string to is compensated to make intonation as close as possible to perfect.

You can find additional information on Huss and Dalton guitars at their web site:
http://hussanddalton.com/

Call for models currently in stock and for pricing.

Top of Page

Martin guitars have been handcrafted in the United States since 1833 - and have been built in Nazareth, Pennsylvania since 1839 - making them one of the longest continually owned and operated family businesses in America, and the only guitar maker with such a record.
Martin wood experts carefully select choice quartersawn tonewood tops for stiffness, density, strength and sound. Their famous “X-Bracing” was designed and perfected by C.F. Martin Sr. in the 1850s and though universally copied since, it’s still not bettered by anyone else today. This bracing adds structural integrity and brings out the identifiable Martin tone.
Special Martin models are “scallop braced” by hand, which allows the top to maintain strength, yet vibrate even more and sound louder.
On top of that, solidly-joined neck and body, in chorus with the back and sides, add more vibrations with rich harmonics in sound and volume—for unique Martin punch and pleasure.

You can find additional information on Martin guitars at their web site:
http://www.mguitar.com/

While the Bluegrass Connection can order any Martin guitar, the following models are currently in stock:

* NOTE: DXM and DX1 model list prices do not include case.

Top of Page

A small company in California, Santa Cruz has been making some of the world's finest handcrafted guitars since the 1970's. Each guitar receives an extraordinary amount of individual attention due to a “bench style” of building in which the craftsmen who build each guitar review each others' work and perfect each instrument as it is constructed.

Each guitar top is graduated and tuned by hand to attain maximum resonance and sustain, ensuring a high level of consistency of sound within each standard model line while simultaneously allowing custom voicing.

You can find additional information on Santa Cruz guitars at their web site:
http://www.santacruzguitar.com/

While the Bluegrass Connection can order any standard model or custom guitar, the following models are currently in stock:

Top of Page

WEBER MANDOLINS

Weber mandolins are built by “Sound To Earth”. This company traces its origins to the Flatiron Company in Bozeman, Montana. Most employees started at Flatiron in the 1980's before Flatiron became a part of Gibson.
From May of 1987 to December of 1996, all luthiers and most support personnel worked for Gibson building Flatiron mandolins. The "Montana Era" of Gibson/Flatiron is remembered for the consistently high quality of the instruments.
In 1996, Gibson decided to move Flatiron to Nashville and the Bozeman employees were unwilling to relocate. Bruce Weber, the general manager and head luthier of the Flatiron division, founded Sound To Earth and employed them to continue building fine mandolins under the Weber name.

You can find additional information on Weber mandolins at their web site:
http://www.webermandolin.com/

While the Bluegrass Connection can order any Weber mandolin, the following models are currently in stock:

Top of Page

USED INSTRUMENTS

Top of Page

Top of Page

Top of Page

Top of Page

Top of Page