Banjos with wooden bodies and soundboards date back at least to the 19th
century. In the 1890's an instrument called a mandoline-banjo was
sold by August Pollmann. Pollmann was a distributor of mostly brass
instruments at the time and there is evidence to suggest that these
instruments were actually built in Sweden. Check out the History Gallery for detailed photos of this instrument and the many discussed on this page.
Another name used to describe these unusual hybrid instruments was the
banjo-lute. It's important to differentiate these instruments from another
important instrument that is typically called a banjo mandolin.
The History Gallery
The term banjola was created by Edward Victor Dick in 1996 to describe
his own version of a banjo mandola hybrid. It differed from the Pollmann
instruments by having a larger body, a longer scale length, and employing
a guitar style pin bridge. These innovations give his instruments greater
volume and a more robust tone than the Pollmanns. The original prototype
was purchased by noted songwriter and musicologist Dick Weissman.
It seems that the name "banjola" was also used as early as 1981
to describe a 4 string wooden bodied version of a tenor banjo built
by Irish luthier Paul Doyle. Goldtone
claims to also have independently invented the name in 2001 to describe
their Asian manufactured 5 string instruments.
One of these early examples of an Victor banjola was reviewed by Ken Perlman
in the Banjo Newsletter in May 1998.
In 1998 Edward built his first 6 string banjola. His
intention was to expand the range of the instrument to that of the guitar
(tuning gGCgcd). Examples of both this instrument as well as the 5 string
version can be found on his 1999 Taptones cd. It was at this time that
EVD also copywrited the name "Banjola."
In 2007 Edward redesigned both his 5 and 6 string banjolas, enlarging
the bodies even further. He introduced several new models including
a long neck version. In February 2008 Ken Perlman did another review of
the redesigned Banjola in the Banjo Newsletter.
Want to see more articles about the banjola?
Want to see the current Banjola models?