he frailing/clawhammer banjo has always been the mainstay of our company. It happened in a funny way. Back in the mid 70’s, Art Rosenbaum and John Burke (respected traditional clawhammer recording artists) were passing through our town on their way to Kick’n Mule Records (in Berkeley, Ca.) to record new albums. They each bought a Wildwood Banjo, used it in the recording, the banjos appeared on their album cover, and well, you can guess the rest of the story.

Our clawhammer banjos feature a slightly wider maple neck, our own version of the tubaphone-style tone ring, some models with bracket shoe bands, and all with a sound and character unique to Wildwood. All our banjos are available in your choice of woods.

There are 4 traditional models, ranging from the simplicity of the MINSTREL to the elegance of the BALLADEER. Our open back banjos rival the best of the past. All models feature maple necks, ebony fingerboards (pegheads and heel caps). Nickel-plated brass hardware and fiberskin heads are standard on all models. The extent of the fancy fiddleback maple and mother of pearl or abalone inlays increases with each model. It is important to note that the basic construction, sound, and playability are the same throughout our line.

	Minstrel: Mildly figured maple neck, mother of pearl dot position makers.
	Troubador: Curly maple neck, traditional abalone inlays, binding and wood purfling on both neck and rim.
	Heirloom: Fancy fiddleback maple neck, hand engraved mother of pearl inlays, binding and wood purfling, and the old style bracket shoe band.
	Balladeer: Our fanciest fiddleback maple neck, full "tree of life" vine in mother of pearl and abalone, binding and wood purfling, with old style bracket shoe band.

(For those of you that are stuck in the 50’s and early 60’s we offer a Long Neck version of all our stand open back models except the Balladeer.)