Ome Banjos

Ome Banjos offers a wide selection of hand-crafted Old-Time, Bluegrass and Jazz banjos.

In 1960 Charles Ogsbury started building banjos in his parents' garage in Boulder, Colorado. He had moved from Louisville, Kentucky, to study civil engineering but loved to restore vintage musical instruments, especially banjos, even more. After he graduated from Engineering school, he founded Ode Banjos and made 100 5-string long-neck banjos with cast aluminum rims. These sold readily and Charles quickly built more, expanding the line to include Bluegrass, Guitar and Jazz banjos. By 1966 Charles and his company had made more that 2,200 banjos. He then sold Ode to Baldwin Pianos which continued making his banjos until 1980-81.

After a 5-year non-compete period with Baldwin ended in 1971, Charles Ogsbury started a second company, Ome Banjos.

Today, Charles and his two builders, Rich Sharples, and Gustavo Silva, along with his daughter, Tanya, continue to offer the widest selection of beautifully crafted limited-production banjos.